Dodgers fall short in NLDS

St. Louis first baseman Matt Adams crushed a three-run home run into the right field seats in the seventh inning off Clayton Kershaw last night, erasing a 2-0 LA lead and ending the Dodgers’ post-season in the first round of the playoffs.

The Cardinals advance to play San Francisco in the NLCS while the Dodgers pack up for the off-season.

St. Louis remains alive in the hunt for a World Series title because in four games they came up with clutch home runs against Dodger pitchers, twice off of Kershaw, acknowledged as the best pitcher in the game.

In the two other losses the late-inning dingers came off of Los Angeles relievers.

The hue and cry from journalists and fans will call for Don Mattingly’s head and bemoan the fact that for two straight seasons the Cardinals will move on and the Dodgers are going home.

In his losses in Game One and Game Four, Kershaw cruised the first six innings then had it all unravel in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals starters and relievers were able to keep the Los Angeles offense in check, save for Game One when the Dodgers put nine runs on the board in a 10-9 loss.

Here’s what we learned about the 2014 Dodgers, winners of the NL West and one of eight teams to make the playoffs:

1. Kershaw, Greinke and Ryu provide stellar starting pitching
2. The middle relievers failed to show, failing in several critical situations
3. Matt Kemp is back
4. Yasiel Puig is still learning the game
5. Hanley Ramirez, when healthy, is still a force at the plate
6. Adrian Gonzalez is a steady RBI producer
7. Carl Crawford has recovered from his injuries and is playing at a high level
8. Kenley Jansen is a shut-down closer
9. Dee Gordon is an emerging star
10. Juan Uribe can still bring it
11. A.J. Ellis is a great defensive catcher and can hit in a clutch
12. Andre Ethier should be starting somewhere
13. Justin Turner had  monster year off the bench

Mattingly had the pieces to go far in the playoffs but his players did not deliver at crunch time – the Cardinals did.

In the off-season the Dodgers will revisit their middle relief where a major investment did not pay off. Expect Ned Colletti to be shopping for some middle relief and setup help in the bullpen.

Aside from that, the Dodgers should stay the course. Kershaw getting beaten in the seventh inning twice in one series is an anomaly.

This team, with some tinkering in the pen, is good enough to win it all.

Cards have Dodgers on the brink

The Dodger bullpen, a big question mark going into the playoffs, faltered again tonight in a 3-1 loss to St. Louis that put Los Angeles on the brink of elimination going into Game Four of the NLDS tomorrow afternoon, down two games to one.

After Hyun-Jin Ryu held St. Louis to one run on five hits through six innings, Scott Elbert gave up a double down the left field line to Yadier Molina and a two-run home run to Kolton Wong that proved to be the winning margin.

Elbert joined Pedro Baez and J.P. Howell as relief pitchers that came into tight games in the series and promptly gave up the long ball. Baez came on in relief of Clayton Kershaw and gave up a three-run homer to Matt Holliday in the 10-9 loss in Game One. Howell came on for Zack Greinke in the eighth inning of Game Two and gave up the long ball to Matt Carpenter that tied the game at 2-2 before Matt Kemp hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth.

Going into the playoffs, Dodger manager Don Mattingly knew the middle of his bullpen was the team’s weak spot and his middle relievers have failed on three critical occasions.

The Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound tomorrow afternoon on three days rest to try and force a Game Five back in Los Angeles where Grienke would get the ball.

St. Louis right-hander John Lackey, acquired in a late season trade from Boston, held the Dodgers to one run on five hits through seven innings and got strong relief performances from Pat Neshek and Trevor Rosenthal to shut down Los Angeles.

Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford had one-out singles in the ninth inning but Rosenthal was able to retire Juan Uribe and A.J. Ellis on fly balls to right field to end the game.

Ramirez had three hits in four trips, including a run-scoring double in the sixth inning that plated Yasiel Puig, who tripled down the right field line. Prior to his three-bagger, Puig had been fanned seven times in a row by St. Louis pitchers.

Kemp homer keeps Dodgers alive

Matt Kemp took a Pat Neshek pitch deep into the seats in left field in the bottom of the eighth inning tonight, giving the Dodgers a dramatic 3-2 win over St. Louis and knotting up the NLDS at one game apiece.

Kemp’s heroic shot staved off a Cardinals team that scored twice in the top of the eighth to tie the game on a two-run home run by Matt Carpenter, who has feasted on Los Angeles pitching the past two games.

The Dodgers led 2-0 going into the eighth behind two-hit pitching by Zack Greinke, who held St. Louis scoreless for seven innings, striking out seven.

Don Mattingly, looking for a left-handed pitching against left-handed batter match-up, called on J.P. Howell in the eighth but Oscar Tavares singled down the right field line and Carpenter took his first pitch high over the wall in right.

