Hello,
On Monday the Dodgers earned a much needed victory, giving them hope to advance to the World Series. If LA had gone down 3-0 to the very solid Cardinals that almost for sure would have been LA's death sentence. The Dodgers are still down 2-1 and have an uphill battle going forward. After the excellent Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke couldn't secure wins, there seemed to be a lot of dismal talk about whether Hyun-Jin Ryu would pitch well enough to get the Dodgers a win.
Things certainly were looking bleak for LA and their fans before Game 3. The pitching matchup was Adam Wainwright vs. Ryu. Let's look closer at each pitchers previous postseason game. Wainwright was 19-9 with a 2.94 ERA in the regular season. In his previous post season appearance he pitched the deciding game for the Cards against the Pirates. He did give up 8 hits, but only 1 run in closing out the Pirates. Ryu was 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA in the regular season. Ryu in his previous, and first ever, playoff game really struggled. He only lasted 3 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs. His ERA for this one game was 12.00.
Well the answer to the question in the first paragrah is yes, Ryu stepped up and had a humongous game for the Dodgers. Ryu was the very definition of solid Monday night. He pitched 7 clutch innings, only allowing 3 hits and no runs. Ryu, Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen combined to shut out the Cardinals. Dodgers pitching has been outstanding this series, they've only given up 4 runs through 3 games.
It's not like Wainwright had a poor game either. I wasn't able to see much of the game but it sounds like his fielders let him down. Wainwright also pitched 7 innings, but gave up 6 hits and 2 runs.
The Dodgers continue to struggle to score runs in this series though. Through the first 3 games of the NLCS the Dodgers have only scored 6 runs. It's hard to believe only 10 total runs have been scored in this series. Still LA's run production must increase if they want to win the NLCS. And then certainly if they play either the high scoring Red Sox or Tigers in the World Series.
The Dodgers did have 9 hits in Monday's game, but it could be that if things had been a tad bit different maybe none of those 3 runs would have scored. Two of the runs were results of poor play in the field and the the third run was disputed. Hanley Ramirez very gamely played through a broken rib. He continued being the Dodgers best hitter in the playoffs. He had two hits, joining Ramirez in the two hit club were Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig. Also credit has to go to Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis who had a hustle triple. That's the type of hustle that I like to see when a team is battling for their playoff lives.
The scheduled pitching matchup in the critical Game 4 of the NLCS is Ricky Nolasco pitching for the Dodgers. He hasn't even pitched in the playoffs yet. Although many seem to think that Don Mattingly will call on Zack Greinke to pitch on 3 days rest. Whoever pitches for L.A. will likely be going against Lance Lynn, who won earlier in this series. Lynn won Game 1 in relief.
Meanwhile on Sunday things were looking very bleak for the Red Sox. They were no hit until the 9th inning in Game 1 and then no hit through the 5th inning in Game 2. The Red Sox hadn't scored in 14 innings and only had 3 hits through 16 innings. Max Scherzer was cruising through Game 2 and things were looking extremely bleak for the Red Sox.
Detroit then scored 4 runs in the top of the 6th and lead the Red Sox 5-0 going into the bottom of that inning. The Red Sox were able to piece together a run in the 6th when Dustin Pedroia drove in Shane Victorino. Pedroia probably had also saved at least one run with a diving grab of a ball that looked like it was going to make it into the outfield for sure.
Neither team scored in the 7th and the Tigers didn't score in the top of the 8th. The Red Sox were 6 outs away from being down 2-0 in games and going to Detroit for 3 games. Max Scherzer came out after his very effective outing, he'd looked sharp all night and only gave up 2 hits and 1 run. Again the Red Sox only had 3 hits through the first 16 innings of the series.
In the 8th inning the Red Sox finally got something going. Following Stephen Drew grounding out, the struggling Will Middlebrooks came up. However he came through with a double and Jacoby Ellsbury walked. Victorino struck out so there are two on and two outs in the 8th inning, things still look a bit bleak. Next up is Pedroia, who gets a single to load the bases.
The Tigers brought in Joaquin Benoit and he would face one of the most clutch hitters in MLB history. I can't remember how many big hits Ortiz had in the 2004 World Series. It seemed like every time the Sox needed a big hit, he provided it.
That trend would continue on Sunday night. With the game and seemingly the Sox season on the line and the bases loaded this is what happened:
David Ortiz jacked the first pitch he saw over the right field fence and a diving Torii Hunter. Ortiz had hit a game tying grand slam and suddenly the Red Sox had momentum. In the top of the 9th Koji Uehara shut down the Tigers. In the bottom of that inning Jarrod Salalamachia single home Jonny Gomes and just like the Red Sox grabbed a victory out of the jaws of defeat.
Game 3 is Tuesday afternoon Jon Lackey goes against the very tough Justin Verlander.
themusicaddict
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