Dodgers advance with dramatic win over Nats

Last night's 4-3 win over the Nationals sent the Dodgers to Chicago and a berth in the National League Championship Series starting Saturday. The winner of the NLCS advances to the World Series.

Getting there was a wild ride.

Joc Pederson hit a solo opposite field homer off of Max Scherzer, Justin Turner continued wielding a hot bat with a two run triple, Kenley Jansen threw 50 plus pitches in relief and ace Clayton Kershaw came out of the bullpen to record the final two outs when Jansen finally ran out of gas in the ninth.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled all the rabbits out of his hat and was grabbing for mice and squirrels to find a way to get the Dodgers past a dangerous Washington club.

I watched Game Five in Eden, Utah, high in the mountains above Ogden Canyon and was sitting on the edge of my seat.

I saw Game One in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday on the run from Hurricane Matthew. The Dodgers posted a 4-3 win to open the series. Our apartment in Jacksonville survived without damage and we headed to Utah on Saturday. I watched Game Two here in Eden on Sunday as the Nats evened the series at 1-1 with a 5-2 win.

We watched Game Three here in Eden on Monday and my brother and I agonized when the Nats administered an 8-3 whipping and took a 2-1 edge in the series. Nachos and quesadillas eased the pain.

We went to  his house in Kaysville for Game Four on Tuesday and watched the Dodgers post a 6-5 win to even the series at 2-2. Dominos pizza was part of the celebration.

Last night, Ann made sub sandwiches for the game and she fell asleep in the seventh inning. She woke up in the ninth when the Dodgers clinched it.

All in all, it's been a good week to be a Dodgers fan.

Dodgers face tall order tonight in DC

The Dodgers face a tall order tonight in Washington, D.C. in the deciding Game Five of the National League Division Series (NLDS).

They send Rich Hill to the mound on three days rest against Max Scherzer, the probable Cy Young winner with a 20-win season under his belt.

The Dodgers did beat Scherzer in Game One, with Corey Seager and Justin Turner taking him deep.

Scherzer is susceptible to the long ball and the Dodgers have feasted on right handers this year.

But let's go back to Hill. A late season acquisition from Oakland, Hill is 12-5 on the season and 3-2 since joining the Dodgers. He worked through a blister issue and has had some flashes of brilliance since donning Dodger blue.

With Hill going on three days rest, the Dodgers hope to get 3-4 good inning out of Hill and then turn the ball over to 20-year old Julio Urias. Urias would face the toughest assignment of his young career in facing a potent Nationals lineup at home.

The game figures to be decided in the bullpens, where Washington's lefties have pretty much had their way with L.A.'s left-handed dominated lineup.

Dave Roberts and Dusty Baker will be moving the chess pieces to earn the NLDS crown and advance to a Saturday date with Chicago in the NLCS.

Can Dodgers get over the playoff hump?

In dramatic fashion, the Dodgers clinched the National League West for a fourth straight year last night, winning 4-3 on a 10th inning walkoff homer by Charlie Culbertson.

In Vin Scully's last broadcast at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers earned another spot in the post season.

Now the questions come.

Can the Dodgers go deep into the playoffs or will they make an early exit?

Can Clayton Kershaw overcome his playoff woes and pitch effectively in the month of October?

Do the Dodgers have enough pitching and hitting to get past Washington and Chicago to make it to the World Series?

No one knows the outcomes, but my guess is the Dodgers will get past the Nationals. They are 5-1 against the Nats this year and Steven Strasburg, Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper, all key pieces for Washington, are less than 100 percent with nagging injuries.

The Dodgers have been on fire in the second half and are playing with a lot of passion. Kershaw (12-3) is strong and rested and Kenta Maeda (16-9) and Rich Hill (12-5) give the Dodgers a starting rotation capable of winning each time out.

The Dodgers biggest area of improvement has been in the bullpen, where Joe Blanton, Adam Liberatore, Pedro Baez, Luis Avilan, J.P. Howell, Ross Stripling and Kenley Jansen have turned around what was the Dodgers major weak point in years past.

In addition, Dave Roberts has starters Julio Urias and Jose DeLeon ready if he needs more pitching.

Ask the Giants how important a bullpen can be.

As for Kershaw, his back injury forced him to sit for 2.5 months. He seems to be recovered and will enter the playoffs looking his dominant self.

As for hitting, the Dodgers have shown good power with Yasmani Grandal (27), Justin Turner (27), Corey Seager (26) and Joc Pederson (26) flexing the long ball.

Seager should win the Rookie of the Year award and Adrian Gonzalez, Turner, Josh Reddick, Yasiel Puig, Howie Kendrick, Chase Utley, Andrew Toles and Andre Ethier give the Dodgers a lot of options to create favorable matchups.

Puig has been a different man since being exiled to Oklahoma City and Ethier is just getting his timing back after a season-long bout on the DL with a leg fracture. Toles has emerged as a valuable tool and Reddick has warmed up since coming over in the Oakland trade.

If the Dodgers do get past the Nats they will likely face the Cubs, everyone's favorites to win it all this year.

