They shot them down. They let them go.
They squeezed them out until their last breaths. They retreated and gave them new life.
In any normal five-game playoff series, a team leading two games to none could lose the game and still maintain a clear lead. But difficult events happen here between Dodgers And Philadelphia Phillies This is not an ordinary series. And after losing a potential deciding Game 3 on Wednesday night in a dazed, boozy Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers are suddenly and dangerously close to losing.
An 8-2 loss to the Phillies in the National League Division Series effectively means the Dodgers still lead two games to one with two more chances to shut out their favorite opponent.
But in reality, the Dodgers now face a must-win Game 4 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday as a loss sends the series back to Philadelphia on Saturday for a decisive Game 5 in baseball's toughest place to play.
Yes, the Dodgers won twice at Citizens Bank Park to start this streak, but can they do it again? And even with both Shohei Ohtani And Blake Snell available, will they even be willing to try?
No, the season really starts on Thursday, and it's Tyler Glasnow against Phillies ace Christopher Sanchez because on a long, frustrating Wednesday night, the Dodgers couldn't do it when they were supposed to do it.
After this, the Dodger manager Dave Roberts preached calm.
“It’s pretty close to getting away,” he said. “If you looked back at this series and said we were going to lead 2-1, we would have bet on Glass to come out.”
He added: “I feel good where we are… And it certainly turned red.”
But it was the Phillies who should have blushed. The Dodgers had every advantage. Their ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the mound. Their attack was in full readiness. Champagne was nearby. They even took the lead after three innings on Tommy Edman's homer.
But Yamamoto exploded and the Phillies blew by, and then Clayton Kershaw took the mound in the seventh inning and, unfortunately for the retiring star, things went from bad to worse.
By the time it ended, the once unbeaten 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 recovered.
Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs, including one that seemed to disappear from 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.
Dodger fans were so upset about everything that many of them walked out after Kershaw went in for a five-run eighth inning.
It wasn't pretty. It was terrible. And now it's a problem because the once-failing Phillies have been revived, refreshed and believing.
It's adversity, that part of faith, and before the game the two Dodgers warned of what would happen when it happened.
“Obviously we want to get this done tonight and we don’t want anything to get away from us,” Max Muncy said. “It's one of those things where you talk about momentum, and if you don't finish it tonight, you'll feel it slipping away.”
Yeah, well, he's right, it's slipping away now.
Despite his post-game optimism, Roberts warned of similarly ominous signs before the game.
“These guys are hot on your heels, and you're at home,” the Dodger manager said. “We're expecting a big, rowdy crowd. We've got one of our aces on the mound. So the way we play, we want to take these guys out and not let them get any air.”
Oh, they gave them plenty of air starting in the fourth inning when Schwarber launched a 455-foot homer from the roof of the right-field pavilion. Then the Phillies added a single by Harper, a single by Alec Bohm that scored Harper on a bad throw by center fielder Andy Pages, and then a run-scoring groundball from Brandon Marsh.
The Phillies' pitching held, but their lead was still 3–1 when Kershaw took the mound sharply in the seventh and survived a wild rally for one inning.
The Phillies put two runners on base against Kershaw on Turner's single and Schwarber's walk, but with the crowd roaring at every pitch, Will Smith hit 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 scored again, sandwiched around a walk, a Muncy groundout and a single.
And just think, it all started out so sweet.
The evening began with World Series hero Steve Garvey throwing out the first pitch and then, during the traditional pregame greeting, adding an adjective by saying, “It's Dodger time.” championship baseball.”
Did you speak too early?
The game's honored veteran was 100-year-old World War II veteran Jimmy Hernandez, and the standing ovation was one of the loudest of the night.
The subsequent game lasted only 100 years.
And now the Dodgers' season has been brutally shortened to two days.
Or rather, one.
