Ethier is ready when called upon
The veteran responds after lost season, Dylan Hernandez writes.
CHICAGO — Andre Ethier waited six months for this, seven months, really, if you count the end of spring training.
The monotonous therapy sessions, the periods of despondence and frustration, Ethier endured in the unlikely chance he could live the night he lived Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
In the first at-bat of his first start of this postseason, Ethier was presented with his opportunity and he didn’t miss, belting a second-inning offering from Kyle Hendricks over the ivy-covered brick wall in right field. The home run silenced the home crowd and energized the Dodgers, who went on to claim a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
“For him to come through is no surprise,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Why would it be a surprise? This wasn’t the first time Ethier made the most of a limited opportunity.
He was sidelined because of a broken leg for the first five months of the regular season last year, but played well enough to earn a place on the Dodgers’ postseason roster. He homered here last year, too, in a pinch-hit appearance in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
The late-season made him optimistic about this year. He proved to himself he could still be productive. He prepared his body over the offseason for the upcoming six-month grind.
“I put myself back in position, health-wise, baseball-wise, where I was the previous year,” he said. Then … Running from the batter’s box to first base in a spring-training game, Ethier felt something in his back. He didn’t think much of it at first. But the pain didn’t subside and he went in for an examination that revealed a herniated disk.
“I was in disbelief and disheartened for a while,” he said.
Rehabilitation was a slow process. His projected return date was pushed back over and over again.
The nature of the injury worsened the situation.
“When I broke my leg last summer, I could still swing, I could still throw, I could still lift weights a certain way, I could still do all these things,” he said. “I just had to stay off my leg. My back, I couldn’t do any of that stuff.”
Unable to count on Ethier returning, the Dodgers acquired another lefthanded-hitting outfielder, Curtis Granderson.
Ethier knew he was a longshot to make the postseason roster when he was activated from the 60-day disabled list in September. But he played well enough over 22 games to make the Dodgers invest a roster spot on him.
He rewarded them Tuesday.
When Ethier stepped into the batter’s box against Hendricks, the Dodgers trailed 1-0.
Ethier took a pitch. He sent the second crashing into a small video scoreboard above the wall.
“This is a tough place to play,” Ethier said. “It really is.”
Ethier heard the stadium go silent.
He knew the message the home run sent to the Cubs: The Dodgers weren’t backing down. They were here to fight.
Ethier singled in his third at-bat.
This was the same stadium where Ethier recorded his first postseason hit nine years earlier.
A couple of weeks ago, Ethier joked about how many postseason games he played without reaching a World Series.
This is Ethier’s eighth time in the playoffs in 12 major league seasons.
The Dodgers are one victory removed from making their first World Series appearance in 29 years. Ethier is one victory away from realizing his careerlong ambition.
Ethier wasn’t allowing his mind to wander too far ahead.
“Today was the most important game,” he said. “Now, tomorrow’s the most important game.”
Ethier’s message to himself will remain simple, similar to the one he told himself as he was trying to recover from the back injury that cost him most of this season.
“Just getting after it tomorrow,” Ethier said. “Get the job done.”
‘For him to come through is no surprise.’ —Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager, on Andre Ethier’s home run