It wasn’t a baseball game, it was a sucker punch.
The New York Mets sneaked up on the Dodgers in broad daylight Monday and knocked them flat, swiping the assuredness off their face and sending them tumbling into Queens.
Two games in, the National League Championship Series has now been transformed into something few thought it would ever be, something that should make Dodger fans knot those blue rags around their numbing fingers.
This series is now, well, a series.
The Mets created one by storming out of the dugout with bats flying and arms cooking, breaking open the Dodgers’ suddenly vaunted pitching staff, breaking down the powerful Dodger bats, overcoming their own fielding fumbles, generally bringing chaos to an overheated Chavez Ravine and stealing away a 7-3 victory in a Game 2 that tied the NLCS at one game apiece.
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It was a stunning reversal of fortune for a Dodger team that was playing like it had non-refundable reservations for the World Series.
For goodness sakes, less than 24 hours after looking like they’ll be playing in November, it’s possible their season might not last the week.
The Dodgers entered the afternoon having dispatched their previous three playoff opponents by a score of 19-0.
They trailed 6-0 before this game was two innings old.
The Dodgers entered the afternoon with their pitching staff having carved a major-league postseason record-tying 33 consecutive scoreless innings.
That record lasted all of four minutes.
One moment, there were dreams of a fall classic with the New York Yankees. The next moment, Francisco Lindor from New York’s other team was going deep on the eighth pitch of the game.
One moment, there were notions of a parade. The next moment, four Mets were marching around the bases after Mark Vientos’ second-inning grand slam.
One moment, the quartet of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman could conquer all. The next moment, they were held hitless in 15 at-bats with eight strikeouts, stranding two runners on base at the end of the game with consecutive strikeouts by Betts, Hernández and Freeman.
Particularly concerting is the dwindling performance of Ohtani, who doesn’t have an extra base hit in six games and seems unnerved by the opponents’ general refusal to give him anything in the strike zone. Is Superman finally wearing down? He will have at least three games to get it figured out.
And now, the seven-game series moves to Citi Field, where only Walker Buehler and his 5.38 regular season ERA stand between the Dodgers and somewhere behind the eight ball. Incidentally, Buehler was last seen trashing the dugout after yielding six runs in five innings in Game 3 against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers could actually get swept out of their season at Citi if they lose all three games there, but that seems unlikely, as they will have their two best starters working in Game 4 and 5, two guys coming off sterling playoff performances, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty.
But you never know. After Monday, nobody involved in this series can profess to know anything about anything.
Like, remember how everyone thought the Dodgers’ decision to utilize a bullpen game instead of starting Buehler was a smart one, considering eight Dodgers pitchers shut out the San Diego Padres, 8-0, in a bullpen game last week?
Wrong. Game-changing wrong.
Actually, it might have been a smart decision, had manager Dave Roberts stuck with using only the bullpen.
The game began when Lindor won an eight-pitch battle with reliever Ryan Brasier and sent his 90-mph cutter high over the left-field corner wall for a quick run.
Things were still relatively calm when, an inning later, Roberts curiously replaced Brasier with rookie Landon Knack. It was strange because, even though this was designated as a bullpen game, Knack doesn’t normally work out of the bullpen. He’s not one of the Dodgers’ half-dozen star relievers. He’s a rookie starter.
And Knack looked like a rookie starter, as he started the second by giving up a single, a walk and then an RBI double to light-hitting Tyrone Taylor. One out later, after an intentional walk to Lindor loaded the bases, Vientos lofted a grand slam over the center-field wall.
“I think today what was different was, we don’t have [Alex] Vesia. [Daniel] Hudson was down… and that’s probably the biggest kind of impetus for having — or knowing you’re going to have to take some outs from Knack or you just are not going to finish the game,” Roberts said.
You had to pitch a rookie starter in relief because you don’t think you have enough arms to finish the game? What about the real relievers, guys like Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech? In a bullpen game in which you’re already down one run, shouldn’t the Dodgers have used their best immediately?
“You’re talking about the second inning right there,” said Roberts, still defending the Knack decision. “So you have a guy on the mound that has to eat up innings.”
What about somebody who can eat up a win?
The 6-0 edge distressed the Dodgers, deflated the crowd, and even a trademark Dodger rally fell short.
Trailing 6-1 in the sixth, Betts led off with a walk and Hernández followed with a walk before turning to the Dodger bench and clapping loudly, the fans on their feet. A hobbled Freeman bounced into an apparent double play, but second baseman Jose Iglesias dropped the bouncer and all three runners were safe with none out.
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One out later Tommy Edman hit a grounder that bounced under the glove of diving first baseman Pete Alonso to score two runs. Muncy then walked to load the bases for Señor October, Kiké Hernández. But this time, no heroics. He hit a grounder that Vientos bobbled at third base but still turned into a close inning-ending double play.
For all their flaws, one must appreciate the Mets’ comeback culture. They began the season 0-5. They were 11 games under .500 at one point. Their postseason was down to its last two outs at another point. They won in Atlanta on the final day of their regular season to sneak into the playoffs, then upset the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies to stay there.
They’ve been here before.
But so have the Dodgers, having earlier needed two straight wins to survive the San Diego Padres, including one in San Diego.
Officially, both teams are traveling to New York on equal footing.
But, the Dodgers have been clearly, surprisingly staggered, a reality check of a long afternoon, one nasty sucker punch.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
