There is no other way.
After another successful night for both the Dodgers and Cardinals, the Dodgers know exactly what they have to get done and hope to get done on Tuesday and Wednesday. Beat the Giants in the remaining two games, and hope the Reds can take down the Cardinals for two. Anything else isn't good enough.
A couple hours after the Cardinals beat the Reds 4-2, the Dodgers found themselves deadlocked with the Giants 2-2 in the ninth. That's when Elian Herrera stepped in with the bases loaded and smoked a walk-off single off of Marco Scutaro's glove at second to keep the Dodgers alive another day.
The second NL Wild Card spot is the lone remaining playoff spot up for grabs, and thanks to a six-game winning streak, the longest of the season for the Dodgers, the race gets extended again.
The night didn't start off so hot, as when the Cardinals were taking a lead for good from the Reds, the Giants struck in the first. Scutaro took a one-out walk before Pablo Sandoval popped up. Buster Posey, a clear MVP candidate thanks to a fantastic season on both sides of the field, cracked an RBI double off of Aaron Harang to make it 1-0.
Both teams traded double plays in the second, as Xavier Nady and Shane Victorino pulled the tricks. Harang and Matt Cain breezed through the third as well.
It took until the fourth for the Dodgers to get their first runs. Mark Ellis was back in the leadoff spot, and he singled to start. Andre Ethier has seemingly always had a good time against Cain, and that continued here with a long two-run shot to center, making it 2-1. Ethier has certainly had big hits in his career, but it's a little hard to explain just why he drives a great pitcher like Cain so nuts. Just one of those things, I guess.
The Dodgers had chances to score in both the fifth and sixth, but couldn't make a dent. In the fifth, Victorino and A.J. Ellis were in scoring position with two down, but Mark Ellis grounded out. The next inning, Adrian Gonzalez doubled and Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked with two down. Victorino singled, but for whatever reason, third base coach Tim Wallach sent Gonzo home.
How exactly did that work out? Uh, not so well. Gonzalez was thrown out by about 12 miles, and the inning was over. I'm not sure why Wallach felt the need to send him there, as even Juan Rivera can claim to be faster than Gonzalez. That's probably not a good thing.
Still up 2-1, Don Mattingly turned the game over to his power-throwing bullpen. Ronald Belisario was first up, and he got the first couple of outs before running into a little trouble. Brandon Belt singled and stole second before Nady drew a walk. Brandon Crawford struck out swinging, though.
Kenley Jansen was summoned next, and for the first time since coming back on September 20 from his heart issues, he gave up a run. With one out, Angel Pagan doubled to right. Scutaro tied the game with RBI single on a fastball up, and we were once again back to square one.
The Dodgers couldn't do anything in the bottom of the eighth, but Brandon League still came in to start the ninth. He gave up a two-out single to Aubrey Huff, and as Emmanuel "Tiki" Burriss pinch-ran, Ellis gunned him down trying to steal second for the final out.
Bruce Bochy sent in Santiago Casilla to try and get the game into extras. Ramirez got everything started with a leadoff single. Victorino sacrificed him over to second. Luis Cruuuuuuz singled, but perhaps learning his lesson from earlier in the game, Wallach kept Ramirez at third. A.J. Ellis as then given the intentional pass to load the bases.
Herrera has had an interesting season. He wasn't on the big league roster to start the year, then went from unknown to everyday player when Dee Gordon got banged up and Juan Uribe (remember him?) still couldn't hit. Then Herrera forgot how to hit, and was sent back down. Then rosters got expanded, and he was brought back up.
Looking for any sort of spark to keep the Dodgers' playoff hopes alive, Herrera lined a single off of Scutaro's glove as the ball bounced into center to end the game. It was a great moment for a hard worker who can play so many different roles.
As a Dodger fan, it's great to see them play so well over the last week. It's also just as frustrating, because if they started this run even a week earlier, they could easily be in the position the Cardinals are in right now. You can't help but wonder what could have happened if they just figured this thing out a little sooner.
While the offense has certainly picked it up (not that they could've gotten any worse for most of September), one constant of the six-game run has been the starting pitching. That continued with Harang's solid effort, going six innings for two hits, one run, two walks, and three strikeouts. He didn't look so good in the first, but he certainly found his groove against a playoff team featuring their regular players. That was very encouraging.
By the time the Dodgers throw the first pitch on Tuesday night, the Cardinals will already be well into their game, just like Monday. So, it can either be a depressing sight, or another opportunity to stay alive. In St. Louis, it's a great pitching matchup between Mat Latos and Chris Carpenter. Let's hope the Reds send out their big guns like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Brandon Phillips. Please don't do what the Red Sox did against the Yankees and send out the equivalent of a Triple-A team!
At Dodger Stadium, it'll be Chris Capuano against Barry Zito. Capuano has certainly not been the same pitcher as he was in the first half, but he is coming off his first win since mid-August against the Padres. Zito somehow has 14 wins despite a 4.19 ERA. Not terrible, but I do like the Dodgers' chances in scoring runs off of him.
I just hope those runs lead them to a big game on Wednesday, and not an early start to winter.
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