The Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the talented San Diego Padres 3-0, face the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS
Arlington, Texas-- Last time I wrote about the Dodgers in the postseason, they did the unthinkable and lost in the most demoralizing fashion I had ever seen.
Let's fast forward to a year later, where the Dodgers are facing an upstart, swagger-infested San Diego Padres team that is oozing with talent and confidence.
These teams do not like each other, and it was evident after numerous fracas between both teams during the regular season and the postseason.
The Padres were poised to show they were championship material. Unfortunately, they were understaffed without their two best starting pitchers for the teams' National League Division Series, and the Dodgers showed how cutthroat they could be.
Justin Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers have achieved the initial step of what they expect is an extended visit to the Lone Star State.
Turner put the Dodgers ahead with a record-breaking hit in a big inning kindled by a fine stop-gone-bad by Fernando Tatis Jr., and they closed out a three-game National League Division Series sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 12-3 win Thursday night.
They advanced to face the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Game 1 is Monday, also at Globe Life Park but with fans in the stands for the first time in 2020. Los Angeles, the National League’s top seed, will be the home team riding a nine-game winning streak.
“Records are cool, championships are better,” said Turner, who was apart of the 2017 and 2018 National League Championship Series that fell short in the World Series. Until you’re the last team standing, that’s the ultimate goal.”
“When we win the day, it’s a good feeling, but we still know what’s in front of us,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. “We still know there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Will Smith set a Dodgers postseason record with five hits, and Joc Pederson had a two-run single to cap that crucial five-run third as Los Angeles advanced to its fourth NL Championship Series in five years. The Dodgers lost to the Washington Nationals in a five-game division series last season.
After securing a place in their 14th NLCS, to equal the St. Louis Cardinals for the most, the Dodgers assembled for a team photo on the pitcher's mound at the same ballpark where the NLCS and World Series will be.
“We obviously feel really confident about our club, we’ve still got a lot to work to do though,” AJ Pollock said, “We did what we wanted to do, we did what we’re supposed to do. “We're going to celebrate that, but we expected it.”
Turner's RBI single made it 3-2 and was his 64th career postseason hit, breaking a tie with Steve Garvey for the most in Dodgers postseason history.
That came right after Tatis, the 21-year-old growing superstar, executed a diving play on Corey Seager's hard grounder, but then attempted to make a throw from his knee. The ball skipped along with the dirt and past first baseman Eric Hosmer, allowing Mookie Betts to score the tying run. The second time Hosmer should have caught the ball since he is a golden glover.
After 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger was intentionally walked with two outs after already having a 2-0 count, Pollock drove home Turner with a single, and Pederson followed with a single over the outstretched glove of third baseman Manny Machado to make it 6-2.
Smith produced an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run double in the ninth of the 11th Padres pitcher -- a postseason record.
Betts, a day after his 28th birthday and signed for 12 more years, scored three times and had a sacrifice fly.
Our offense was great. We had big plays, big moments from a lot of different guys throughout the series," Pollock said.
Julio Urias (2-0), the third Dodgers pitcher, struck out six, walked one, and allowed an unearned run over his five innings.
Tatis, Machado, and these Padres, who got only one inning out of injured Mike Clevinger this postseason and were also without their other top starter Dinelson Lamet, will have to wait until next season for another chance to overtake the Dodgers.
"They outplayed us. They played better baseball than we did," Tatis said. "We've just got to learn. This is just getting started."
“Their pitching staff over there was really good," Padres rookie manager Jayce Tingler said. "We had a couple of opportunities to strike when we had some baserunners on. It seems like when we got to those positions, that's when their guys beared down and made some pitches.”
“We knew we were short-handed, just not being at full throttle with all of our pitchers," Tingler said. "But the one thing our guys did, they laid it out there. They gave it everything they had”
On Thursday, the Dodgers collected 14 hits and nine walks against 11 Padres pitchers — a record for a nine-inning postseason game. They scored runs in five innings. They broke the game open in the third when they tallied five two-out runs with four singles, a walk, an intentional walk, a steal, and an error.
Let's pray the offense carries over into the NLCS against the almighty Atlanta Braves. Go Dodgers.