LOS ANGELES — It just seemed impossible Monday night that the mighty
Los Angeles Dodgers, who have turned Dodger Stadium into a West Coast
Canyon of Heroes with big hit after big hit, were going to let a wimpy
single by an anonymous career minor leaguer win such an important game.
And they didn't.
After little-known Atlanta Braves outfielder Jose Constanza had given his team a 3-2 lead with a seventh-inning pinch single off Ronald Belisario, the Dodgers rose in the bottom of the eighth with one of their typically explosive rallies.
Rookie Yasiel Puig led off with a sharp double down the right-field line off Braves reliever David Carpenter.
Up next was veteran third baseman Juan Uribe, in the lineup more for his glove than his bat, though he had an important two-run homer in Sunday night's 13-6 Dodger win.
BOX SCORE: Dodgers 4, Braves 3
MATTINGLY: Takes risk, uses Kershaw in Game 4
Uribe failed twice to bunt Puig to third. Then, on a 2-2 slider, Uribe drove a majestic fly ball over the left-field fence for a two-run homer and a 4-3 Dodgers lead.
L.A. closer Kenley Jansen came on in the ninth inning to nail down the win and the 3-1 series victory, the Dodgers advancing to the NL Championship Series in a season that began with them famously floundering in last place.
Then came their historic 42-8 run in midsummer. Now it's October and they look like they might be headed for a classic finish.
"It's a great feeling," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly after the game, wiping champagne from his eyes. "I'm just so proud of those guys in that room that have just kind of stayed together and kept working."
The Dodgers couldn't have been happier for Uribe, who had horrible seasons in L.A. in 2011 and '12 after signing a three-year free agent contract but never stopped working and never stopped supporting his teammates, even when Luis Cruz beat him out for the third base job last season.
"Juan gained so much respect down in that clubhouse for the way he treated (Cruz) and how he reacted to everything," Mattingly said. "Those guys love him out there. He's just a great teammate, and it's good to see."
WATCH: Dodgers' wild celebration
Not that Mattingly wasn't a little annoyed with Uribe when he failed twice to bunt Puig to third.
With two strikes on Uribe, Mattingly just watched like everybody else, wondering what might happen next, and then Uribe absolutely crushed it.
"You try to put guys in the right position and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't," Mattingly said. "Sometimes it doesn't and then it still works. That's what happened tonight.
"As soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone. I'm thinking, 'The playoffs are so stupid, aren't they?'"
There were some people ready to call Mattingly and the Dodgers stupid if the gamble of starting ace Clayton Kershaw on three days' rest instead of going with No.4 starter Ricky Nolasco had not worked out.
Kershaw, who had never started a game on short rest in his career, was sharp early and not so sharp later.
MLB: Tiger shakes off confrontation
Kershaw, when he's got all his pitches going, is an artist. In the second inning, he got the first out when Brian McCann took a called third strike – a 75 mph curveball that crossed the plate thigh-high and landed in catcher A.J. Ellis' glove just above the ground. McCann was so sure the pitch was low that he nearly got himself kicked out of the game, home plate ump Bill Miller showing impressive restraint.
Kershaw got the second out of the inning on a full-count 94 mph fastball that Andrelton Simmons had no idea what to do with so he just looked at it and then walked without argument to the dugout.
Meanwhile, Carl Crawford, the Dodgers' leadoff hitter, again set the early tone offensively. His three-run homer in the second inning Sunday night gave the Dodgers an early 4-2 lead. Monday, he delivered even earlier, blasting another home run to right field to lead off the first inning. It was the first time he had ever led off a playoff game with a home run, but it wasn't the first time he had done it against Garcia, having led off a regular season game against him in 2005 back when Garcia was a power pitcher with the White Sox.
And then he did it again, crushing a 2-2 sinker down the line and way over the right-field fence in the third inning for a 2-0 lead.
Kershaw and his teammates couldn't hold it, though, as the Braves answered with two unearned runs in the fourth inning. Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez messed up a potential double play with a bad throw to second that opened the door to both runs, the second one scoring when second baseman Mark Ellis threw off-target on what should have been an inning-ending double play.
