7, THEN HEAVEN
Dodgers and Brewers were trading punches until one team was left standing
GAME 1 BREWERS 6, DODGERS 5 Brewers get early jump on Kershaw
Andy McCullough: The postseason career of Clayton Kershaw consists of peaks and valleys, an agonizing autumnal ritual. He can dominate and he can wilt — excellence in one game followed by vulnerability in the next. As the years pass, the heights feel less lofty, a mere respite before the inevitable tumble. The cycle repeated itself in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Kershaw was far from the only Dodger to disappoint Friday evening at Miller Park. But he represents the tip of the organizational spear. The Brewers broke him early and withstood a late flurry on the first night of this series.
It was the briefest start of Kershaw’s career in the playoffs, a five-run, nine-out misery. Milwaukee proved to be a more formidable foe than the Atlanta Braves, whom Kershaw had blanked for eight innings in the NL Division Series. That outing marked the peak. Friday was the valley, as Kershaw crumbled beneath the weight of the Brewers bats and the defensive incompetence of his teammates.
Earlier in the summer, as Kershaw approached free agency and navigated around his diminishing velocity, he tinkered with the sequences and locations of his pitches. His resolve has not faded, in this, his 10th season as a Dodger, but his fastball has. Milwaukee demonstrated the limits of his reinvention.
They said it: “It was a tough one. Obviously, you don’t want to get your team off to that start. But it happened.” — Clayton Kershaw.
By the numbers: Justin Turner struck out four times, the first time he has struck out four times in a major league game.
Bill Plaschke: Welcome to the land of cheese, where, for the longest time Friday night, the Dodgers stunk like a slab of Limburger.
Greetings from Miller Park, where, for the first seven innings, the Dodgers were as flat as stale Hamm’s.
Hello from Game 1 of the National League Championship Series in old Milwaukee, which the Dodgers began by aimlessly wandering around like broke tourists on a late night at Oktoberfest. By the time they found themselves, it was too late. When they finally mounted what would have been one of the greatest rallies in their postseason history, the climb was too much.
Dylan Hernandez: If the game had taken place on a greater stage, if Clayton Kershaw wasn’t made the focal point of the Dodgers’ latest setback by virtue of his higher profile, Yasmani Grandal could have earned a permanent place in the franchise’s mythology Friday night.
He was Yu Darvish behind a catcher’s mask. He was Jonathan Broxton with a chest protector. He was Tom Niedenfuer in shin guards.
If Kershaw had chances to escape a nightmarish third inning, Grandal made them vanish with a series of incredible blunders behind home plate.
He allowed a passed ball, his second of the game. He was called for catcher’s interference. And he was charged with an error when he dropped a throw from center fielder Cody Bellinger.
It was as if his glove was lathered in grease.
GAME 2 DODGERS 4, BREWERS 3 Turner bounces back in clutch
Andy McCullough: Justin Turner clutched the Rawlingsissued lumber in his left hand and pointed toward the left-field seats at Miller Park. As he started his trot down the first base line, he held his bat aloft, posed in his follow-through, as if he never wanted the feeling to leave his limbs.
He knew the feeling well, the sensation of a go-ahead home run in a playoff game, so he indulged in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ victory.
Turner disappeared into his teammates’ embrace as the two-run shot off Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress gave the Dodgers the lead, shattered the veneer of menace around the Brewers’ bullpen and evened the series. The homer erased six innings of futility and a seventh inning of exasperation. It papered over another shaky outing from a starting pitcher and another blow-up from a reliever. It permitted the Dodgers to end a 12-game Milwaukee winning streak and escape the relatively tame confines of this ballpark.
The home run added another line to Turner’s postseason resume. It lacked the symbolism of his walkoff homer in Game 2 of last year’s NLCS, a game-winning blast on the anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s World Series walkoff in 1988. But it resonated for a different reason: Turner flushed one of the worst games of his career, a four-strikeout stumble in Game 1, with a flourish.
They said it: “It takes a special athlete to have a night like he had last night and to show up the next day in a big spot, and want the bat in your hand. Justin is that guy. And those are hard to come by.” — Dave Roberts.
By the numbers: Cody Bellinger ended an 0-for-15 postseason skid with an RBI single in the seventh.
Bill Plaschke: As the ball disappeared into a mass of dropped yellow towels by stunned and silent fans, Justin Turner calmly rounded the bases as if he’s been there before — which, of course, he has. Waiting for him was a dugout full of dancing Dodgers, for whom this never gets old.
“As soon as I hit it, it felt good,” said Turner. “I knew it was a homer, and it’s cool to run around the bases and see all your teammates going crazy, jumping up and down waiting for you. That’s pretty cool.”
Remember how last year’s blast drew comparisons to Kirk Gibson? Probably the greatest compliment is that this time, Justin Turner is simply being compared to Justin Turner.
