All Ball Sports: Dodgers in danger
By Kevin Cody
by Paul Teetor
Dodgers in Danger
Uh-Oh.
The Dodgers championship formula was working to perfection against the Atlanta Braves in game one.
But then came the second game, a 3-2 loss, and suddenly the best-of-five series was tied 1-1 with the next two games at Atlanta Tuesday and Wednesday.
Uh-oh.
That makes game 3 practically a must-win game for the Dodgers. Lose it and their season is on the brink. They very well may not get to play in Dodger Stadium until next season – if there is a next season. As All Ball has warned several times, odds are that next season will be shut down over a labor-management dispute. But that’s a story for another day, for another month, for another year.
For now, while waiting for Tuesday night’s start of game 3, Dodger fans preferred to focus on the first game when the formula worked so well.
The formula is deceptively simple: great starting pitching by Tarik Skubal that got them through to the seventh inning, a couple of timely home runs from some familiar and some unexpected sources, and lock-down relief pitching that slammed the door shut on any possible rally.
All those factors were in play Saturday afternoon as the Dodgers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the National League Divisional Series.
Well, except for that last part about lock-down relief pitching in the final innings.
In game one Saturday afternoon under a broiling sun that sky-rocketed the temperature at Dodger Stadium to more than 100 degrees, it was easy to see why the Dodgers are so confident that they are on their way to a third straight World Series title – something no National League team has ever done.
Tarik Skubal, who has found his groove after a rocky start in LA following his trade deadline acquisition from Detroit, gave up only one run in six innings, and Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each followed Skubal with a hitless inning of relief.
But in the ninth inning Tanner Scott – who has never lived up to the huge contract the Dodgers gave him a couple of years ago – gave up a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the ninth inning. It was the fifth home run of the day – three by the Dodgers, two by the Braves — in the overheated atmosphere.
Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts immediately yanked Scott and summoned Evan Phillips out of the bullpen to get the final out. When it was finally over, the entire Dodger stadium SRO crowd heaved a huge sigh of relief that it was over.
Still, that ninth inning homer punctured the party atmosphere that had prevailed up to that point and served notice that the Braves were going to battle every inch of the way.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, got homers from Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy to back Skubal as the Dodgers won game one with a 5-3 victory over the Braves.
“To win Game 1 is certainly important, very important,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We could have deployed our starters any way we wanted, but to have Blake Snell going tomorrow to follow up with what Tarik did today and knowing that you got Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the holster for Game 3, we’re in a good spot. It all starts with winning Game 1.”
But Roberts’ post-game optimism turned out to be premature. Snell was awful – he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning — and now all eyes of Dodger Nation will be on game three Tuesday night.
If they lose that game, it will really be a case of uh-oh for the Dodgers.
Remember: anything short of a third straight World Series title will be a disaster.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
Sea Hawks Fly, Mustangs Stumble
Mira Costa’s hard-luck football season continued Friday night with a tough, 26-21 loss to Inglewood.
The Mustangs fell to 1-6 on the season and 0-1 in the Bay League with the loss.
But before losing for the sixth time in seven games, Costa gave Inglewood all it could handle in the Bay League opener for both teams.
The Mustangs only had one win over Culver City coming into the game, but they played hard and smart as their defense held down an explosive Inglewood offense that came into the game averaging 32 points per game.
But Costa could only keep them down so long before the dam finally broke.
Midway through the third quarter, Marlon Watson scored on a 53-yard touchdown run, giving Inglewood its first lead of the game in front of a home crowd at Coleman Stadium.
Before Watson’s score, Allen Wilson scored on a 32-yard run with 5:36 left in the third to tie the score at 14-14.
“I knew I needed to get the team going. I had to make something happen. I had a good block, but then I saw an opening so I cut back and ran hard and got the touchdown,” Wilson said. “We had a good talk at halftime. Our coaches told us to pick up our energy and play like you really want it. So that’s what I did and it kind of set the tone in the second half.”
As it has in several games this season, Costa took control early but couldn’t maintain it.
The Mustangs jumped ahead quickly on a 21-yard touchdown pass from senior Wyatt Nucci to Colin Benner less than three minutes into the game for a 7-0 lead.
Inglewood (6-1, 1-0) bounced back scoring on its next possession on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Lincoln Jahn to Brandon Crawford with 5:36 to play in the first quarter to tie the score at 7-7.
The score remained that way until early in the third quarter when Nucci drove the Mustangs down the field and capped the drive with a perfect pass to a wide-open Nicholas Bellasarin in the middle of the end zone for a 14-7 lead with 7:37 to play in the quarter.
After tying the score on Wilson’s run, the Sentinels pulled away. Watson’s go-ahead score was followed by Semaj Welch’s 42-yard touchdown for a 26-14 lead with 7:27 left in the fourth quarter.
Mira Costa added a late touchdown on a pass from Tyler Brady to Dillon Poliner with 2:36 remaining, to make it 26-21, but once again Costa suffered a close loss.
“I told the kids this was the ugliest win I’ve had in my career,” Inglewood coach Mil’von James said. “I felt like in every phase we played badly. Fortunately, we came out on the winning end. That’s not the way we have been playing, or the way we need to play heading towards the playoffs. We have a lot of work to do.”
With the win, Inglewood sets up a marquee matchup against undefeated Palos Verdes next Friday in a game that will give the winner an early advantage in the race for the Bay League title.
Despite the loss, Costa’s senior quarterback Nucci, who threw for 214 yards and two touchdowns, saw some good things from his team.
“We have played some really difficult teams in nonleague play so we know what’s coming in the Bay League,” he said. “They’ve got some great players over there. I think for us it just comes down to we do a lot of things really well and get ourselves in good situations like being up 14-7 in the third quarter. Then we shoot ourselves in the foot and beat ourselves. We’re excited going into the rest of the league schedule and to compete like we did tonight. We just have to clean up some of our mistakes.”
Friday night Mira Costa will play Leuzinger in another Bay League game.
Redondo, meanwhile, rolled over Leuzinger 42-0 to run its Bay League record to 2-0.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
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