Editorials

Dodgers News: Greinke Addresses Murphy At-Bat, Mental Mistake

When it was all said and done, the Los Angeles Dodgers fell short against the New York Mets in their National League Division Series matchup. After a roller coaster first inning, the offense behind Zack Greinke could not deliver in crucial moments, which ended up being their undoing.

While Greinke largely held the Mets in check Daniel Murphy continued to be the exception to the rule. In the sixth inning Murphy deposited a full-count pitch into right field for a solo home run, giving the Mets the decided 3-2 lead.



Although no one was on base, Greinke delivered the fateful pitch to Murhphy out of the stretch. “He was taking really good swings and really good takes. I was trying to do something different,” Greinke explained after the loss.

The adjustment was one the 31-year-old right-hander did previously to better results. “I did [it] earlier on [Lucas] Duda and it worked,” Greinke said. “But it didn’t work that time. I was pitching good out of the stretch, so I felt confident both ways. If he was seeing something from me in the windup, I wanted to switch it up.”

Greinke was otherwise pleased with his outing, calling the tough-luck loss among his best starts of the season. As for the miscue at third base with the Dodgers in a shift, which allowed Murphy to go first to third on a Lucas Duda walk in the fourth inning, Greinke didn’t place blame on any specific person.

“Just someone is supposed to be there – either me or [Corey] Seager or Yas [Yasmani Grandal],” he said. “Someone should be there. A bunch of people made mistakes. It wasn’t any one person.”

The final game of the year had more implications for Greinke. The Florida native has an opt out clause in his contract after this season, which he is expected to exercise. Though, that shouldn’t be taken as a sign Greinke doesn’t wish to re-sign with the Dodgers.

“That’d be nice,” he answered when asked if his hope was to return with Los Angeles next season.

Staff Writer

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2 Comments

  1. Mattingly is the one that lost this game! Why would any manager put two players in the line up, that can’t hit! Grandal is hurt and has been hurt, and not hit, for a very long time, and in fact he had only 5 hits, in his last 95 at bats! Why was he played over AJ, who is not only a better defensive catcher, he had been hitting well for a while, and AJ in fact had one of the best offensive stats in post season play! The other player, Joc has hit only 167 since the begining of July! Mattingly said he played Joc for defensive reasons, and that is a joke, because Kike plays centerfield just as well as Joc, and Kike is hitting 300! why when this team wasn’t able to score one run, off this pitcher, in the first game, why would Mattingly put two players in this line up, that have not hit for a very long time! And why would Mattingly play Grandal who is hurt, when he had a healthy player on the bench, that is better defensively and at this point, a much better hitter? And Mattingly batting order was no better! Mattingly had Grandal batting in front of Kike, and he had Joc batting behind Kike! And because of this, Kike never got any good pitches to hit! Why would a pitcher give any good balls to hit, to a 300 hitter, like Kike is, when he has two batters sandwiched between Kike who have not hit, for some time? Another problem with Mattingly batting order was the fact that Kike was not leading off, where he has been really effective, and Mattingly had Seager a rookie, who had only played one month in the major league baseball, batting at the top of the order! Just because he young player, doesnt look nervous, that doesn’t mean he is not nervous!! By placing Seager at the top of the order, he caused Seager to have even more pressure, then the young player, already had! Not all players, show there feelings, outwardly, and anyone who is managing a team, needs to know these things, because he is managing people! About Grandal, Grandal came up with runners on base, at least two times, and never was able to hit any runs in, and one time Seager came up, and was ahead of the count, with runners on base, and Mattingly let him swing with three balls, and Seager ended up striking out! Why would a manager let this Rookie swing with this count? Why Mattingly even played both Grandal and Pederson in this series? Grandal who was hurt and had not hit for quite a while, and Pederson not only has not hit for a while, this player, has trouble even making contact! Why would any manager do this? Mattingly does not get the best out of his players, and sucks the life out of other players! No Dodger fan was suprised that Ethier reacted to Mattingly in the way he did, on TV that nite! Mattingly has treated Ethier badly, and had everyone thinking that Ethier’s career was over. If Mattingly wanted runners moved over, why didn’t he bunt these runners over! He has no idea on how runs are manufactured and the front office had to bring in a former manager, to get the Dodgers going, but this was late in the season! Mattingly played Pederson for defensive reasons, and that really helped in the first inning, when both Kike and Joc made errors! Joc got up to close to the wall, and the ball bounced back over Joc’s head, and kike who is usually sure handed, bobbled the ball twice, in an attempt to get the ball in! If Mattingly is obsessed with the righty lefty match ups, and he doesn’t look or know the true stats when it comes to match ups! Joc was in this line up, because Mattingly said, that it was hard for Rightys to hit this pitcher! I guess unknown to Mattingly not all rightys hit lefty pitchers well, and vise versa! Mattingly played a Joc because he is a lefty, even though the truth is that Joc has hit 167 since July, and Joc rarely makes any contact, in his at bats! If AJ was in this line up, he might had not allowed that walk, that advanced to third! That is the type of player, AJ is! And this is no knock on Grandal, it is just that he is hurt!

    1. I stopped reading your post after the first 1000 words or so (I got the jest of it during that time). Kike started the game you’re complaining about. If you’re going to contrast Joc it would be against Crawford, Van Slyke, Ruggiano, or Puig. Joc is the best defensive option in this scenario.

      Grandal was probably chosen to lead due to his work with Greinke. That’s more important than how he’s currently batting.

      Mattingly also has been listening to the front office. A lot of these moves that people complain about are not his doing alone.

      If the rest of your post isn’t filled with the nonsense from the first series of lines then it’s my mistake, but it seems likely to be just as off base as the start.

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