by Paul Teetor

Uh oh. 

This isn’t going to be a Dodgers cakewalk after all. 

To quote the late, great Yogi Berra, it was getting late early for the Dodgers – until Yoshi Yamamoto quieted all the Dodger pearl clutchers with a sparkling, complete game in a 5-1 Dodgers win Saturday night that leveled the World Series at one game each.

If they had lost that game, they would have been down 2-0 heading into games three, Preview (opens in a new tab)four and five in Los Angeles. That nightmare scenario was averted – at least for the moment. And Monday night’s epic, thrilling never-to-be-forgotten 6-5 game three victory on yet another Freddie Freeman walk off homer –in the 18th inning no less – made one thing crystal clear: no matter who wins, the Dodgers are in a real dogfight.

Dodger fans started the weekend with irrational confidence that the good times would keep rolling on forever – or at least into November. 

After all, the Dodgers were 9-1 in the playoffs heading into the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Superstar Shohei Ohtani had just played the greatest game in the 150-year history of baseball – bashing 3 homers and racking up 10 strikeouts while pitching six scoreless innings – to clinch a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series and lead his team into the World Series.

At Grunions and the other local sports bars the feeling Friday night was unanimous: The Toronto Blue Jays would be lucky to win one game in the fall classic. Dodgers in five, or at worst, in six. Indeed, All Ball predicted Dodgers in six. After all, the Jays won 94 games to the Dodgers 93, which is why they have home field advantage. And they haven’t been in the WS since 1993. They’re hungry and they have their own red-hot slugger in Vladdy “Who’s Your Daddy?” Guerrero.

Of course, most Dodger fans knew something like game one could theoretically happen.

But still it came as a total shock as Friday night’s 11-4 horror show unfolded.

It started out following the script perfectly: the Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead and appeared to be cruising for an easy win behind another masterful performance by two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.

Then, suddenly, everything that could go wrong in game one of the World Series did go wrong: Snell, so overwhelming in the post-season up till now, faltered badly. His change up, which had baffled the Brewers in the LCS, suddenly wasn’t fooling anyone as the Blue Jays started mashing hard-hits balls all over their home field.

Then Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts inexplicably waited too long to pull him after it was obvious he didn’t have his best stuff. And every nightmare about the Dodgers porous bull pen came true as Anthony Banda gave up a pinch-hit grand slam – the first in World Series history – to someone named Addison Barger in a disaster of a sixth inning. It was an inning in which the Blue Jays scored nine runs — count ‘em, nine, the third biggest inning in World Series history — long before the final out was mercifully recorded.

But Yamamoto saved the day Saturday when he pitched his second straight complete game in a playoff game.

Complete games may be passé in the pitch-count, load management era. But not in this case. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts might be inclined to pull other starters at the 100-pitch mark, but for the second straight start he left Yamamoto alone, and the right-hander from Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, delivered again with a 105-pitch complete game.

It was a much-needed response to the game 1 loss and a testament to his stubborn resolve that if something bad was going to happen, it wouldn’t be on his watch.

“Needless to say, today’s game, we had to win,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “So that’s just how I treated this game.”

Roberts said he has become the Dodgers ace in just his second season.

“Outstanding, uber competitive, special,” Roberts said. “Yeah, he was just locked in tonight. It was one of those things he said before the series, losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight. You know, he’s pitched in huge ball games in Japan. He’s pitched in the WBC. Players that have the weight of a country on their shoulders, that’s pressure. So I just feel that part of his DNA is to control his heartbeat.”

Yamamoto fanned eight with a game-high 17 swings and misses. He allowed four hits and retired the last 20 hitters he faced in becoming the first to pitch a complete game in the World Series in 10 years, or since the Kansas City Royals’ Johnny Cueto in 2015. And he’s the first pitcher with multiple complete games in a postseason since the San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner went the distance in a Wild Card game and Game 5 of the World Series in 2014.

Yamamoto is making history.

Now we’ll see if the Dodgers can follow his lead and make some history as a team: first team to repeat as World Champs since the New York Yankees did it 25 years ago.

Redondo Football Up, Costa Down — Again

Talk about flipping the script: a month ago the Mira Costa Football team was one of the hottest teams in the South Bay and a favorite to win the Bay League title while Redondo was one of the worst teams in the South Bay and headed straight to the bottom of the Pioneer League.

Now after Friday night’s 40-21 Redondo win over Peninsula and a Costa loss to Leuzinger, the Sea Hawks are in second place in the Pioneer League with a 3-1 record (5-4 overall) while the Mustangs have fallen to fourth place in the Bay League with a 2-2 record, 6-3 overall.

Redondo got a standout performance from star quarterback Cole Leinart, who completed eight out of twelve pass attempts for an eye-popping 278 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to wide receiver Bo Asmus, who also caught three touchdown passes.

Redondo led 40-7 at halftime and eased off the throttle in the second half against over-matched Peninsula.

While Redondo was romping on its home field, Mira Costa traveled to Leuzinger in Lawndale and got hosed once again by star running back/quarterback Journee Tonga.

With a chance at the program’s first Bay League title since 1992 on the line, Tonga ran for 123 yards in the second half, helping Leuzinger erase a one-point halftime deficit and pull away with a 27-14 victory.

Trailing 14-13 with the ball at the Olympian 17-yard-line and 3:21 to play in the third quarter, Tonga began to give the Mustang faithful flashbacks of 2024.

Tonga, who tallied 258 yards and three touchdowns in Leuzinger’s 21-13 victory last year, began the drive with a one-yard gain before his 42-yard pickup put the ball at the Mustang 40. Tonga then ripped off gains of 10, 9, 1 and 7 yards to end the third quarter.

The Olympians’ second play of the fourth quarter was no surprise – a direct snap to Tonga, who utilized the size of Leuzinger’s offensive line for a 7-yard touchdown and the two-point conversion. Tonga finished with 195 yards rushing and 73 passing.

Mira Costa looked poised to claw its way back into the game when a targeting penalty on the first play of the next drive put the Mustang offense in Olympian territory. With the Mustangs facing fourth down-and-two from the 23, however, Liam Meeker’s pass was incomplete.

Leuzinger’s offense closed the game out behind Tonga on five consecutive plays. After a 29-yard pickup, the Olympians exploited Mira Costa’s aggressiveness. Tonga took a direct snap, and instead of turning up field, he threw a pass and connected with a wide open Samu Moala for a 33-yard touchdown and a 27-14 Leuzinger lead.

Leuzinger’s defense took advantage of a Mira Costa miscue midway through the fourth. Joaquin Wagner-Bagues lined up to take the direct snap on third down-and-two from the Olympian 33. A bad snap forced the ball past midfield. Jamaal Fay scooped up the loose ball before being brought down at the 3-yard-line.

Costa’s star quarterback Liam Meeker was held to 30 yards passing while tallying 17 yards rushing. He was sacked four times. Mira Costa was without star running back AJ McBean, who was out with a concussion.

“We fought, and I thought we showed tremendous toughness,” Morrow said. “Leuzinger is obviously a good team, and we have to lick our wounds and get back to the drawing board on Monday.”

Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com ER