That was the most unsatisfying game ever.
The Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw seemingly had the game in hand only to see it evaporate as quickly as an ice cube resting on a hot plate.
Going into the seventh inning, Kershaw looked to be in full control. He was cruising with a four run lead and a two hitter. Sure, those two hits were home runs, but so what? With record temperatures descending on the Southland it was really no surprise that balls would jump a bit in the stadium.
Unfortunately, Clayton ran out of gas and soon would give up a succession of hits that resulted in six earned runs scoring on his dime. The final blow was a two-run homer by Matt Holliday off of Kershaw's replacement Pedro Baez. If not for that, we very well could have won this one. As it was, it proved to be the deciding runs.
Of note, the remaining innings was not a death march for the Dodgers. Instead, they fought back as best they could and garnered some results. Unfortunately, like that famous poem about Mighty Casey, Yasiel Puig struck out with the tying run on third base for the last out of the game. Graphic above via @Dodgers on twitter.
Oh, well.
BTW, I don't see the point in pinning blame on anybody for this game. The Dodgers win or lose as a team. I think it's best to just look at this as just one loss - like any one of the other 69 losses we've had this season. Besides, we have an opportunity to even things out today. Remember, as Vin Scully is want to say,
"but in the history of the Brooklyn and LA Dodgers, nothing ever has come easy."Don't you know it, Vin... Don't we all know it.
Below are some links to check out:
- Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "2014 NLDS schedule: Times for Games 3-5 released."
- Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider, "Kershaw: ‘It’s an awful feeling to let your teammates down’"
“I’m not in shock,” Kershaw said. “I feel terrible. It’s an awful feeling to let your teammates down.“We have a great team. If I don’t get in the way, we’ve got a good chance of winning that game.”
- Was Kershaw tipping his pitches last night? Former closer Danny Graves thinks so. Check out what he has to say here.
- Via Barry M. Bloom at MLB.com, "Benches clear in LA after Waino plunks Puig."
"I just basically said, 'You guys keep doing this over and over and I'm not going to put up with that,'" Gonzalez said. "They're going to say it's not being done on purpose, but come on, Wainwright knows where the ball's going."
This event proved to be a turning point for the Dodgers. They soon scored two runs to take a lead in the game, and built enough momentum to score four more over the next couple of innings. Unfortunately, they could hold on to it.
- Best takedown ever! Via Drew Magary at Deadspin, "The Mayor Of St. Louis Is A Complete Dipshit."
- Tracy Hackler at Panini's blog shares a bunch of preview pics of their upcoming 2014 Prizm Perennial Draft Picks Baseball set that comes out Novermber 12th. On the right is an autographed card of the Dodgers 2014 1st Round Draft Pick Grant Holmes. This is his first card as a professional. Go here to check out more pics of the set.
- Topps is working really hard to get some of those postseason dollars. They have just released a limited edition Dodgers West Division Champion framed print featuring many of the stars of the team and their 2014 Topps base cards. The print measures 16" x 20", arrives to you framed (18" x 22"), is numbered to just 49 copies and priced at $99.99. Check it out below. Go here to check it out on their website.
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