FRIARS SWEPT OUT OF NLDS BY L.A. MACHINE
The Padres came from behind to win 22 times during the regular season, more than any other major league team. They did it in again in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series last week, staving off the end of their season that night and extending it the next night. On Thursday, they spoke of being at peace, confident, like any other day, in the hours before the night’s first pitch. A been there, done that sort of vibe as they faced elimination from the National League Division Series. “It’s been like that all year,” center fielder Trent Grisham said. “We just have confidence in each other. We believe in one another. We know that it’s not over until it’s over with us.” It is over with them. The Dodgers scored five runs in the third inning and completed a three-game sweep of the Padres with a 12-3 win Thursday night at Globe Life Field. This season, delayed and shortened and briefly interrupted by COVID-19, may well be remembered as the start of something special for a young team that realized the beginnings of its potential over the past 21⁄2 months. But the Padres’ spectacu
lar coming-out campaign ended with them watching their nemesis celebrate on a neutral field.
There may be nothing like the postseason to illustrate how far away close can be. Win, or go home.
The Padres came a long way in 2020. The Dodgers remain a few steps ahead.
The team that has won eight straight National League West titles advanced to its fifth NL Championship Series in those eight years. The sixth game of the Padres’ first postseason appearance in 14 years was the last one.
The Dodgers’ quest for their first World Series title since 1988 goes on. The Padres’ chase for the franchise’s first championship will have to wait.
No cake this year. The bubble was burst. The Padres are headed home.
They were essentially fighting with two arms tied behind their back. For the handicap of their top two starters being sidelined, the Padres may never have stood a real chance against one of the majors’ most prolific offenses.
Dinelson Lamet (biceps/ elbow) not being on the roster and getting only one inning from Mike Clevinger in Game 1 before he had to be shelved with his elbow injury would have required a Herculean, possibly unprecedented effort by the bullpen. Thursday they used a postseasonrecord 11 pitchers. They used nine in Game 1.
But for all that, the Padres’ own usually productive bats didn’t do their jobs here.
While the Dodgers were 13-for-39 in the series with runners in scoring position in Game 3, the Padres were 3for-23 with runners in scoring position.
The Padres scored twice in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead — on Jake Cronenworth’s bases loaded walk and Grisham’s single. But that was after having runners at the corners with no outs and the bases loaded with one out.
Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias got the final out of that inning and then — as the Dodgers built an 8-2 lead — retired nine more Padres in a row before Manny Machado led off the bottom of the sixth with a single.
Machado went to third when left fielder AJ Pollock overran Eric Hosmer’s line drive. Hosmer ended up on second, and both runners moved up 90 feet (with Machado scoring) on a balk by Urias. Hosmer was left standing on third when Tommy Pham struck out, Jurickson Profar popped out and Wil Myers flied out to center field.
Grisham drew a two-out walk in the seventh, and Urias was replaced by Blake Treinen. Tatis welcomed him with a double that moved Grisham to third. Machado ended the inning on a lineout to shortstop.
So after winning two elimination games against the Cardinals last week, the Padres couldn’t win one against the Dodgers.
They fell 5-1 in the opener here Tuesday.
In Game 2, they came within inches of taking a lead in the seventh inning, deprived when L.A. center fielder Cody Bellinger reached over the wall to rob Tatis of a home run, and then left the bases loaded at the end of a 6-5 loss.
For the third straight game, they held a one-run lead for a time Thursday. A short time.
The night began with Adrian Morejon setting down the Dodgers in order, just the second time a Padres pitcher has set down an opponent in order in the first inning in six postseason games.
The Dodgers turned a leadoff walk to Max Muncy into a run when Will Smith followed with a double and Muncy scored on Bellinger’s fielder’s choice grounder.
By the time he was through the second inning, Morejon had matched his season high of 41 pitches.
He came out for the third inning with the one-run lead and promptly lost it with some help from Tatis.
After Mookie Betts walked on five pitches and went to second on a wild pitch, Tatis made a diving stop on a grounder up the middle by Corey Seager but his throw bounced twice and ticked off Hosmer’s glove at first, sending Betts home and Seager to second.
Craig Stammen replaced Morejon, and Justin Turner hit a soft liner into left field on the first pitch he saw to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. An intentional walk to Bellinger and RBI singles by Pollock and Joc Pederson made it 6-2 and ended Stammen’s night after he had gotten just two outs.
The Dodgers added a run in the fourth and another in the fifth, four more in the ninth.
That’s how the Dodgers do it, how they have done it for a long time against the Padres and many other teams.
The Padres won the first game of the three series the teams played this season, won the first two of a fourgame set in August. It was as if the Dodgers then got serious, as they won the final two games in each series.
After the Padres beat them 7-2 on Sept. 13, the Dodgers were noticeably more demonstrative the next two nights.
“We’re not going to keep getting punched in the mouth,” Betts recalled this week. He went on to say it was good to have the Padres beat them that way.
“I’m glad it happened at the time,” he said. “Now we know what to expect going forward.”
The Dodgers have lost twice in 17 games since then.
“I think if you are looking for a turning point,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “that was probably one of them.”