Dodgers notes: Clayton Kershaw, LA offense, Dave Roberts

The downside of having an off day after a loss is there is more time to stew in the misery, especially after one of the worst playoff losses in franchise history.

On the Dodgers insisting that Clayton Kershaw is healthy after his six-run, one-out start in Game 1, and that the left-hander would start again in Game 4, Dylan Hernández offered this at the Los Angeles Times:

The plan to run out Kershaw again is less about the Dodgers’ belief in him and more about the team’s lack of alternatives.

What other choices do the Dodgers have?

On the dormant Dodgers offense in Game 1, Bill Shaikin at the LA Times wrote, “The 2023 Dodgers win with their bats, not with their arms, but the first night of the 2023 postseason bore an all-too-uncomfortable resemblance to their all-too-brief appearance in the 2022 postseason.”

It was a mostly quiet Sunday on the off day between games at Dodger Stadium. Manager Dave Roberts did say he’d aggressively use his high-leverage relievers after none of them pitched in Game 1. From Fabian Ardaya’s summary of Sunday at The Athletic: “I’m going to manage Game 2 like it’s Game 7. And I’m going to do the same thing for Game 3. And I do think that that’s kind of how the fallout will be.”

Caleb Ferguson talked with David Laurila at FanGraphs about how he’s not too into statistics or analytics, but praised how the Dodgers coaching staff disseminates as much or as little information as players want:

“A lot goes into who the manager lets you face,” explained Ferguson. “Doc [Dave Roberts], as well as everybody involved in the decision-making, is really good at putting us into the right spots. That’s why all of the guys in our bullpen have so much success. We’re not going to face hitters we don’t match up well against, or be asked to do something we don’t normally do.”