Kershaw gamble pays off
They each lifted their dirt-caked sleeves into the air as if raising an entire city above them.
Yasiel Puig shot a line drive into the right-field corner, scampering and sliding into second base, leaping up with a howl, throwing his arms high.
Juan Uribe then whacked a ball that soared high through the night air and into the left-field bullpen, his bat flipping, his arms flying, summoning a rattle and roar that shook Dodger Stadium to its ancient roots.
The Dodgers are headed back to the National League Championship Series, and they are carrying Los Angeles with them.
Uribe’s home run followed Puig’s leadoff double in the eighth inning Monday night to give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the clinching Game 4 of a division series.
“I do it for the fans,” Uribe said on a sports-drink splashed field in which owners Mark Walter and
Magic Johnson joined the celebration by wrapping the players in giant expensive hugs.
Uribe was doing it for more than the fans. His swing may have not only saved a game, but also eased the potential sting of two questionable decisions that may have put the Dodgers’ season in jeopardy.
First, Uribe cleared Manager Don Mattingly of another controversy as his home run came after he fouled off two bunt attempts. Yes, even with none out, the powerful hitter had been ordered to bunt. If the Dodgers didn’t overcome their one-run deficit, the second guessing would have soaked the manager instead of the champagne.
“I’m thinking, the playoffs are so stupid, aren’t they?” said a relieved Mattingly. “So crazy.”
Second, Uribe’s hit also rescued the Dodgers from a last-minute, panic-tinged decision to start Clayton Kershaw on three days’ rest for the first time in his career.
Their tired ace pitched well enough, giving up only two unearned runs and three hits in six innings. His curveball broke enough that he once struck out Brian McCann looking on a ball in the dirt. His fastball was powerful enough to led to six strikeouts. He wasn’t the completely dominating Kershaw, but he was good enough.
The problem was, he didn’t pitch long enough, the short rest forcing him to the dugout after 91 pitches, one of his four shortest outings of the season.
The minute he left, the Dodgers nearly lost. Ronald Belisario gave up a triple to Elliot Johnson on a ball that Puig bumbled with an ill-advised slide into the right-field corner. Then pinch-hitter Jose Costanza singled up the middle to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.
Did Kershaw do better than regularly scheduled starter Ricky Nolasco could have done? Considering Nolasco gave up 17 earned runs in his final three regularseason starts, absolutely. But was it worth the risk that could have left the Dodgers facing an elimination game in Atlanta on Wednesday without their ace? Absolutely not.
Here’s hoping the Dodgers don’t try it again this postseason unless they are facing elimination. But all is well that ends well, at least for now, with the Dodgers now getting three days off before facing St. Louis or Pittsburgh in the Championship Series beginning this weekend. Those two teams play Game 5 of their series Wednesday night, and Dodgers fans will want to cheer for the Pirates, because the Dodgers would have home-field advantage against a novice postseason squad. Strange things happen in St. Louis this time of year, and the Dodgers might not want to mess with that.
Not that they are afraid of anyone, especially not after Monday night, which ended with a champagne-soaked Kershaw with enough strength to lead the team in a high-fiving victory lap around a Dodger Stadium filled with fans who wouldn’t leave.
“We just got to stay ready for anybody,” Hanley Ramirez said during an on-field interview with fans still cheering. “I think we can beat anybody.”
They are certainly set up for it. Their rotation is intact, their stars seem healthy, and the only weak links seem to be the bullpen before Brian Wilson shows up in the eighth inning and Kenley Jansen follows him in the ninth.
“I feel like it’s another step,” Mattingly said, referring to the number of posteason victories required for a championship. “In the beginning you talk about 11 [ victories for a championship]. Now you talk about eight.”
At this rate, a crazy eight.