From Jack Harris: The “theater of October,” as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman often describes playoff baseball, descended upon Chavez Ravine for Game 2 of the National League wild-card series Wednesday night.
There was dramatic adversity early, after Teoscar Hernández’s consequential dropped ball in the first inning created a sudden deficit.
There was climactic tension late, as the Dodgers’ bullpen grinded through more eighth-inning trouble that threatened to squander another comfortable lead.
There were leading performances in the middle, from Mookie Betts (four hits, three doubles, three RBIs), Kiké Hernández (two hits, two runs, one RBI in another postseason masterclass) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto most of all (6⅔ clutch innings that got the game back under control).
At the end, there was even a star turn from rookie phenom Roki Sasaki, who slammed the door shut in an 8-4 victory that completed a wild-card sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.
“It was a great test, and we didn’t waver,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“One inning at a time, one pitch at a time,” Betts added. “That’s what I love about this team.”
Indeed, the Dodgers not only advanced to the NL Division Series, where they will face off against the powerhouse Philadelphia Phillies beginning Saturday night. But they did so with the kind of performance that could catapult them through the rest of this month, steeling their resiliency and their resolve in pursuit of a second-consecutive World Series championship.
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Dodgers box score
MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS
National League
Cincinnati at Dodgers
Dodgers 10, Cincinnati 5 (box score)
Dodgers 8, Cincinnati 4 (box score)
San Diego at Chicago
Chicago 3, San Diego 1 (box score)
San Diego 3, Chicago 0 (box score)
Thursday, 2 p.m., ESPN
American League
Detroit at Cleveland
Detroit 2, Cleveland 1 (box score)
Cleveland 6, Detroit 1 (box score)
Thursday, noon, ABC
Boston at New York
Boston 3, New York 1 (box score)
New York 4, Boston 3 (box score)
Thursday, 5 p.m., ESPN
NL Division Series
Dodgers vs. Philadelphia
Saturday at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS
Monday at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS
Wednesday at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Thursday, Oct. 9 at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Sunday, Oct. 11 at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS
San Diego or Chicago vs. Milwaukee
Saturday at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS
Monday at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS
Wednesday at SD or Chi, TBD, TBS
*Thursday, Oct. 9 at SD or Chi, TBS, TBS
*Saturday, Oct. 11 at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS
AL Division Series
Cleveland or Detroit vs. Seattle
Saturday at Seattle, TBD, Fox/FS1
Sunday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at Cle. or Det., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at Cle. Det., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Seattle, TBD, Fox/FS1
New York or Boston vs. Toronto
Saturday at Toronto, TBD, Fox/FS1
Sunday at Toronto, 1 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at NY or Bos., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at NY or Bos., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Toronto, TBD, Fox/FS1
*-if necessary
RAMS
From Gary Klein: Two seasons before Puka Nacua joined the Rams, Cooper Kupp made NFL history.
In 2021, Kupp won the so-called triple crown of receiving, was named NFL offensive player of the year and won the Super Bowl LVI most valuable player award.
Not that Nacua, a junior at Brigham Young at the time, monitored Kupp’s statistics.
“Sadly, I don’t recall too much,” he said. “I never was a fantasy player so I never caught the buzz either.”
Four games into this season, the NFL is abuzz about Nacua.
Nearly three quarters of this season are still to be played, but if the Rams keep winning and Nacua keeps producing, the third-year pro could be on a track similar to Kupp’s historic season.
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LAKERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: When LeBron James was asked about how a former defensive player of the year and a former No. 1 overall pick could elevate the Lakers roster, the superstar instead offered a different offseason addition’s name first.
“And Jake,” James added quickly during his Lakers media day news conference after a question about center Deandre Ayton and guard Marcus Smart.
Jake LaRavia’s signing came with less fanfare than the moves that brought Smart and Ayton to the Lakers, but the 6-foot-7 wing hopes he can be equally as influential in a quiet connector role behind some of the league’s biggest stars.
“We got a lot of dudes on this team that can score, a lot of dudes on this team that can put the ball in the bucket,” LaRavia said Wednesday at Lakers training camp. “So I’m here to complement those players, but to also just bring energy every day on both sides of the ball.”
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THRILLA IN MANILA
From Bill Dwyre: Once all the papers were signed and the fight was officially on, Muhammad Ali knew exactly what to do.
The master quipster, fight-promoting wizard and most famous and outrageous boxer in the world — the longtime heavyweight champion who had trumpeted his boxing style as one to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” — told the media what would happen on Oct. 1, 1975.
“It will be,” he bellowed, “A killa and a thrilla and a chilla when I get to the gorilla in Manila.”
It turned out to be all of that 50 years ago, as well as being offensive, when he called his fight opponent, Joe Frazier, a gorilla. The shortened “Thrilla in Manila” stuck and became the label and the headline for what was to become one of the greatest boxing matches of all time.
Bob Arum will turn 94 in December, and he is still going strong.