Dylan Hernandez: More will be required from the rotation for the Dodgers to reach the heights they aspire to this October. Lacking the dependable late-inning options they had the last couple of postseasons, the Dodgers anticipated being more dependent on their starters, with manager Dave Roberts acknowledging he was more open to pitching them deeper into games.
Only they haven’t performed well enough to remain on the field. The result is that the Dodgers were forced to play catch-up in the first two games of this NLCS. They scored four runs in the last two innings of Game 1 and still came up a run short. They easily could have boarded their chartered flight to Los Angeles on Saturday night trailing the series two games to none.
GAME 3 BREWERS 4, DODGERS 0 Low-energy Dodgers stumble
Andy McCullough: The fans
jeered the catcher and begged for his backup. The starting pitcher stared in disbelief as a home run disappeared from sight. The hitters spiked bats in the grass and slammed equipment in the dugout. The discontent overflowed at Dodger Stadium as the Milwaukee Brewers collected a 4-0 victory in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Monday to secure a two-games-to-one advantage.
The game featured a sampling of this summer’s Dodgers lowlights. Yasmani Grandal failed to smother a wild pitch that let in a run, then heard chants for backup Austin Barnes after committing a passed ball. Walker Buehler lasted until the seventh inning, in which he gave up a two-run home run to slap-hitting shortstop Orlando Arcia.
The Dodgers demonstrated enough power to outlast Colorado for a sixth consecutive division title. Their brawn overwhelmed Atlanta in a division series. Yet, they found themselves two defeats away from the offseason, tilting at the windmills built by the crafty starters and smoke-throwing relievers of Milwaukee.
They said it: “Today just wasn’t our day. We had no energy. The stadium had no energy. The fans had no energy. Overall, it was a pretty bad game for everybody who calls themselves Dodgers.” — Enrique Hernandez.
By the numbers: The Dodgers struck out 14 times and were hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Bill Plaschke: The guttural roar heard throughout Dodger Stadium early Monday afternoon was a current of air whipping down from the Elysian Hills, bending palms, toppling trash cans.
By nightfall, though, the whoosh wasn’t the wind, it was the wipeout.
It was the sound of Dodgers flailing at Milwaukee Brewers fastballs with their useless bats. It was Cody Bellinger waving at a fly ball he did not catch. It was Yasmani Grandal whiffing at just about everything, everywhere, at the plate, behind the plate, you name it. In the end, that rumble was also boos — those rare postseason boos — as the Dodgers meekly fell to the Brewers.
Dylan Hernandez: Dodger Stadium is loud in October, and not because the public address system is set to release sound at unreasonably high volumes. Whatever outsiders say about the spectators here showing up late
and departing early, these fans can unleash thunderous howls that can be heard on the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River. In their most raucous moments, they make this place shake, literally.
“Blue Heaven on Earth,” as Tommy Lasorda calls the 56year-old stadium, was dead Monday night. And who could blame the crowd? About the only time the Dodgers offered the fans an opportunity to cheer was when they ran onto to the field for pregame introductions.
GAME 4 DODGERS 2, BREWERS 1 (13) Bellinger walks it off in the 13th
Andy McCullough: The wave of Dodger blue clambered over the Dodger Stadium dugout railing, steps away from beating the runner to the plate. Matt Kemp hugged the third-base line. Justin Turner clutched some sort of stick. Chris Woodward raised his arms in triumph. After five hours and 15 minutes of agonizing baseball, the group was ecstatic to see Game 4 of the National League Championship Series end in any finish. To finish like this felt like a dream.
The final sequence made the ballpark shake. Cody Bellinger stroked a two-out single into right field. Manny Machado hustled to score from second base. The ballpark shook as the Dodgers walked off with a 2-1 victory in 13 innings over the Brewers to even the series at two games apiece.
A few Dodgers sprinted to the plate to greet Machado. The majority tracked Bellinger into left field, where he was backpeddling and giddy, cherishing the first walkoff of his career.
It was that sort of game, where strategic decisions were questioned from the first inning to the 13th. Brewers manager Craig Counsell permitted reliever Junior Guerra to pitch to Bellinger with the winning run at second base, rather than walking the bases loaded to face pitcher Julio Urias with the Dodgers’ bench empty. The approach backfired, and this series will be decided this weekend at Miller Park.
They said it: “I was trying to get over him, and hit his foot. If that’s dirty, that’s dirty, I don’t know. Call it what you want.” — Manny Machado, on the controversial play where he dragged his foot over the ankle of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar.
By the numbers: The Dodgers used nine pitchers. The Brewers needed seven. The Dodgers struck out 17 times. The Brewers whiffed 15 times. Both teams ran out of position players.