After blowing a 6-1 lead with Clayton Kershaw on the mound last night, the raucous Los Angeles crowd was stunned until Kemp got the bubbles flowing when he took a 2-1 slider deep into the crowd in left.

Kemp, who has battled injuries the past two seasons, was the NL Player of the Month in September and returned to form in the second half of the season.

The Dodgers built a 2-0 lead in the third inning when A.J. Ellis doubled to right center, Greinke punched a single to right field and Ellis scored on a ground ball to second baseman Kolton Wong. Greinke was originally called out on a tag at second but the play was reviewed and overturned, the replay showing Wong tagged Greinke with his glove while holding the ball in his hand.

Adrian Gonzalez then cashed in Greinke with a single to right and the Dodgers were up 2-0.

After Carpenter’s home run tied the game in the eighth, Howell gave up a single to John Jay and Mattingly called on Brandon League from the bullpen. League got Matt Holliday on a ground ball then induced Jhonny Peralta to hit into a double play, Miguel Rojas to Dee Gordon to Gonzalez.

Rojas was at shortstop as a defensive replacement for Hanley Ramirez and ranged to his left to make the play. Rojas made a brilliant stop on Peralta’s single to the hole but couldn’t make the throw in time.

Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth, getting Yadier Molina to ground out to Juan Uribe and striking out Wong and Randal Grichuk to end the game.

The Dodgers send Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound for Game Three in St. Louis on Monday. Ryu hasn’t pitched since Sept. 12 with an aggravated shoulder but was cleared by the Dodgers’ medical staff earlier this week.

Cardinals knock out Kershaw in 10-9 slugfest

Clayton Kershaw was cruising going into the seventh inning of last night’s NLDS opener

in Chavez Ravine.

He had given up two hits, solo homers, but his offense had provided him a 6-2 cushion.

Then the world came crashing in.

St. Louis put together a string of six hits off the Dodger ace, the last being a bases clearing double by Matt Carpenter, and when Don Mattingly went to the mound to get Kershaw the Cards were up 7-6.

For Kershaw, who has owned the league this year, the stunning loss was a stark reminder of last year’s meltdown against these same Cardinals in the NLCS.

Pedro Baez came on to stem the tide but promptly delivered up a three-run homer to Matt Holliday, giving St. Louis a 10-6 lead and an eight-run inning.

The Dodgers answered with two runs in the eighth on an Adrian Gonzalez two-run homer and a run in the ninth but Trevor Rosenthal was able to strike out Yasiel Puig in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run 90 feet away.

On a night when pitching let them down, the Dodgers pounded out 16 hits. St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright gave up six runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings as the much awaited pitching duel of aces turned into an offensive display by both teams.

A.J. Ellis, hitting under .200, broke out with a 4-for-5 night, including a two-run home run. Matt Kemp had three hits in five trips and Puig, Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford had a pair of hits each for Los Angeles.

Andre Ethier had a big pinch-hit double in the ninth that led to a Dodgers’ score but the rally ended a run short.

The Dodgers will try to even the series tonight with Zack Greinke (17-8, 2.71) taking the hill against Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74)

Nostalgia creeping in as Dodgers ready for playoffs

Twenty-six years.

The last time the Dodgers won the World Series I was living in North Florida and my little girl was three years old.

Hannah is now 28 and the mother of the two best grandchildren in the world.

In 1988 Kirk Gibson “hit the miracle on one leg homer” and Orel Hershiser earned the nickname Tommy Lasorda strategically placed on him, “Bulldog.”

With apologies to Cubs fans, we have been waiting a long time.

The Dodgers have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. They arrived in Los Angeles for the 1958 season and promptly won the Series in 1959, beating the Chicago White Sox in six games.

Crowds for each of the three games at the Los Angeles Coliseum exceeded 92,000, setting a World Series attendance that will never be broken.

I was two years old at the time and do not remember one pitch of that series.

The Dodgers won it all again in 1963 and 1965, taking down the Yankees and the Twins.

Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale were in their primes and I was eight years old in 1963, experiencing my first games at Dodger Stadium where my Mom would take me and a few buddies to sit in the 75-cent seats in the left field pavilion.

The first time I walked up those steps and gazed out onto the field I was amazed at how green the grass was. We didn’t have grass like that on our Little League field in Bell Gardens.

Though making it to the Series three times in the Seventies, the Dodgers came up dry until 1981 when they took down the Yankees with Fernandomania in full bloom.

I was living in Utah at the time, still a newlywed after marrying in 1979.

The World Series drought lasted 11 years until the 1988 championship and now in 2014 the Dodgers have a shot.

Twenty-six years later.

It could happen.