It may be Chicago's year but they still have to win it on the field.

A night for Vin

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, wrapping up an amazing 67-year career at the microphone, took center stage tonight in Chavez Ravine.

Composer John Williams had the baton for the national anthem and all-time great southpaws Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw, among others, were on hand to pay tribute.

Scully and his wife were escorted to the dugout on a blue carpet ringed with Dodgers.

Scully is being recognized this week for his masterful life of broadcasting baseball games. But in actuality, Scully is being honored for being the storyteller who would artfully weave pieces of the players lives into the games we watched and listened to, making the experience a rich and memorable one.

It's seems like yesterday I was a 12-year old Little Leaguer listening to Scully on the radio call the game on summer nights in Bell Gardens, California.

Many a summer night I fell asleep listening to Scully paint wonderful pictures of the exploits of players like Koufax, Don Drysdale, John Roseboro, Maury Wills, Steve Garvey, Wes Parker, Ron Cey, Manny Mota, Willie Davis and Tommie Davis, to name a few.

The pictures Scully painted gave me a vivid image of the games being played in Chavez Ravine.

That was a lifetime ago, but it seems like yesterday.

Scully will broadcast these last Dodgers home games this weekend then wrap up his career calling the Dodgers versus Giants in the city by the bay next week.

Vin, thanks for the memories.

Scoreboard watching and different time zones

When your team is in a pennant race, you watch the scoreboard.

When the Yankees are blanking your Dodgers you gaze at the scoreboard and wonder if San Diego can knock off San Francisco two nights in a row to preserve the lead in the standings.

Living on the East Coast with our team on the West Coast often means waiting until morning to see the results of a game that started at 10:10 p.m. Eastern.

The Giants blew a ninth-inning lead to lose to the Padres last night, easing the pain of a 3-0 shutout to the Bronx Bombers. I didn’t know about it until this morning.

MLBTV’s online package provides highlights and condensed games for the fan who can’t get enough and the MLB Channel is chock full of highlights and analysis.

But you still gotta sleep.

For the Dodgers, the pennant race is now down to 17 games after today’s rubber match with the Yanks.

The Dodgers have four games in Arizona; three at home against the Giants; four at home against the Rockies and finish the season on the road with three against the Padres and three games in San Francisco.

I will sleep when the playoffs are over.

Keeping my cool in Miami

For the last several years I have made my annual trip to see the Dodgers by driving from Carson City, Nevada to San Francisco to see the Dodgers face off against the Giants at AT&T Park, a stunning stadium on the bay.

Since moving to Florida last fall, my options have changed. This year, getting my Dodgers fix meant a drive down I-95 to see the Dodgers square off against the Miami Marlins in beautiful Marlins Park, which opened in 2012.

I saw games with old friends, Jay and Lou, and even worked in a visit to my mother-in-law in Indiantown up in Martin County.

Some impressions:

• Marlins Park is a top-notch stadium. I fell in love with the retractable roof and the air conditioning system that maintained a cool 75 degrees inside as it sweltered outside.
• Jose Fernandez is a beast. He struck out 14 Dodgers in a 4-1 win and was consistently hitting the gun at 97-98 miles per hour.
• Rich Hill was perfect for seven innings on Saturday night but was pulled for health considerations by Dave Roberts. Roberts has his eye on October but it was still a tough decision. Hill is now 3-0 as a Dodger and has yet to allow a run. He's 36 but has been a godsend to the L.A. pitching staff.
• Clayton Kershaw showed the rust from being on the shelf for two plus months, giving up a homer and getting hit in a short three-inning appearance on Friday night. Give him a few starts and if his back holds up he will be nails down the stretch.
• Joc Pederson launched a moonshot in the 5-0 win on Saturday and followed it with a laser to right field the same night. He is coming along just fine.
• Cory Seager has a sweet swing and deserves to be in the running for Rookie of the Year and has an outside shot at MVP.
• Yasiel Puig may be growing up. He is playing within the framework of the team and made a highlight reel catch to preserve Hill's perfecto. 

The Dodgers dropped two of three to Miami this weekend while the Giants were sweeping the D-Backs. Their lead in the NL West has shrunk to three games with a critical series starting tonight in the Bronx. 

Ya gotta love a pennant race.

Greinke gets a harsh welcome at Dodger Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke bolted for the desert last off-season, signing a huge contract to join the D-Backs and break up the one-two punch of Kershaw and Greinke.

So there was a little nostalgia and emotion on tap when Greinke took the mound against his old team on Labor Day.

Greinke didn't finish the fifth inning.

The former Cy Young Award winner gave up eight runs on nine hits, including five round-trippers by the Dodgers.

The big blowup came in the fifth inning when the Dodgers clubbed four dingers with Joc Pederson, Cory Seager, Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal teeing off against Greinke.

Here was a pitcher who went 19-3 last year with a 1.66 ERA. He was 17-8 in 2014 and 15-4 in 2013. He used to own Dodger Stadium.

They say you can't go home.

Zack Greinke sure couldn't.