by Paul Teetor
With apologies to the Holy Bible and in particular to the Book of Job, on Saturday it was Teoscar Hernandez who giveth and Teoscar Hernandez who taketh away.
Hernandez, the Dodger outfielder who is in the lineup mainly for his potent bat and most definitely not for his sub-par fielding prowess, gave the Philadelphia Phillies a huge gift in their second inning rally for a 3-0 lead in the first game of the best-of-five-game divisional series.
He simply gave up on chasing down a line-drive gapper by J.T. Realmuto that found its way between Hernandez and center fielder Andy Pages, who had to run down the ball that Hernandez missed. By the time the play was over, the Phillies had scored one run and were on their way to two more.
The ball went all the way to the wall – but it shouldn’t have. Hernandez’s lackluster effort at cutting the ball off led to a third run when Realmuto scored from third on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly.
Hernandez knew he had screwed up on a crucial play.
“I was playing straight in. I didn’t get a good angle,” Hernandez said. “He hit it pretty good. I tried to get it, so he can’t go all the way to third or they can score two runs in that situation. It went by me.”
Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts defended Hernandez’s defense by saying “he wasn’t not trying,” whatever that means. But a moment later Roberts admitted “Yeah, that’s a ball that you don’t want Realmuto to have a triple on.”
That flurry was the only offensive action for either team in the first six innings, as the aces of both squads – double-duty Shohei Ohtani for the Dodgers and Cristopher Sanchez for the Phillies — matched total domination of the other team’s hitters.
But in the seventh inning – an inning that may well go down in Dodgers history if they go all the way and repeat their World Series title this year – Hernandez made amends for his near fatal error.
And boy, did he make some great amends.
With the Dodgers trailing 3-2, Hernandez stepped up to the plate and smacked a go-ahead three-run home run that brought the Dodgers a 5-3 comeback win just like that.
The raucous Phillies sold-out home crowd went silent like they had just found a cockroach in their sloppy, gooey cheese steak sandwiches. They couldn’t believe that a game in which they had led all the way had suddenly been snatched away from them.
They knew it was over right there and then.
Sure, there were still two more innings to go, and the Phillies did load the bases with two out in the eighth inning against the always-shaky Tyler Glasnow, but the Dodgers got out of that pickle with a long fly out. And in the ninth inning 23-year-old Japanese flame-thrower Roki Sasaki shut the door on the Phillies and established himself as the Dodgers closer of choice in what is sure to be a turbulent few weeks ahead while they battle through the next two playoff rounds.
No more fear and terror for Dodgers fans whenever they need a closer in the eighth or ninth innings any more: Never fear, Roki is here.
The other piece of good news for the Dodgers: with the exception of that darned second inning, when he gave up two hits and three runs, Shohei had his longest and best outing of the season. For the first time he truly looked like the dominant pitcher he had once been for the Angels before he had to become a hitter-only for his first Dodger season while waiting for his elbow surgery to heal.
Even so, he didn’t throw his first live action pitch until July of this year, didn’t reach four innings until August, and didn’t reach five innings until September.
After that outburst in the second inning, Ohtani allowed just one more hit in six innings and held the Phillies’ dangerous duo of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hitless in six at-bats against him, including four strikeouts.
“Prior to the game, just preparing for the game, just looking at the data, doing my usual preparation – I was a little nervous imagining myself out there on the mound,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “But once I was on the mound and on the field, that went away and it was really me focusing.”
The stage was set for Teoscar’s heroics the inning before when Tommy Edman singled to put two runners on for Kiké Hernandez, who did what he does in October: coming through with a clutch hit. He drove in two runs with a double down the left field line, Edman roaring through third base coach Dino Ebel’s “stop” sign to score.
Kiké Hernandez’s double did more than wake up the offense. It also drove Sanchez from the game.
With veteran setup man David Robertson on the mound in the seventh, Pages led off with a single and Robertson clipped Will Smith with a pitch to put two runners on before Hernandez’ titanic blast excited Dodgers fans as far as 3,000 miles away.