In the ‘60s, he was a Harvard-educated lawyer who ended up working for Bobby Kennedy’s justice department. Kennedy assigned him to confiscate closed-circuit TV revenue from the 1962 Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston fight because information had been leaked to the U.S. government that the promoter, Roy Cohn, was planning to skirt some tax responsibilities by illegally paying Patterson in Sweden.
That’s the same Roy Cohn who eventually became the lawyer and confidant of a young Donald Trump.
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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1906 — Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs American challenger ‘Fireman’ Jim Flynn in 15 rounds to retain his title in Los Angeles.
1950 — Jim Hardy throws six touchdown passes, including five to Bob Shaw, as the Chicago Cardinals pound the Baltimore Colts 55-13.
1970 — Fourteen members of the Wichita State football team are killed in a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains.
1980 — Larry Holmes registers a technical knockout in the 11th round against Muhammad Ali to win the world heavyweight title in Las Vegas.
1983 — The Green Bay Packers score 49 points in the first half, including 35 in the second quarter, in a 55-14 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1988 — Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, wins super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats American Riddick Bowe by 2nd round TKO.
1991 — Steffi Graf becomes the youngest woman to win 500 matches as a pro when she beats Petra Langrova of Czechoslovakia 6-0, 6-1 in the Leipzig International Tournament.
1993 — In the first all-British world heavyweight title fight, Lennox Lewis retains his WBC heavyweight title with a seven-round knockout of Frank Bruno in Cardiff, Wales.
1993 — California rallies from a 30-0 deficit to beat Oregon 42-41. Dave Barr throws three second-half touchdowns, including a 26-yarder to Iheanyi Uwaezuoke with 1:17 left in the game.
1994 — North Carolina’s 92-game winning streak in women’s soccer ends with a scoreless tie in overtime against Notre Dame.
1994 — Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins beat son Dave’s Cincinnati Bengals 23-7 in the first meeting between father and son coaches in pro sports.
2004 — Rice and San Jose State play in the highest-scoring regulation game in Division I-A history, with the Spartans winning 70-63. The 133 points surpass the total from Middle Tennessee’s 70-58 victory over Idaho on Oct. 6, 2001. The schools combine for 19 touchdowns to break the Division I-A record of 18.
2006 — Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth is given a five-game suspension — the longest for on-field behavior in NFL history — for stomping on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode’s head and kicking him in the face.
2009 — Ninth-grader Alexis Thompson shoots a 3-under 69 for a share of the lead with top-ranked Lorena Ochoa and three others after the second round of the Navistar LPGA Classic.
2011 — Dallas has its largest lead blown in a loss in franchise history, frittering away a 24-point third-quarter cushion in a 34-30 loss to Detroit. The Lions turned a 20-point halftime deficit into an overtime win at Minnesota the previous week.
2016 — The United States win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008. Ryan Moore two-putts on No. 18 for a 1-up victory over Lee Westwood, giving the Americans a 15-10 lead that seals the win over Europe. The 17-11 victory over Europe is their biggest rout in 35 years at the Ryder Cup.
2016 — Atlanta’s Matt Ryan passes for 503 yards and four touchdowns, while wide receiver Julio Jones has 12 catches for 300 yards and a touchdown in Atlanta’s 48-33 win over Carolina.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1908 — Addie Joss of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game, defeating the Chicago White Sox, 1-0.
1916 — Grover Alexander pitched a 2-0 three-hitter against the Boston Braves for his 16th shutout and 33rd victory of the season.
1920 — The only tripleheader in this century was played, with the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first two games. The Pirates won the nightcap, which was called after six innings because of darkness.
1938 — Bob Feller struck out 18 Detroit Tigers to set a single-game record that stood until Steve Carlton broke it in 1969.
1968 — Bob Gibson set a World Series record by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1.
1978 — In a one-game playoff for the AL East title, Bucky Dent hit a three-run homer off Mike Torrez to lead the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
1986 — Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the first pitcher in baseball to strike out 200 batters in each of his first three seasons as he fanned seven en route to an 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1991 — The Toronto Blue Jays clinched the American League East title and became the first team in sports history to draw four million fans in one season.
1995 — The Seattle Mariners, behind Randy Johnson’s three-hitter, beat the Angels 9-1 in a one-game playoff for the AL West title.
2001 — Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, becomes the first player in MLB history to hit 60 home runs in three seasons.
2005 — Roy Oswalt got his 20th win to lead the Houston Astros over the Chicago Cubs 6-4, clinching the NL wild-card berth and capping a historic comeback. Houston started the season 15-30 and became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to make the postseason after falling 15 games under .500.
2009 — B.J. Upton became the first player in Tampa Bay history to hit for the cycle. He went 5 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs in a 13-4 win over the New York Yankees.
2013 — Tampa Bay posted another must-have win on the road, beating the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the AL wild-card game. The Rays playing in their third city over four days advanced to the best-of-five division series.
2016 — Baltimore’s Matt Wieters homered from both sides of the plate and Kevin Gausman gave the Orioles a clutch pitching performance to beat the New York Yankees 5-2 and snag a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.
2016 — Vin Scully called his final Dodgers game after a record 67 seasons.
2018 — Tony Wolters hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the 13th inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in an epic NL wild-card game.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…