Open Question

[SF11704]

Today at work we had some long and sometimes heated disussions around this question and possible approaches ... I thought it would be interesting to see what you all thought .... you are in the playoffs and are facing the Doggies. In a 5 game set you're going to see Kershaw twice. In a 7 game set maybe 3 times .... so ...

Do you pair your best pitcher against him or do you try and schedule around him .... I really had to think about this .... I love MadBum ... but not sure I would want to throw him up against Kershaw twice in a 5 game set. I think he is better than ay other pitcher the Doggies have ... but I also think Kershaw is the best in baseball at the moment .... very entertaining discussions ...

 

[calsnowskier]

Assuming each team has the full ability to set their rotation...

You HAVE to match Bum against 'shaw. If not, you will only be using your best pitcher once in a 5-gamer and twice in a 7-gamer. He is your Ace, and you want him out there as much as possible.

 

[BroncoInCALI]

I'm putting MadBum up against Kershaw. In 2010 not many people thought we could take out Roy Halladay (admittedly, Kershaw is probably more dominant), but it only took a couple swings from Cody Ross and the Phillies were in chase mode.

I would gamble on that, plus the fact that the Dodgers offense is not all that great, so if you can scratch a run or two across early you might be in good shape.

 

[Reefer]

You can't move Bum to pitch against someone besides Kershaw. A few reasons for me-

1- I think it shows a lack of confidence, you put your best up against their best and go out and light him up.

2- Its playoffs, anything can happen. Everyone talked about Zito vs. Verlander and how the Tigers had a huge advantage. We all know how that turned out. You put your best out there if he is available.

3- Kershaw vs. Bumgarner is likely to be low scoring game. For arguments sake, say you decided to pitch Hudson against Kershaw and the Giants get a couple early runs only to end up losing 4-2. You would be kicking yourself for not having your ace out there. You can't overthink things.

 

[Mays-Fan]

If we clinch a wildcard spot with a game or three to spare (a quite likely scenario), then we need to manipulate the rotation to have Bum pitch the wildcard game.

That makes discussion of other playoff matchups moot.