The Dodgers still have this. The Dodgers are still in charge. The New York Mets still have the Dodgers right where they want them.
Two games at Dodger Stadium. They win one and advance to the World Series. Shohei Ohtani is hot. Mookie Betts is the hottest. Andy Pages lit up out of nowhere. Bullpen quiet and almost unhittable for Game 6. Walker Buehler ready to throw legendary punches in Game 7 if needed.
Done deal, still.
Yes, the Dodgers blew their first chance at the Fall Classic on Friday night in a 12-6 loss to the Mets in Game 5 of the NLCS on Friday at Citi Field, cutting their lead to 3-2.
And yes, at one point it was a bit confusing for your trusty correspondent when a fan sitting outside the press box saw me and put his phone up with my story from the day before I announced that it was over with this series. The fans and his colleague started shouting at me, and I answer him now.
Sir, I’m doubling down.
Dodgers can’t overcome Jack Flaherty’s struggles in Game 5 of NLCS against Mets
The Dodgers are yet to win this series. They are still going to the World Series.
After spending their pregame interview sessions talking about what it felt like to be on the brink of the World Series, the Dodgers quickly fell into a strangely high abyss of being an outlier, not a trend.
The singing and bouncing fans here were already fired up when the Temptations sang the national anthem before following up with “My Girl” in tribute to Francisco Lindor’s entrance song. Fans were further encouraged when Ohtani was stranded at third base in the first inning after failing to score on a groundout to shortstop Lindor.
“I think he just had a brain cramp while he was locked in there,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani during an interview on the game’s broadcast, a rare feat for Superman.
Shohei Ohtani, left, and Teoscar Hernandez walk to the dugout during the fourth inning against the Mets on Friday night.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers’ hopes went downhill from there, thanks to sudden fatigue in pitcher Jack Flaherty’s right arm. That was the weird part. Five days after shutting out the Mets on two hits in seven innings in this series-opening win, Flaherty had nothing on Friday night, his fastball two mph higher than usual, and the They beat the Mets.
The kid from Burbank really wanted to pitch the Dodgers on baseball’s biggest stage next week and instead sent them back to Chavez Ravine this weekend, a sweet story temporarily ruined.
Shortly after Flaherty took the mound, he gave up three runs on a Pete Alonso home run, then chipped in for five runs in the third inning on a variety of walks and hits, eventually eight runs in three innings, but terrible.
“He wasn’t sharp, he was obviously fighting something,” Roberts said. “It’s been under the weather for a bit. So I don’t know if he blew into things, the speed. I’m not sure”.
Regardless, Flaherty is done doing NLCS damage, he’s not pitching again in this series, and his bad numbers don’t change basic historical math.
Of the 93 teams that have taken a three-game lead in a baseball series, 79 have won that series, an amazing 85%.
Although the Dodgers themselves surpassed those predictions in 2020 against the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, there will be no surprises here.
The biggest remaining advantage for the Dodgers can be found in the players who did not play on Friday. Thanks to Flaherty staying in the game and carrying his fights, guys Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips were rested for Sunday’s Game 6, when they will all be in used in a bullpen game against the Mets’ Sean Manaea.
This will work. This worked. The Dodgers relievers shut out the Padres in their biggest win of the season, and might have won Game 2 in the NLCS if the Dodgers hadn’t decided to insert rookie Landon Knack in the middle.
There will certainly be criticism from some corners that the Dodgers played Friday’s game too early, that they could have pulled Flaherty after he walked two batters and led off a two-run double to Starling Marte in the third inning. put the Dodgers in 5-. 1 deficiency. But knowing they had two home games in the bag, and knowing they’ll need their high-risk relievers for both, Roberts made the right decision.
If you don’t agree with Roberts, wait until you see the outcome of Sunday’s bullpen game before trashing him.
“And so for me at 5-1, I’m not going to deploy our leverage guys knowing there’s a cost on the back end and I understand there’s still more basketball to be played in the league,” Roberts said.
Another advantage for the Dodgers is that Buehler would be ready for a possible Game 7 on Monday night. And it will be ready. He pitched four three-hit innings against the Mets in Game 3, showing plenty of his old fire. If the Dodgers wanted a pitcher on the mound in a winner-take-all game, it would be Buehler.
In addition to the pitching advantage, the Dodgers’ hitters are killing it, with two home runs from Andy Pages and another long ball from Mookie Betts, nine hits and briefly closing a 10-2 deficit.
“It was good to see our guys fight again,” Roberts said. “Definitely offensively we are in a very good position.”
In many ways, the Dodgers are still in a very good place.