Bill Plaschke: The roar returned. The building jumped. The fans forgave.
A day after Enrique Hernandez criticized the Dodger Stadium crowd for its lack of energy, hours after he apologized for that critique, Chavez Ravine was filled Tuesday with the noisy joy of amends.
Fans were chanting, “Let’s Go Dod-gers” even before the first pitch. They were oohing every big swing, screaming at every big Dodgers pitch, howling at every Milwaukee Brewers move.
The energy was real. The Dodgers fed on it, were fueled by it, and eventually flew with it, all the way back into this National League Championship Series with a hit that brought the house down.
Dylan Hernandez: And so it comes down to Clayton Kershaw. Of course it does.
Kershaw will pitch the pivotal fifth game of the National League Championship Series, a contest that will decide whether the Dodgers move to the brink of a second consecutive World Series appearance or a step closer to being eliminated. Only there’s more.
The game Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium could mark the last time Kershaw scales a mound in a Dodgers uniform. If the Dodgers drop this series and Kershaw elects to explore the free-agent market this winter, he might never pitch for them again.
GAME 5 DODGERS 5, BREWERS 2 Kershaw delivers in the clutch
Andy McCullough: The opposing starter had departed after facing only one batter, but there Clayton Kershaw stood, on the mound in the center of Dodger Stadium, a living, breathing anachronism for seven innings in an 5-2 victory in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. The starting pitcher may be going the way of the dodo, but Kershaw is still holding firm, even as his fastball dims and his mileage increases. He is not ready for extinction.
The 2018 season has not been easy on Kershaw. He hurt his shoulder. He hurt his back. Some days hurt his pride. Few games looked worse than the opening night of this series, when the Brewers disposed of him in threeplus innings. Undaunted by the worries about his pitch mix and his psyche, he roared back Wednesday, carving up Milwaukee’s lineup with nine strikeouts to give the Dodgers a 3-2 series lead and deposit the team on the doorstep of another World Series.
They said it: “It doesn’t matter what happens. When we know he’s getting the ball, we’re all excited about it.” — Justin Turner, on Kershaw.
By the numbers: Kershaw’s final line: 7 IP, three hits, one run, nine strikeouts, two walks. He retired the last 13 batters he faced.
Bill Plaschke: It was old school. It was throwback. It was lovely.
On the mound, a giant threw for nearly three hours, no hook, no help, just curves and heat and heart.
At the plate, the home run was replaced with hustle, big swings became blunt pokes, no clubbing, all creating.
On an old-fashioned autumnal Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers moved to within one win of reaching their second consecutive World Series by taking the most nostalgic of paths. They traveled Route 1988. Dylan Hernandez: In retrospect, it’s curious the Dodgers were ever in the position they found themselves last month. The reasons they were in danger of missing the postseason remain a mystery, something worth looking into over this winter to ensure they don’t underperform to that degree again.
The Dodgers had more talent than any team in the downtrodden National League then and they have more talent than any team in the downtrodden National League now.
And with a win in either of their next two games — games in which the Milwaukee Brewers are expected to start journeymen Wade Miley and Jhoulys Chacin — the Dodgers will return to the World Series.
GAME 6 BREWERS 7, DODGERS 2 It all comes down to do-or-die game
Andy McCullough: In the middle of the eighth inning Friday, as the fans at Miller Park brayed invective at Manny Machado and flapped yellow towels to celebrate the final stages of a 7-2 Brewers victory, an act occurred that could cost the Dodgers the pennant: A relief pitcher sat down.
A night off for a reliever rarely has long-ranging consequences. But Josh Hader, Milwaukee’s left-handed All-Star, is not an ordinary reliever, and his team does not treat him like an ordinary reliever. He is a multi-inning demon, a pitcher who had logged three innings in Game 1, made a pair of scoreless appearances afterward and nearly struck out half the Dodgers he faced in the process.
When the Dodgers failed to stress reliever Corbin Burnes in the eighth, Hader ceased warming up. Granted three days of rest, his number will surely be called Saturday, in Game 7 at Miller Park. Dumped into a firstinning hole by Hyun-Jin Ryu on Friday, the Dodgers could not put enough pressure on the Milwaukee pitching staff to force Hader into the game.
“That’s their best reliever, and obviously you would have liked to have kept the game close enough to have them use him tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They got away with it tonight because of the run differential. They didn’t have to use him.”
They said it: “Since August, we’ve been playing for our lives. Here we are again. Another shot at it. Listen, man. They’re a good team. And we know we’re good too. We’ve just got to come out here and battle.” — Kenley Jansen, on Game 7.
By the numbers: Ryu had not given up more than three runs in any of his 15 regular-season starts.
Bill Plaschke: They are generally considered the two coolest words in sports.
