The Dodgers blinked first. The Dodgers blinked furiously. The Dodgers blinked recklessly.
The Dodgers blinked so rapidly, their season has been rendered red and swollen and beyond painful.
In the sixth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, the score was tied, the roar was deafening, the showdown was set, something had to give.
It was the Dodgers. They gave, and gave, and gave.
They gave Padres the go-ahead run after a booted grounder by Trea Turner, then gave themselves up on four late failed rallies to eventually lose 5-3.
The best-of-five series is now tied at 1-all and, believe it or not, there is a chance the Dodgers might not play another game at Dodger Stadium this season.
The next two duels are at San Diego’s Petco Park, and the Dodgers’ thin starting rotation renders the situation problematic at best.
In Friday’s Game 3 they will start Tony Gonsolin, who has pitched once since Aug. 23 and is still recovering from a forearm injury. Then in Saturday’s Game 4, they will start Tyler Anderson who, despite going 15-5 with a 2.57 ERA, still has the experience of just one career postgame start.
The excitement over the resilient Game 1 victory now fades into worry over what comes next. Whatever happens, the Dodgers will have to be better than they were in the final hours of a sullen Wednesday night.
“Now it’s a best-of-three series,” said Dodger manager Dave Roberts, words Dodgers fans never wanted to hear.
The only beauty in the late darkness occurred in the eighth inning, when a goose suddenly alighted on the Dodger Stadium right-center field grass then flew around while briefly avoiding groundskeeper capture.
But, face it, the only way that goose could have symbolized the Dodgers effort is if it had laid an egg.
After Clayton Kershaw kept the score at 3-all after five innings, the Padres took a 4-3 lead against Brusdar Graterol in the sixth inning on the botched grounder by Trea Turner and an RBI single by Jurickson Profar.
The damage was done, but the Dodgers still had four more chances. Turns out, they made the least of them.
They should have at least tied the game in the sixth after Will Smith led off with a grounder off the glove of second baseman Jake Cronenworth and Max Muncy followed with a line drive off the base of the right-field wall. But, while Smith ran to third on the drive, Muncy stopped at first.
With no outs, it seems like a good time for a safety squeeze bunt to score at least one run. But Justin Turner swung away, and struck out, then Gavin Lux grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Then, in the seventh, they seemingly rallied again, but failed again. Cody Bellinger, with four strikeouts in his previous five series at-bats, lofted an opposite-field single into left. Mookie Betts, who had yet to record a hit in the series, lined a ball to center field that scooted under a diving Trent Grisham for a double. But with runners on second and third, Trea Turner grounded out and Smith flied out to Grisham.
It was more of the same frustration in the eighth after the Padres had extended the lead with a Cronenworth homer against Blake Treinen.
With two out, Lux singled and Trayce Thompson walked. But against hard-throwing reliever Josh Hader, Austin Barnes was sent up to pinch hit instead of Chris Taylor, and Barnes flied out.
Finally, in the ninth, with the Dodgers down to their last strike, Freddie Freeman lined a double off the right-center field wall, but Smith ended the game with a flyout.
The game began with two pitchers battling ghosts, and barely surviving the haunting.
For the Dodgers, it was Kershaw. For the Padres, it was Yu Darvish. For Dodger fans, the two pitchers’ combined postseason history is chilling.
The last time Kershaw pitched on a Dodger Stadium in a playoff game with fans in the stands, it was one of the low points of a postseason career filled with potholes.
Remember? In October 2019, Dave Roberts brought him to pitch the eighth inning against the heart of the Washington Nationals’ order with the Dodgers leading 3-1 in the deciding Game 5 of the NLDS.
Oh, now you remember. Anthony Rendon, home run. Juan Soto, home run. Game tied, and eventually lost by Dodgers bullpen when Joe Kelly allowed a 10th-inning grand slam to Howie Kendrick to abruptly end the Dodgers season.
And the last time Darvish pitched in postseason game at Dodger Stadium? Of course, you remember. He collapsed for the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series against the cheating Houston Astros.
The memories were everywhere, and the baseballs were flying.
Ten pitches into the game, Kershaw was already trailing, when Manny Machado ripped a slider into the left-field corner seats for a sizzling home run.
The Dodgers immediately came back to tie it up with another blast, this one a soaring shot over the center field fence by Freeman off a weak Darvish fastball.
In the second inning, the Dodgers took the lead when Muncy dropped a 2-and-2 slider into the right-center field pavilion for his 10th career postseason home run, a number as startling as the homer itself.
But Kershaw couldn’t stand prosperity, allowing two runs in the ensuing inning on a couple of singles, a Machado double into the right-field corner, and a Cronenworth groundout.
Seemingly moments later, Trea Turner countered with a first-pitch home run deep into the left-field corner on a flat slider to tie the game.
It was Turner’s second homer of the series after entering this postseason with one homer in 167 postseason at-bats.
When Kershaw left after five innings, he had allowed three runs on six hits, a line regrettably fitting of his 4.19 career ERA in 37 postseason games spanning 20 series.
When Darvish left after five innings, he had allowed three runs on seven hits, better than in 2017, but not much.
Regardless, entering the sixth inning, the two veterans had set their respective teams up for a four-inning showdown.
The Dodgers blinked first, and their fans can only hope that they just didn’t blink it all away.
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