Roki Sasaki got the ball in the ninth – his second ninth-inning appearance in the past two games but his first in a save situation. He gave up a one-out double to Max Kepler but closed it out.
“Honestly, I could have gone to a couple other guys in those spots,” Roberts said. “But just kind of knowing who I’ve got, I felt good about those guys we ran out there.”
Looks like Roberts has finally found the pitching formula to carry the Dodgers to a World Series repeat.
Mira Costa Football Gets a Strange Win, Redondo a Familiar loss
Mira Costa got a win the easy way Friday night and Redondo took a loss the hard way.
Costa’s home football game against Lawndale was canceled mid-game after a report that a bullet was found in a school locker. The Mustangs, who were leading 14-0 near the end of the first quarter when the game was stopped, were awarded the win. They scored on a touchdown run by A. J. McBean and a TD pass from Liam Meeker to his brother Luke Meeker.
They are now 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in the Bay League.
Police investigated the report and around midnight issued a statement that said there was no danger to the school or the community.
Redondo, meanwhile, raced out to a 24-16 lead over Torrance, only to see the lead evaporate in a flood of unanswered points as the Sea Hawks lost the game 34-24.
The Torrance defense came up with three turnovers and quarterback Gibson Turner threw three touchdown passes as the Tartars roared back to take the victory.
Early in the second half, it was Redondo (2-4 overall, 0-1 Pioneer) taking advantage of Torrance’s mistakes and turnovers.
Trailing 16-14, Santi De La Torre intercepted Turner at midfield. After a pair of penalties on Torrance (6-0, 1-0) moved the ball inside the Tartars’ 20-yard line, Redondo settled for a 28-yard Bryson Fowler field goal.
Torrance’s offense stalled and following a bad snap on a punt attempt, Redondo got the ball at the Tartars’ 9-yard line. Four plays later, Sea Hawk quarterback Cole Leinart scored on a 1-yard sneak to put Redondo ahead 24-16 with 4:56 left in the third quarter.
That was the last time Redondo scored.
Torrance scored on a screen pass to Elias Emerson, who raced 50 yards for a touchdown with 1:27 left in the third quarter. Torrance converted the two-point attempt to level the score at 24-24.
Torrance’s defense, which came into the game having forced just one turnover all season, got one on the Sea Hawks next drive.
“We finally got a game where we could cause some turnovers,” Torrance coach Raymond Carter said. “We know what our defensive backs can do and we know their potential if the quarterback is going to throw the ball.”
With 11:44 left in the game, Colin Tucker corralled a deflected Cole Leinart pass at midfield, giving his team a jolt of electricity.
After runs of 9 and 16 yards, Turner connected with Isaac Mora on an 18-yard touchdown pass to put Torrance ahead 31-24 with 8:34 remaining. Turner finished with 206 yards on 18-of-25 passing.
“We prepare our kids that we’re always going to face adversity,” Carter said. “They battled through. It showed tonight how much the boys trusted each other.”
Redondo had a chance to respond but couldn’t. After a crucial pickup on fourth-and-2 via an offside call on the Tartars, Leinart completed a third-down pass to Malcolm Becerra-Lindstrom before being faced with another fourth-down situation.
This time, a false start was called before Leinart’s pass was ruled incomplete.
“We competed out there, but we’re our own worst enemy,” Redondo coach Keith Ellison said. “We killed ourselves, and that’s been the story of our team. Not good enough at the moment to execute what we’re supposed to, and it showed.”
Despite the loss, Redondo had a good beginning.
The Sea Hawks took a 7-0 lead when Leinart capped the third drive of the game with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Harper.
Torrance responded, getting a critical fourth-down conversion on Mora’s 25-yard reception before a 4-yard touchdown run made it 7-7.
Leinart (158 yards, two TDs, two INTs) showed his accuracy on the second play of the ensuing drive, hitting Harper (120 yards receiving) in stride down the sideline for a 65-yard touchdown.
“Torrance is a very aggressive defense and we wanted to use that against them,” Leinart said. “We were able to do some things early on, but it’s a long process with our offense.”
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
