Turner, goat for a day, swiftly returns to Babe Ruth mode
MILWAUKEE — The National League Championship Series resumes Monday on Vin Scully Avenue, where the Los Angeles Dodgers will have history on their side. Thirty years ago, on that date, Kirk Gibson hit his miracle home run to help propel the Dodgers to their last championship. The year was so improbable, and the impossible happened.
The Dodgers may never be underdogs again, not when they carry roughly double the payroll of the Milwaukee Brewers, another team desperate for a banner. The Brewers have not yet won a title, and all but three Major League Baseball franchises have been to the World Series since Milwaukee’s last trip in 1982.
The Brewers nearly got halfway there in Game 2 on Saturday, before Justin Turner spoiled their day in the eighth inning. Turner smashed a two-run, goahead homer into the second deck in left field at Miller Park, lifting the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory that tied the best-of-seven series.
Turner also connected in
Game 2 last fall, ending that one with a three-run blast to beat the Chicago Cubs. He shared the Most Valuable Player Award of that NLCS with Chris Taylor, and the Dodgers seem to take his cue.
“If you’re talking about the grind, the tough conversations, the identity of our ball club, he’s probably the face,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He personifies everything that I believe in as a baseball player, as a professional. He’s the glue for our club.”
Turner’s evolution is well known by now: He reinvented his swing with the help of a former New York Mets teammate, Marlon Byrd, and thrived with the Dodgers after the Mets declined to offer him a contract after the 2013 season.
Yet there was no telling then that Turner would also be a consistent force in the post-season, with few historical peers. James Smyth, a researcher at YES Network, tweeted that Turner’s home run Saturday gave him a .319 average, a .439 on-base percentage and a .556 slugging percentage in the post-season. Only Babe Ruth has higher figures in all three categories (with a minimum 150 post-season plate appearances).
Turner was on deck at the end of Game 7 of the World Series last fall, watching helplessly as Corey Seager grounded out to clinch the championship for the Houston Astros. In Game 1 of this series, Turner had his chance with two outs in the ninth, and he struck out to strand the tying run on third.
It was the 975th game of Turner’s career, post-season included, and his first with four strikeouts. The Brewers kept switching pitchers, and Turner could not keep up; he fanned against Brandon Woodruff, Josh Hader, Joakim Soria and Corey Knebel.
Of course, even Ruth had his moments of October infamy. He was caught stealing to end Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, and recovered with a season for the ages. Turner, on a much smaller scale, made his own emphatic statement with the home run off Jeremy Jeffress on Saturday.
“Look at the day he had yesterday,” Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado said. “He put that behind him quickly, and only veteran guys that know that they’re confident in themselves can put those things behind you and come up with a huge home run to give us a victory. It just tells you everything you need to know about him.”
Turner called Game 1 the worst day of his career — he also made an error at third base — and said he was simply happy to have another chance Saturday. In that way, he is fortunate among Dodgers; only Machado and Turner are immune to the mixing and matching of Roberts, who had used all of his bench players by the seventh-inning stretch Saturday.
“I think everyone wants to be there every game, all game long, and that just speaks to the depth that our team has,” Turner said. “I’m glad I have the opportunity to be out there every day, but we have a roster full of guys that are more than capable of doing that.”
In Game 2, Turner was the hitter the Brewers most feared. Starter Wade Miley had retired 16 in a row before Taylor’s twoout single in the sixth, and with Turner due up as the potential tying run, manager Craig Counsell called for reliever Corbin Burnes.
He would not let Miley face Turner for the third time.
“You want to stay out there, but all year long, that’s kind of the route we’ve taken and it’s worked,” Miley said.
“Do it again, I’d probably have done the same thing. Those guys have been so good down there, and they’re going to be fine the rest of the way.”