Though both runs were unearned, the Braves hit the ball hard in the inning, particularly Freddie Freeman's line drive leadoff single to center and Chris Johnson's sharp RBI single to left.
Mattingly decided to pull Kershaw after the sixth inning and 91 pitches, with the game tied 2-2.
Kershaw said he was ready to go in the seventh, but Mattingly decided that six was enough considering the short rest.
"I'm never going to say I'm not ready," Kershaw said afterward. "It's just not what you do.
"This is the postseason, and I don't want to take it for granted. If Donnie wanted me to pitch tomorrow, I would."
Kershaw had lobbied for the start, and he was pleased the way it worked out. He even got a postgame hug from perhaps the greatest lefty of them all, Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.
"Sandy is such a great guy," Kershaw said. "I have a great relationship with him and I have a ton of respect for him. To get a hug and a 'good job' from a guy like that, from a guy that's been there, from a guy that's done this before and was the best at it for a long time is pretty special."
Belisario relieved Kershaw in the seventh and gave up a one-out triple to No. 8 hitter Elliot Johnson. That brought up the pitcher's spot, and Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, selecting a pinch-hitter for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia, who impressively matched Hershiser through six innings, chose Constanza, a 30-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder who played most of the last three seasons in Class AAA Gwinnett, Ill.
On a 2-1 fastball, Constanza lined a single to center and waved his arms in triumph as he ran to first and Johnson scored.
And just like that, the Braves looked like they had survived the Dodgers attempt to snuff them out with Kershaw.
But in the eighth, Puig, who ignited the lackluster Dodgers in June with his raw talent and speed and energy, provided a jolt – a double into the right-field corner.
"A huge hit," Mattingly said. "That put a lot of pressure on them, got the crowd going a little and gave us a shot."
Uribe did the rest.
He's hit playoff homers before, for the 2005 White Sox and the 2010 Giants. Those teams went on to win the World Series.
Maybe every time Uribe hits a playoff home run, his team ends up a champion. We'll see.
But Uribe said he knows one thing for sure.
"This moment today, I'll never forget," he said. "I feel good for myself. I feel good for my teammates."
Read more : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/10/08/dodgers-beat-braves-advance-to-nlcs/2941013/
And they didn't.
After little-known Atlanta Braves outfielder Jose Constanza had given his team a 3-2 lead with a seventh-inning pinch single off Ronald Belisario, the Dodgers rose in the bottom of the eighth with one of their typically explosive rallies.
Rookie Yasiel Puig led off with a sharp double down the right-field line off Braves reliever David Carpenter.
Up next was veteran third baseman Juan Uribe, in the lineup more for his glove than his bat, though he had an important two-run homer in Sunday night's 13-6 Dodger win.
BOX SCORE: Dodgers 4, Braves 3
MATTINGLY: Takes risk, uses Kershaw in Game 4
Uribe failed twice to bunt Puig to third. Then, on a 2-2 slider, Uribe drove a majestic fly ball over the left-field fence for a two-run homer and a 4-3 Dodgers lead.
L.A. closer Kenley Jansen came on in the ninth inning to nail down the win and the 3-1 series victory, the Dodgers advancing to the NL Championship Series in a season that began with them famously floundering in last place.
Then came their historic 42-8 run in midsummer. Now it's October and they look like they might be headed for a classic finish.
"It's a great feeling," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly after the game, wiping champagne from his eyes. "I'm just so proud of those guys in that room that have just kind of stayed together and kept working."
The Dodgers couldn't have been happier for Uribe, who had horrible seasons in L.A. in 2011 and '12 after signing a three-year free agent contract but never stopped working and never stopped supporting his teammates, even when Luis Cruz beat him out for the third base job last season.
"Juan gained so much respect down in that clubhouse for the way he treated (Cruz) and how he reacted to everything," Mattingly said. "Those guys love him out there. He's just a great teammate, and it's good to see."
WATCH: Dodgers' wild celebration
Not that Mattingly wasn't a little annoyed with Uribe when he failed twice to bunt Puig to third.
With two strikes on Uribe, Mattingly just watched like everybody else, wondering what might happen next, and then Uribe absolutely crushed it.
