HEADING FOR HOME
BOTTOM LINE: DODGERS HIT BALL; PADRES DIDN’T
A dejected Padres dugout looks on after losing 12-3 to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday. The series sweep ends the season for the Padres.
In spite of all the TV highlights, jazzy bat-flips and bulging stat sheets, the Padres simply could not locate that high-powered offense when they needed it most. The Dodgers, who did, made them pay a seasonending price. One team cashed in when it mattered and the other became close-quarters spectators during a 12-3 Dodgers win Thursday that wrapped up the NL Division Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Clutch hitting wrote the series story, from prologue to epilogue. In the regular season, the Padres led baseball by hitting .310 with runners in scoring position. In the first five postseason games, they hit .171. They went 1-for-8 in those situations in Game 2 of this series, losing their sixth straight with one or fewer hits in those potential scoring situations. Coming into Thursday, regulars Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer, Trent Grisham and Austin Nola were a combined 9-for-75 (.120). The Padres masked the drought with a couple of offensive outbursts, one against the Cardinals in Game 2 of the
NL Wild Card Series and Wednesday versus the Dodgers late.
There’s no amount of pitching that patches untimely holes in the lineup like that.
“I feel a sense of peace, calmness, excitement,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said a few hours before first pitch.
Through eight innings, the Padres flailed with ripening runners, going 1-for-8.
Across the diamond, the situational hitting of the
Dodgers remained as timely as a European train. They had eight hits with runners in scoring position, five coming with two out.
In the third inning, Justin Turner lined a two-on single off incoming reliever Craig Stammen to score Mookie Betts. With two outs and the bases loaded, AJ Pollock laced an RBI single and Joc Pederson added a two-run single. The five-run, ninehitter, 25-minute inning seemed a death by a thousand cuts.
Just when pitchers desperately needed a breath, the Padres went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
As the fifth inning arrived, the Padres were reminded of the depth of the Dodgers lineup. Chris Taylor, in the No. 9 spot, was the only hitter not to reach base at the halfway mark.
“It’s playoff baseball,” Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager said. “Moving runners, sac flies, walks, applying pressure, anything you can do to score runs is huge.”
The real key — for a hitter, a chess champion or a heart surgeon — is consistency. Most days, the Dodgers operate like a Swiss watch. The Padres, too many days against the Dodgers, become too one-dimensional as they rely on big swings to reroute momentum.
Bang … or whimper. White hot … or cool to the touch.
Grisham clung to hope, despite the canyon the Padres faced as game time neared.
“We know that it’s not over until it’s over with us,” he said.
The stark reality — the Dodgers keep proving they’re better, no matter how much the gap has evaporated — stifled optimism.
The uphill climb against the Dodgers was particularly such, considering the Padres needed to win three straight against the only team that did not lose three in a row this season. The Dodgers cut through the Brewers like papier-maché. Temperatures rose against their NL West rival, but the results remained the same as L.A. remained perfect in the postseason.
When the Padres made rare noise, the Dodgers answered — loudly.
The next level became clear for San Diego: To dethrone the Dodgers, you have to put more pressure on them, more often, and sprinkle salt on open wounds when the time comes. Even Will Smith, the Dodgers’ lighthitting catcher, snapped an 0-for-11 playoff skid Thursday by becoming the first player in the franchise’s long postseason history to have five hits in a game.
Meanwhile, Julio Urias wiped out 10 straight Padres hitters from the second through fifth innings. When the Padres threatened in the sixth with runners on second and third with no outs, they scored only once, on a balk call against Urias.
“You have to be up to the challenge, be ready for the task,” Seager said. Amen.
The Dodgers do exactly that, when it hurts the most.