It’s unimaginable. It’s unthinkable. It could never happen.
It’s nine innings from happening.
A Dodger team that spent the summer full of 111-win life is suddenly on its last breath.
After six months of complete baseball domination, the Dodgers are on the verge of losing it all in four nights.
The best team in Dodger history could soon become the most disappointing team in Dodger history.
On a night when constant chants of, “Beat L.A.” rang in their ears and thousands of flapping yellow towels filled their eyes, the stunned Dodgers stumbled into what could be an unreal end of their season.
Facing a renewed San Diego Padre team at a rejoicing Petco Park Friday, the Dodgers lost, 2-1, to fall behind two games to one in the best-of-five National League Division Series.
If they lose Saturday night here in Game 4, they’re toast. If they win Saturday and lose Sunday at Dodger Stadium in a deciding Game 5, they’re toast. Either way, they’re one game away from the unlikeliest of eliminations.
The Padres won this game as they won Game 2, with a timely hitting and tremendous pitching. The Dodgers lost as they lost in Game 2, with starting pitching that just couldn’t shoulder the load.
The Padres and Blake Snell took a 2-0 lead against Tony Gonsolin and Andrew Heaney, then held on with their fabulous bullpen shutting down the Dodgers once again. Twelve Dodger batters faced the Padres reliever, and only Trea Turner could manage to reach base, and only an infield single.
The game appropriately ended with the Dodgers failing to even get the ball out of the infield against Padre closer Josh Hader, foul out, strikeout, strikeout, Hader pounds his fist against his glove and a stadium erupts.
And guess what? Game 4 on Saturday night here will feature yet another pitching matchup that appears to favor San Diego.
The Padres will throw Joe Musgrove, who pitched seven one-hit shutout innings against the New York Mets last week in the deciding game of the wild-card series.
The Dodgers will counter with Tyler Anderson, who was 15-5 with a 2.75 ERA this season but has just one career postseason start.
The winner of Game 3 of a series that was tied one-game apiece has won the series 72% of the time. So no matter who is pitching, it’s not looking good. In fact, with the Dodgers facing a must-win game in this frenzied environment, it’s looking seriously bad.
The Padres and their city were ready for this one. It was the Padres’ first playoff game in front of home fans in 16 years, and, for perhaps the first time in those 16 years, that home was not overtaken by Dodger fans.
The fans chanted “Beat L.A.” two hours before the game, two minutes before the game, and seemingly every two seconds after that.
Sometimes they chanted to the pounding of a drum. Other times they chanted to the grinding of an organ. But always they chanted, the frustration of 16 years of being overshadowed by their giant neighbors erupting in passion that kept the cooling night hot.
They also waved yellow towels from beginning to end, standing and flapping and turning the quaint ballyard into an angry sweeping flame.
The Padres and their fans did everything they could to disrupt the Dodgers, including even attempting to goose them.
Yes, indeed, after a goose landed in Dodger Stadium right field Wednesday and momentarily disrupted the game, the Padres viewed it as a good omen and showed up Friday night with two ceramic geese in their dugout. Outside the stadium someone painted a mural with a giant goose titled “San Diegoose.”
Don’t laugh. It worked.
“It’s going to be electric,” said Dodger manager Dave Roberts before the game.
He was right, the night cackling with drama from the moment, four hours before first pitch, when a car careened outside the stadium with its occupants rolling down the windows and shouting, “Go Padres!”
“I expect it to be pretty insane,” said Snell before the game.
He was right, an entire game in San Diego without one chant of, “Let’s Go Dodgers!”
The Dodgers briefly quieted the crowd just three pitches into the game, when Mookie Betts grounded a single up the middle against Snell. But Turner followed with a strikeout and, after Betts reached second on Snell’s wild pitch, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith also struck out. It was a sign of things to come.
Meanwhile, the Padres scored first, in the first, which only turned up the crowd’s volume. With one out, Juan Soto doubled into the right-field gap, then Manny Machado walked. One out later, on a two-strike full-count pitch, Jake Cronenworth lined a single to center to score Soto. The rally ended on Wil Myers’ strikeout, but Gonsolin wouldn’t even last another full inning, lifted in the second with runners on first and third and Gonsolin having thrown 42 mostly lousy pitches.
Remember, Gonsolin had pitched just once since Aug. 23 and is still recovering from a forearm injury. He also had a 9.45 ERA in seven career postseason appearances.
Roberts replaced him with Heaney, who was sidelined with shoulder pain for half of the season and struggled to find himself once he came back. Those struggles reappeared on the first pitch of the fourth inning, Trent Grisham driving a Heaney fastball into the right-field stands for a home run and a 2-0 lead.
Right about now, are you thinking what many are thinking? It’s amazing that a 111-win team would have to rely on a patchwork pitching plan in the third game of the postseason.
This is what happens when your ace blows out his elbow and you don’t replace Walker Buehler with another starting pitcher at the trade deadline. If the Dodgers somehow advance in this postseason, Friday’s blueprint would seem to be a recurring problem.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense was again awful, and awful right away. After the three first-inning strikeouts stranded Betts, Smith fouled out to leave the bases loaded in the third.
The Dodgers finally scored in the fifth to make it 2-1, but even then, they fell short. A leadoff single to right by Trayce Thompson and a nice full-count double to left by Austin Barnes set up Betts for a sacrifice fly, but with Barnes standing on third, the Dodgers couldn’t plate him with their two best hitters, Turner fouling out and Freddie Freeman grounding out.
Then came the sixth and more frustration, Max Muncy’s one-out double getting Snell out of the game but Nick Martinez retired Justin Turner and Chris Taylor on a strikeout and groundout, respectively.
A wild Thompson swing and miss ended the game.
But the nightmare could be just beginning.
