As I watched the San Francisco Giants collapse in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, for the first time in my life I empathized with their fans. Having lived through Clayton Kershaw’s nightmare on Tuesday afternoon, I knew what they were feeling — the confusion, the anger, the feeling of abandonment.
And yet, unlike the Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers survived their nightmare. That was despite manager Dave Roberts making two minor mistakes by leaving Kershaw in to face Luis Severino and Chris Heisey after Danny Espinosa roped a single that measured 103 mph off his bat.
And two major mistakes from Roberts by allowing Kershaw to face Trea Turner and Bryce Harper after Heisey was just centimeters away from parking a hanging slider into the seats.
The Dodgers somehow came out on top, thanks to Chase Utley’s go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth. And now, I honestly believe they’re better for it.
When your back is against the wall in a playoff series, the fear is always of hitting rock bottom. It’s not losing — although that’s often times the same thing — the fear is experiencing the exact emotions mentioned above.
And the Dodgers have been there. They were there yesterday.
They left the best pitcher in the world four batters too long, got no help from two of their mid-level relievers and got one more good look at Daniel Murphy’s heroics. All in a game they desperately needed to win.
That is rock bottom.
The look on Kershaw’s face in the dugout, the pit in the bottom of Roberts’ stomach, the angst of Corey Seager knowing he could have ended it all with a clean play. It was a feeling almost as bad as defeat.
And yet, out of those ashes, the Dodgers rallied.
Joe Blanton was masterful for four outs, Andrew Toles, Andre Ethier and Utley — three of the most unlikely heroes — cobbled together a run, and then Kenley Jansen returned to dominance. The end result was the Dodgers escaping with a 6-5 win.
As they head into Game 5, they’re still in the role of underdog. Seeing anyone other than Kershaw squaring off against Max Scherzer on the road would assure them of that. But now they’ve gained some confidence and momentum.
Rich Hill, owner of the second-best ERA in baseball this season (amongst pitchers with 110+ innings pitched), wants the ball. He presumably will get it.
Waiting in the wings is 20-year-old phenom Julio Urias, who posted a 1.94 ERA in August and September (nine games; six starts), and a bullpen that should be rejuvenated by a day off and a win.
It’s not Kershaw, but it’s definitely not bad, either.
As I reflect on Game 4, I can’t help but think this is a team that’s playing with house money. They’ve experienced the depths of despair and survived. And now? They’ve got nothing to lose.
