Dodgers Dugout: The rise, fall and rise again of Joc Pederson

Joc Pederson celebrates his three-run homer on Saturday night.

Assistant Sports Editor

Oct. 29, 2017 8 AM PT

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Los Angeles Mitchell. I sold my house and car, turned in all the recycling material I had, sold all my blood, mowed every lawn in the neighborhood and robbed a bank and still can’t afford World Series tickets.

Game 4

—That was a big win.

—Alex Wood did everything you could ask for. He held the Astros to one hit and gave the bullpen a bit of a break.

—Dave Roberts just can’t buy a break sometimes. If he pulls a starter because he is about to go through the lineup a third time, then he gets criticized. So in Game 4, he leaves Wood in to face the lineup a third time. What happens? The first batter hits a home run.

—I take back what I said about Joc Pederson being in the lineup.

Let’s discuss Pederson for a moment.

Here’s a guy who is the biggest cheerleader on the bench. No matter how well he did in a game, he was always the first to applaud and jump up and down if a teammate drove in a run or hit a homer.

He was basically the starting center fielder for two years. He gets off to a good start this season, but falls apart in the second half, hitting .162/.278/.303. But he continues to pull for his teammates.

Then the Dodgers send him to the minors and trade for Curtis Granderson.

Pederson doesn’t complain. He just goes to the minors and puts his work in. Granderson hits worse than Pederson, but Pederson doesn’t complain, he just keeps putting in his work.

Pederson isn’t in the first wave of September call-ups, but he doesn’t complain.

They finally call him back up on Sept. 6. But he doesn’t play much, buried on the bench behind Granderson. But he doesn’t complain. He keeps cheering everyone on.

In the final game of the season, a spark appears. He goes two for three with two doubles. He gets left off of the NLDS roster. He doesn’t complain.

He gets on the NLCS roster and goes one for five with a double in the series. But, if you watched the game, you saw a lot of Pederson, because he was the first person to greet a teammate in the dugout.

Then the World Series comes and when the series moves to Houston, Dave Roberts puts him in the lineup in Game 2 and has him as the designated hitter for Games 3 and 4. Doofuses like me wonder why he is in the lineup instead of Andre Ethier.

So what does Joc do? He doesn’t complain, he just goes 3 for 9 with a double, two homers and four RBIs.

I like Joc Pederson, and I am glad he is making me look bad. I won’t complain.

—The Astros only got two hits in the game. Two hits. That’s a testament to the Dodgers pitching staff.

—How great was it to see Cody Bellinger break out of his slump in a big way? He is going to be a very good player for a very long time.

—No, I’m not worried that Kenley Jansen gave up a home run. He has always pitched worse when the game isn’t on the line. Besides, sometimes you have to tip your cap to the opponent.

—In the two losses, Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Bellinger went a combined 2 for 31. In Game 4, they went 4 for 15 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs scored. If they hit, the Dodgers win.

—I’m a little concerned about Turner, who was limping around the whole game after taking a groundball off the knee. Hopefully there’s no bad news about him today.

—I’m also a little concerned about Yasiel Puig, who has been very subdued ever since Game 5 against the Cubs. He’s still playing well, but it looks like something is bothering him.

—You have to wonder if the Astros will let Ken Giles pitch again. He has an ERA of 11.74 in the postseason and didn’t fool any hitters Saturday.

—I’ve been watching World Series since 1974. This is one of the best I have ever seen. Two great teams going at it.

—Now it’s a best of three. Kershaw and Hill against Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander the next two games.

The punishment

MLB suspended Yuli Gurriel for five games for his racist gesture (pulling his eyes back to “look Asian”) and offensive language after homering off of Yu Darvish in Game 3.

This is the same MLB that honors (and rightfully so) Jackie Robinson every April 15 by having every player wear No. 42. It appears they forgot why they are honoring Robinson. The message now is “If it’s the World Series, go ahead and do any racist stuff you want. We won’t punish you until next season.”

And yeah, I’d be saying the same thing if a Dodger did it. There’s no justifying what he did.

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Game 5 preview

Astros vs. Clayton Kershaw (includes playoffs)

Josh Reddick: .667 (2 for 3)

Jose Altuve: .389 (7 for 18), 4 doubles

Alex Bregman: .333 (1 for 3), 1 homer

Carlos Beltran: .259 (7 for 27), 3 doubles

Evan Gattis: .250 (3 for 12), 1 double

Carlos Correa: .167 (1 for 6)

Cameron Maybin: .133 (4 for 30)