NEW YORK — So close. So very, very close.
The Dodgers are now 27 outs away from the promised land, from winning a full-season championship for the first time since 1988 – and shutting up all the doubters and haters who criticize their 2020 title – and giving their fans the parade they missed out on four years ago.
And if the Dodgers do go on to win their eighth World Series championship, give a huge share of the credit to Walker Buehler. Heck, lavish it on the three starting pitchers that most observers – guilty as charged – and, if we’re being perfectly candid, much of the fan base doubted going into this postseason.
Buehler pitched five two-hit innings on Monday night, and probably could have gone out for the sixth as well, since the big game adrenalin that fuels him seemed to be pumping hard. But Dave Roberts was not inclined to let him face the top of the Yankees’ lineup a third time. Given the results posted by six Dodger relievers – on the eve of a bullpen game, no less – it turned out to be a wise move.
And through the first three games, starters Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Buehler posted a 1.65 ERA, giving up three runs in 16⅓ innings before turning things over to the bullpen.
“Certainly, there was a lot said about the rotation given the injuries we accrued coming into the postseason,” he said. “But I think that we just kind of came together collectively, feeling the 13 guys on our roster as far as pitchers were going to do a good job of preventing runs. Obviously, it doesn’t matter how you get them, and we’re doing a nice job of kind of piecing it together.”
It hasn’t hurt that the Yankees in general have been flaccid offensively. They had four hits Monday night, had a runner thrown out at the plate when the lumbering Giancarlo Stanton tried to score on a single to left but was gunned down by Teoscar Hernández, and had only two other men reach second base.
That might not have mattered anyway. Even after Alex Verdugo’s two-run homer in the ninth off of Michael Kopech made it close, briefly, the Yankees are hitting .186 in the series overall and are 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position in the first three games.
And the heart of their lineup still has a hole in it: Aaron Judge did reach base twice Monday night, grounding into a force play and drawing a walk, but the presumptive American League MVP is 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts.
It was noted here that under similar circumstances, when Dave Winfield went 1 for 22 against the Dodgers in the 1981 World Series, the late George Steinbrenner started calling him “Mr. May,” a biting reference to Reggie Jackson’s “Mr. October” nickname. Given that history, would Judge be considered Mr. March right now, or maybe Mr. February?
But maybe the conversation should be less about the Yankees’ offensive failures and more about the Dodgers’ pitching accomplishments.They’ve now posted four shutouts in 14 postseason games, two each against the Padres and the Mets.
One of those, of course, was a bullpen game in San Diego, which turned out to be an 8-0 win in an elimination game.
And guess who starts for the Dodgers on Tuesday night: Good old TBA.
I don’t think anyone imagined the Dodgers would be playing with house money by this point – definitely not at the start of October, and not going into this series, either. But maybe it’s time to reevaluate.
The Dodgers won more games than anyone in the regular season, even with an injury list that kept expanding. The three MVPs at the top of their lineup have outplayed the Yankees’ Judge, Stanton and Juan Soto, and Game 3 gave no more evidence than Games 1 and 2 that the bottom of the New York lineup can be productive.
Maybe the secret weapon was the five days off they received after closing out the Mets in six games in the NL Championship Series two Sundays ago. That gave Freddie Freeman time to rest and get treatment on his injured ankle, and look at the results. He’s 4 for 12 with seven RBIs and three very impactful home runs, including a two-run shot into the right field stands Monday night to get them off and running.
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“Obviously we all know how great a player Freddie Freeman is,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think clearly having those few days following their Championship Series probably served him well, and it helped him most notably probably in the batter’s box. He’s getting off swings you’re typically used to seeing Freddie get off, where maybe that wasn’t happening in the previous rounds with the injury.”
The bottom line? They’re just 27 outs away. And yes, Roberts was asked about the perils of a 3-0 series lead, given that he was the impetus of the only team to overcome one in a baseball postseason series.
“Don’t talk about that,” he said. “Wrong guy. Way too early.
“… There’s just got to be urgency. I just don’t want to let these guys up for air.”
To be honest, I don’t think urgency will be a problem.
jalexander@scng.com