After a long Friday night spent surrounded by flapping yellow towels and hacking Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers might argue that point. Game…um…er…7? Believe it, the Brewers forced it, and now the Dodgers must marinate in it after Milwaukee’s 7-2 victory in Game 6. Game Freaking 7. On Saturday night here these two teams will meet with the winner advancing to next week’s World Series against the Boston Red Sox, and the loser left wondering what happened.
If that team is the Dodgers, that pondering will date to late Friday night in a clubhouse where many players remained in their uniforms long after the last pitch, quietly studying video between bites of their postgame meals.
Dylan Hernandez: As the Milwaukee Brewers were ransacking Ryu in Game 6 and the crowd at Miller Park was celebrating each of their runs with deafening roars, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was forced to make his most critical call of the night earlier than anticipated.
Rather than to manage to win that night, Roberts navigated the Dodgers to ensure they wouldn’t lose Game 7 before it started.
The Dodgers didn’t have anyone warming up in their bullpen after Ryu gave up a tworun double to Jesus Aguilar in the first inning. They didn’t have anyone up after Mike Moustakas followed with a run-scoring double. And they still didn’t have anyone up after Erik Kratz singled in the last of the Brewers’ four runs in the first inning.
The decision to stay with Ryu for as long as Roberts did preserved his bullpen for the showdown Saturday. The downside was that, well, the Dodgers essentially conceded a game after only an inning or two. This wasn’t a game in mid-June. This was the sixth game of the NLCS.
GAME 7 DODGERS 5, BREWERS 1 Let Dodgers’ celebration begin
Andy McCullough: The 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers have spent nearly seven months tormenting themselves and their fans, operating as if a pennant were their birthright. They tantalized with their talent and tortured with their results. They lost games when they shouldn’t have, but won every game that needed to be won. They required 163 games to win the division. If Major League Baseball would have allowed it, the Dodgers would have taken the National League Championship Series to Game 8.
The route back to the World Series may have been circuitous, a journey of fits and starts and lineup alterations, but the destination remains as sweet. Because for the second season in a row, the Dodgers will reign as champions of the National League, downing the Milwaukee Brewers with a 5-1 victory in Game 7 at Miller Park. The Dodgers handled this series as they did the season: They played themselves into a corner, and then muscled their way out.
The emotion and elation of the trek manifested in the persona of Yasiel Puig as he rounded the bases in Saturday’s sixth inning. He had just launched a three-run homer to break the tension and muffle the crowd. Upon contact, Puig flipped his bat. As he rounded first base, he turned to his dugout and chopped at his crotch. At third, he thumped his chest. After touching the plate, certifying his blast in Dodgers history, he wagged his tongue and accepted the adulation of his teammates.
The mob included all the stars from Saturday: Cody Bellinger, the NLCS MVP, who provided a lead with a second-inning home run. Walker Buehler, who struck out seven and protected the advantage bequeathed to him. Chris Taylor, who stole a gametying, extra-base hit from Brewers All-Star Christian Yelich in the fifth. The rest of the contributors resided among the relievers, like Julio Urias, who replaced Buehler in the fifth. Clayton Kershaw loped in from the bullpen to finish the ninth.
In the midst of the sixthinning throng, manager Dave Roberts left the dugout’s top step to salute Puig. The manager has emerged as the avatar for this club, the source of frustration for fans who have not embraced the Dodgers’ organizational philosophy emphasizing depth, versatility and sacrifice. The culture survived the frights of the regular season. The culture has carried the club through October.
They said it: “Every single person in this room has their fingerprints on this season. Every single one of you men. We haven’t accomplished our goal yet. Four more wins.” —Dave Roberts, addressing the team in the clubhouse after the victory.
By the numbers: This is the first the Dodgers have advanced to consecutive World Series since 1977-78.
Bill Plaschke: It has stared at them for a year now, dancing beyond their reach, swaggering around their pain, teasing, taunting, challenging.
On a cold Saturday night at Miller Park, a blue-hot baseball team finally confronted their demon, stuck their chin in its face, and challenged it to another fight.
Welcome back, Dodgers, to the World Series.
Welcome back to your dream. Welcome back to your nightmare.
Dylan Hernandez: The final word didn’t come in the form of a home run or a throw across his body.
With the continuous and deafening boos making Miller Park sound like a hive of angry bees Saturday night, Manny Machado responded not with brute force but with graceful technique.
The villain of this postseason worked a full count against Milwaukee Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin in the second inning, then did the unexpected. He bunted.
The infield single set up a two-run home run by Cody Bellinger that provided the Dodgers with a one-run advantage. They went on to win 5-1. Machado was heading to the World Series.
Asked if he felt he won the back-and-forth with the Miller Park faithful that unfolded over the last couple of days, Machado smiled and responded with a question of his own.
“What do you think?” he asked.