NLCS 7: Dodgers 4, Atlanta 3

Atlanta - 110 100 000 - 3  3  0  
Dodgers - 002 001 10x - 4 10  0  

When the Los Angeles Dodgers left the bases loaded in the fourth inning, they had stranded eight men, including six on second or third. Atlanta led 3-2, which meant there was a very real possibility the Dodgers would be haunted by those missed opportunities. (LA had also had at least one runner on base in each of their last 13 innings, but had scored in only two of them.)

But that was not how things turned out. While I'm sure the Dodgers would have been more than happy to have scored five or six of those eight runners, what actually transpired was pretty cool, too. Los Angeles got two solo home runs, by pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández in the sixth and Cody Bellinger in the seventh, as well as three perfect innings of relief from Julio Urías, who closed out the game.

The Dodgers clinched their third National League pennant in the last four years, coming back from 1-3 to defeat Atlanta. They are the first Dodgers team to win a seven-game series after trailing 1-3. 

The Rays and Dodgers will play in the 116th World Series, beginning Tuesday night in Arlington. It will be the first ever World Series played at a neutral site and the first since the all-St. Louis series in 1944 to be played in one ballpark (Sportsman Park, Cardinals/Browns). It will also feature the teams with the best records in their respective leagues, something that has not happened since 2013 (Red Sox and Cardinals).

Corey Seager was named NLCS MVP, setting NLCS records for home runs (5) and RBI (11). Seven of his nine hits were for extra-bases, with two doubles added to the five dongs. I wonder how many LCS or WS MVPs went 0-for-5 in Game 7?

Dustin May learned fairly late that he would be the Dodgers' Game 7 starter (about seven hours before the first pitch). Perhaps that was why his first eight pitches missed the strike zone. May walked Ronald Acuña, who stole second on the first pitch to Freddie Freeman, who also walked. Marcell Ozuna took a strike before hitting a hard grounder through the hole. Acuña beat a strong throw home and Atlanta led 1-0. May avoided further humiliation when Travis d'Arnaud hit into a double play and Ozzie Albies struck out.

Mookie Betts led off the Dodgers first with a single to left and took second on a grounder to first. But Los Angeles could not get him home. Justin Turner flied to center and Max Muncy fanned.

Dansby Swanson led off the second with a solo home run off reliever Tony Gonsolin, giving Atlanta a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half, the Dodgers threatened again, but came up empty. Two-out singles by A.J. Pollock and Joc Pederson put runners at first and third, but Chris Taylor went down swinging.

After Gonsolin had a quick five-pitch third, his teammates went back back to work with the bats. Atlanta starter Ian Anderson (3-5-2-2-2, 73) got two outs on only four pitches. He issued an eight-pitch walk to Turner and was tagged for double into the right field corner by Muncy. Will Smith grounded the first pitch into center and both runners scored, tying the game. Bellinger walked, but Pollock lined out to center.

Atlanta regained the lead almost immediately. Albies walked on a full count, stole second on Gonsolin's 1-0 pitch to Swanson, who also walked. Austin Riley fell behind 0-2, but lined a single to center that scored Albies. (No one knew it then, but that would be Atlanta's last hit of the season.)

Blake Treinen took over on the hill and threw a wild pitch on 0-2, which put men on second and third. The infield was in and Nick Markakis grounded to Turner at third. The runners had taken off on contact (with no outs?). Turner threw home to Smith, who had Swanson was in a rundown. Smith chased the runner back towards the bag and threw back to Turner, who dove and tagged Swanson on the foot before turning on his knees and throwing to Seager at third, who tagged out Riley. The 5-2-5-6 double play was the first such play in postseason history and an epic squander for Atlanta.

Not your typical double play, but one the @Dodgers needed. 😱 #NLCS pic.twitter.com/0mgrqRF9Xa

— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2020

The bottom of the fourth was a LOB-tomy for the Dodgers. Facing Tyler Matzek, Taylor singled with one out and Betts walked. Seager smoked a line drive right at Acuña in right field. A wild pitch moved the runners up and Turner walked, loading the bases. Muncy took what looked like a questionable strike on the outside black before missing a fastball away.

Freeman was robbed of a home run by Betts in the fifth. Mookie made several outstanding catches in the series, but "I think the home run robbery [was the best], because that was actually a home run. The other ones were going to stay in the park, but I think it's more fun when they were going to go over the wall."

MOOKIE AGAIN. pic.twitter.com/SlSttMLcVj

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 19, 2020

Both teams were quiet until Hernández led off the sixth against new reliever A.J. Minter. Hernández was ahead in the count 2-1, but Minter got a called strike, and Hernández fouled off the next three pitches (inside, low and inside, low and away) before barreling up a fastball that Minter left over the plate. Hernández lined it off the facing of the second deck in left and the game was again tied, 3-3.

Taylor followed with a double that was ripped down the left field line and into the corner. He went to third on Betts's fly to right-center. Atlanta brought its infield in and when Seager grounded to second, Albies had time to make an accurate throw home and Taylor, coming in with a head-first slide, was easily tagged out.

After Urías pitched an uneventful and clean seventh, the Dodgers faced Chris Martin who had recorded the final out of the sixth. Martin looked good, striking out Muncy and Smith, the latter on three called strikes (all sinkers). Bellinger stepped in with two outs.

Bellinger watched a strike and two balls before taking the 2-1 pitch well outside. But plate umpire James Hoye blew the call, ruling it strike two. Bellinger fouled off three pitches, two of which were also outside, but considering Hoye's unsteady eye, there was no taking chances. Martin's eighth pitch was over the plate, a bit higher than dead center. Bellinger crushed it to deep right. He knew it immediately and his reaction was extremely subdued, all things considered. 

