They dropped them. They let them come up.
They pressed them until their last breaths. They went back and gave them new life.
In any ordinary five-game playoff series, a team leading two games to none can lose a game and still maintain a clear advantage. But the heavyweight events here between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies are no ordinary series. And by losing a potential Game 3 Wednesday night to a stunned and boo-filled Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers are suddenly and dangerously close to blowing it.
The 8-2 loss to the Phillies in the National League Division Series actually means the Dodgers still lead two games to one with two more chances to eliminate their favorite foe.
But realistically, the Dodgers now face a must-win Game 4 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, as a loss would send the series back to Philadelphia on Saturday for a deciding Game 5 in the toughest place to play in baseball.
Yes, the Dodgers have won twice at Citizens Bank Park to start this series, but could they do it one more time? And, even with Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell available, would they even want to try?
No, realistically the season is now Thursday and Tyler Glasnow versus Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez because, on a long and frustrating Wednesday night, the Dodgers couldn’t get it done when they should have.
Afterward, Dodger manager Dave Roberts preached calm.
“It’s already about to be flushed,” he said. “If you look back at this series and say we would be up 2-1, we would have bet on Glas.”
He added: “I feel good about where we are…And it’s definitely red.”
But it was the Phillies who were supposed to be gutted. The Dodgers had every advantage. Their ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the mound. Their attack was in full swing. Champagne was nearby. They even took a one-run lead after three innings on a Tommy Edman homer.
But Yamamoto blew up and the Phillies blew up, then Clayton Kershaw took the mound in the seventh inning and, unfortunately for the retired star, things got really bad.
By the end, the once-unhittable Yamamoto had allowed three runs in four innings, Hall of Famer Kershaw had allowed four earned runs in two innings, and some particularly struggling Phillies at the top of their order had gotten healthy.
Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs, including one that seemed to disappear off the roof of the right-field pavilion. Trea Turner had three hits. Bryce Harper had two hits. Two Phillies undercard pitchers, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez, allowed one run in seven innings.
Dodgers fans were so upset about everything that many of them walked out after Kershaw was hammered during a five-run eighth inning.
It was ugly. It was horrible. And now it’s a problem, because the once-depressed Phillies are resurrected, refreshed and believing.
It’s a problem, this believing side, and before the game two Dodgers warned what would happen when that happened.
“We obviously want to finish it tonight, and we don’t want to let anything get away from us,” Max Muncy said. “It’s one of those things, when you talk about momentum, if you don’t finish it tonight, you feel like it’s slipping away.”
Yeah, well he’s right, now it’s going away.
Despite his post-match optimism, Roberts had warned before the match of the same worrying signs.
“You’ve got these guys on their heels and you’re at home,” the Dodger manager said. “We’re expecting a great, loud crowd. We’ve got one of our aces on the mound. So the way we’re playing, we want to put these guys out of the way and not let them come up for air.”
Oh, they gave them a lot of breathing room, starting in the fourth inning when Schwarber led off with a 455-foot homer off the roof of the right field clubhouse. Then the Phillies piled up, a single by Harper, a single by Alec Bohm that scored Harper on a bad throw from center fielder Andy Pages, then a run-scoring fly ball by Brandon Marsh.
The Phillies pitchers held on, but their lead was still 3-1 when Kershaw took the mound in spectacular fashion in the seventh and survived a wild rally through one inning.
The Phillies put two runners on base against Kershaw on a single by Turner and Schwarber on walks, but, with the crowd roaring with every pitch, Will Smith threw out Schwarber and Kershaw survived the threat.
Then, an inning later, he didn’t, as JT Realmuto led off with a home run and the inning didn’t end until Schwarber also struck out again, sandwiched around a walk, a botched grounder by Muncy, and a single.
And to think it all started so nicely.
The evening began when World Series hero Steve Garvey threw out the first pitch, then, in the traditional pregame greeting, added an adjective by saying, “It’s Dodger time.” championship baseball.”
Did you speak too soon?
The veteran honored at the game was Jimmy Hernandez, a 100-year-old World War II veteran, and the standing ovation was one of the loudest of the evening.
The game that followed felt like it only lasted 100 years.
And now the Dodgers’ season has been abruptly shortened to two more days.
Actually, one.
