There’s room on bandwagon
Vin was waving to the crowd again. Newk was whipping one across the plate again.
The ageless Sandy Koufax was in the box seats, the new Sandy Koufax was on the mound, and the once-brilliant Dodgers were those Dodgers again.
Welcome back, summer. Welcome home, hardball.
On an early October night that appropriately felt like a warm July afternoon, the Dodgers began their long-awaited postseason Friday with a raucous, rollicking flashback.
Remember when everyone thought they could be the best team in baseball history? Before everyone thought they were the worst
team in baseball history? Well, after a few hours of brilliant hitting, sturdy pitching and serious snake crushing, everyone can feel free to jump back on the belief wagon.
To be more precise, the Dodgers opened the first round of the playoffs by punching the Arizona Diamondbacks right between their wide eyes in a 9-5 victory in front of a full Dodger Stadium.
It was closer that it should have been, the Dodgers allowing a 7-1 lead to grow a tad tenuous after consecutive seventh-inning homers by Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis against Clayton Kershaw, whose seventhinning playoff ERA as a starter is now 25.50. But the Dodgers survived with cleanup work by Tony Watson, Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen, and all was well.
It’s only the first game of a best-of-five National League Division Series, but in the Dodgers’ last 15 postseason series, the outcome of the first game mirrored the outcome of the series.
It’s only nine innings, but this thing felt finished after one, the Dodgers’ rattling kid pitcher Taijuan Walker for four runs in the first before he even recorded an out, the big hit being a Justin Turner three-run homer into a partying mass of fans in the left-field pavilion.
It was only one night. But goodness, what a night, one that featured dancing fans and rattling cheers and Hollywood stars reading lines from their movies. When the video board showed Tom Hanks, he wagged his finger and mouthed the words, “No crying in baseball.’’
That is usually good advice for Dodgers fans in October, as the team has made 10 postseason appearances without a World Series championship, the longest such drought in history. But for once, those words were not needed.
The night began when Don Newcombe, the Dodgers’ 91-year-old legend who practiced throwing a sponge ball for two weeks in anticipation of this moment, delivered a perfect first pitch from in front of home plate to his protege Jansen.
The charm continued in the middle innings when the video board showed Vin Scully sitting in the stands. He immediately stopped his conversation and stood and waved to a roaring crowd that has missed him terribly.
Dodgers fans have also missed this kind of baseball, the sort that pushed the team to a 52-9 stretch at one point during a regular season during which they were once on a pace to record the most wins in major-league history. Memories were quickly dimmed when, late in the season, this same team went 1-16, a stat that’s scary since no club since 1900 has gone into such a nose dive and emerged as a World Series champion.
But these these were the good Dodgers, right from the start, beginning a first inning that featured the same sort of offense that led them on this summer’s amazing streak. It helped that they were facing a very nervous Walker, making his first postseason start after admitting he can’t even stand watching these sorts of games.
That’s right, Walker admitted he was so stressed out during Wednesday’s wild-card victory over the Colorado Rockies that he couldn’t watch it from the dugout.
“I was in the clubhouse because I couldn’t really handle it,’’ he said. “I was watching it on TV, and sometimes not watching it, and just pacing back and forth.”
Well this time, he couldn’t retreat to the clubhouse, and the Dodgers quickly cornered him.
Chris Taylor led off by lashing a full-count single. Corey Seager drew a fullcount walk.
Then Turner drove a two-strike home run into the left-field pavilion, shaking the packed stadium down to its studs.
Up next, Cody Bellinger, who drove another twostrike pitch up the middle for a single. Then Yasiel Puig scored him on a double to the center-field wall after a brilliant nine-pitch at-bat.
It was trademark 2017 Dodgers excellence. Grinding plate appearances, unselfish swings, working the pitcher, moving the line, wearing out arms and whittling away at resolve.
“This is what we’ve talked about from this offseason, wanting to bring that trophy back to L.A. to fans who have been waiting a long time for it. It’s the fifth year in a row for some of these guys, trying to do everything we can to make it happen,’’ said Turner earlier this week. “It’s about doing the little things, paying attention to details, situation hitting, finding a way to get things done.’’
Walker finished the inning and was then pulled after allowing four runs on four hits in one 48-pitch inning in his postseason debut. The Diamondbacks must now come back in Game 2 Saturday night with another pitcher with a bit of baggage.
Robbie Ray has stifled the Dodgers in his five starts against them this year with a 3-0 record, 2.27 ERA, 53 strikeouts and 12 walks. But by taking the ball Saturday against Rich Hill, he is essentially pitching on short rest, as he threw 34 pitches out of the bullpen in that wild-card victory.
“We made it here for a reason,’’ said Ray. “We’re not just limping our way in.’’
The Dodgers nearly had to limp their way out of Friday night, but survived, and Turner warned fans to get used to it.
“No lead is safe in playoffs, no team going to roll over and quit,’’ said Turner. “It’s going to be an emotional ride of ups and downs. If we limit our downs and ride our highs as much as possible, we’ve got a chance.’’
On a redemptive Friday night, the city surely fell back in love with that chance.