CODY. BELLINGER. CRUSHED.

The @Dodgers take a Game 7 lead. 😱 #NLCS pic.twitter.com/Nd5WQFtypu

— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2020

Bellinger's celebration after crossing the plate was anything but subdued. He banged arms with Hernández and jammed his shoulder. The LA Times said he ran straight into the trainer's room. "They popped it back in so I could go out and play defense. It kind of hurt. I'm gonna maybe use my left arm. I've never dislocated that one."

Meanwhile, Urías was as calm as a goggled clam, setting down Atlanta's 2-3-4 hitters in the eighth. Manager Dave Roberts had decided it was Urías's game because I don't think Kelsey Jansen (who had pitched the ninth innings of both Games 5 and 6) warmed up at all.

Albies and Swanson, the first two Atlanta batters in the ninth, grounded to shortstop. The first play was to Seager's backhand, but he handled both chances easily. Riley swung at the first pitch and lofted it to center. Bellinger made the catch, completing the Dodgers' NLCS comeback.

Also: I'm betting Brian Snitker heard a lot of shit about his last name as a kid.

Our ears and intellects were assaulted by John Smoltz for 3:37. But Joe Buck was absent! He was off calling a football game, so Joe Davis had his seat. 

Smoltz's faults as an announcer are many, but the main detriment is: HE WILL NOT SHUT UP. His motormouth is especially bad in the first few innings of a game, when he can overpower the play-by-play man. Smoltz may calm down a bit as the game goes on, but his incessant mansplaining never lets up. He lectured everyone about what you feel before a Game 7, how you feel during a Game 7, how you manage your emotions as a Game 7 evolves, etc. etc. Approximately 99.3% of this chatter was cliched pablum.

Smoltz also likes to shorten various words. We know Ron Darling loves to talk about the "post", how many hits does he have in the "post", how has his curve been in the "post". Smoltz talked a lot about "comp", which stood for either competitor or competition. I wasn't comp sure about that, but I know it didn't stand for no dang "computer", cuz Smoltzie don't truck with analytics. His other abbreviation was "max" (usually used with "max"). Over the course of a game, the time saved by shortening words here and there (or saying a sentence with a few missing words) adds up, allowing him to cram more blather in.

Rookie Ian Anderson came into the game having pitched 15.2 scoreless innings this postseason. With one out in the second inning, that number was 17, and Smoltz imagined the Dodgers on the bench saying, "Let's give this guy an ERA." . . . Of course, Anderson already had an ERA. It was 0.00.

When Betts led off the third, Smoltz informed us: "Looks like he's about to go on a tear." Sadly, we never learned exactly what it was Smoltz spied in that particular plate appearance that prompted such an observation about Betts. Needless to say, Betts did not "go on a tear". Right then, he flied to right. Later, he walked, flied to center, and dropped a double into right-center.

During that same half-inning, Smoltz pointed out how they measure "everything" in baseball now, but what they don't or can't measure (my ears perked up: what could be outside of "everything?") is "heart beat". . . . Actually, there are super-accurate machines that can measure exactly that. Smoltz amended that to "heart" or some such, but I, being quite disappointed in his answer, had tuned out.

After Hernández tied the game in the sixth, Smoltz remarked "Some guys are just wired for October." (In 52 games over six seasons, Hernandez is a .214 postseason hitter. . . . Those wires might be a bit frayed.)

Smoltz did add a few things. One of his numerous pontifications about "Game 7" was about the intense concentration a pitcher needs to have for every single pitch thrown. It can easily make four innings seem like eight. And he criticized Taylor for his headfirst slide into an out at the plate. He didn't come out and say Taylor should have gone in standing up, but he said a runner would have more ways to move around or over the catcher if he doesn't commit to sliding head first.

The other constant topic was "narrative". When I tell you what Smoltz wanted us to understand about "narrative", it's not going to make any sense because no former player in his right mind would ever believe such a thing for even a minute. And I'm not even completely sure what he meant. He seemed to say a game has a narrative and sometimes a player will "flip the script" (an expression I fucking loathe and would pay a nice sum to never hear again) and change the narrative.

You don't have to watch very many baseball games to grasp the concept that games have no narrative at all. Anyone can impose a narrative on a game after it's over. See above for my latest effort. Announcers and sportswriters love to impose their own narratives on past events, telling us why certain things happened. They are always full of shit, of course, but that doesn't stop them from doing it (like how political pundits are 98% dead wrong, yet somehow they remain employed and respected as pundits). But that can't be what Smoltz meant, because a player can't . . . flip . . . ughhh . . . after a game is over.

But it also cannot be possible for Smoltz to think that all baseball games are semi-predetermined, and sometimes a player can upset the expected outcome. Is that it? Is that what he means? What we expect to happen in a game might not actually be what ends up happens? That's not very earth-shattering. That's common sense. That's reality. It's what has happened in damn near every single game ever played.

Smoltz pitched in 845 professional baseball games (plus spring training!) and has been an announcer for seven seasons. He's seen a shitload of games and he must know that every game can be summed up in one word: youneverknow. The rookie pitcher outshines the future Hall of Famer, the juggernaut gets routed by the basement-dweller, the scrawny infielder cranks three home runs, the reliever with pinpoint control walks in the winning run, a former player-turned-announcer has a game in which he says brilliant stuff for nine innings . . . anything can happen! Jayson Stark is beloved as a sportswriter because of the sheer joy he has for knowing and reporting the bizarre and unprecedented and the WTF?!? of baseball.

I probably should go back and listen to the part of the game where Smoltz was lecturing about "narrative" (it was the top of the fourth) but considering there's a World Series coming up and he'll be yapping through the whole fucking thing (plus Joe Buck), I have my limits. (I wonder who the international radio announcers are . . .)