"You try to put guys in the right position and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't," Mattingly said. "Sometimes it doesn't and then it still works. That's what happened tonight.
"As soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone. I'm thinking, 'The playoffs are so stupid, aren't they?'"
There were some people ready to call Mattingly and the Dodgers stupid if the gamble of starting ace Clayton Kershaw on three days' rest instead of going with No.4 starter Ricky Nolasco had not worked out.
Kershaw, who had never started a game on short rest in his career, was sharp early and not so sharp later.
MLB: Tiger shakes off confrontation
Kershaw, when he's got all his pitches going, is an artist. In the second inning, he got the first out when Brian McCann took a called third strike – a 75 mph curveball that crossed the plate thigh-high and landed in catcher A.J. Ellis' glove just above the ground. McCann was so sure the pitch was low that he nearly got himself kicked out of the game, home plate ump Bill Miller showing impressive restraint.
Kershaw got the second out of the inning on a full-count 94 mph fastball that Andrelton Simmons had no idea what to do with so he just looked at it and then walked without argument to the dugout.
Meanwhile, Carl Crawford, the Dodgers' leadoff hitter, again set the early tone offensively. His three-run homer in the second inning Sunday night gave the Dodgers an early 4-2 lead. Monday, he delivered even earlier, blasting another home run to right field to lead off the first inning. It was the first time he had ever led off a playoff game with a home run, but it wasn't the first time he had done it against Garcia, having led off a regular season game against him in 2005 back when Garcia was a power pitcher with the White Sox.
And then he did it again, crushing a 2-2 sinker down the line and way over the right-field fence in the third inning for a 2-0 lead.
Kershaw and his teammates couldn't hold it, though, as the Braves answered with two unearned runs in the fourth inning. Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez messed up a potential double play with a bad throw to second that opened the door to both runs, the second one scoring when second baseman Mark Ellis threw off-target on what should have been an inning-ending double play.
Though both runs were unearned, the Braves hit the ball hard in the inning, particularly Freddie Freeman's line drive leadoff single to center and Chris Johnson's sharp RBI single to left.
Mattingly decided to pull Kershaw after the sixth inning and 91 pitches, with the game tied 2-2.
Kershaw said he was ready to go in the seventh, but Mattingly decided that six was enough considering the short rest.
"I'm never going to say I'm not ready," Kershaw said afterward. "It's just not what you do.
"This is the postseason, and I don't want to take it for granted. If Donnie wanted me to pitch tomorrow, I would."
Kershaw had lobbied for the start, and he was pleased the way it worked out. He even got a postgame hug from perhaps the greatest lefty of them all, Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.
"Sandy is such a great guy," Kershaw said. "I have a great relationship with him and I have a ton of respect for him. To get a hug and a 'good job' from a guy like that, from a guy that's been there, from a guy that's done this before and was the best at it for a long time is pretty special."
Belisario relieved Kershaw in the seventh and gave up a one-out triple to No. 8 hitter Elliot Johnson. That brought up the pitcher's spot, and Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, selecting a pinch-hitter for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia, who impressively matched Hershiser through six innings, chose Constanza, a 30-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder who played most of the last three seasons in Class AAA Gwinnett, Ill.
On a 2-1 fastball, Constanza lined a single to center and waved his arms in triumph as he ran to first and Johnson scored.
And just like that, the Braves looked like they had survived the Dodgers attempt to snuff them out with Kershaw.
But in the eighth, Puig, who ignited the lackluster Dodgers in June with his raw talent and speed and energy, provided a jolt – a double into the right-field corner.
"A huge hit," Mattingly said. "That put a lot of pressure on them, got the crowd going a little and gave us a shot."
Uribe did the rest.
He's hit playoff homers before, for the 2005 White Sox and the 2010 Giants. Those teams went on to win the World Series.
Maybe every time Uribe hits a playoff home run, his team ends up a champion. We'll see.
But Uribe said he knows one thing for sure.
"This moment today, I'll never forget," he said. "I feel good for myself. I feel good for my teammates."
Read more : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/10/08/dodgers-beat-braves-advance-to-nlcs/2941013/
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