Dodgers Dugout: Justin Turner is taking his place among postseason legends

A jubilant Justin Turner celebrates after hitting a walk-off homer to beat the Cubs.

Assistant Sports Editor

Oct. 16, 2017 8 AM PT

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. This Justin Turner guy may just have a future in this game.

Game 2 review

OHMIGOSH THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! WHERE’S MY ASTHMA INHALER?

OK, OK. I’ve got to calm down.

What better way to celebrate the 29^th anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series than Justin Turner creating a little walk-off magic of his own.

An amazing ending to an amazing postseason so far. Let’s review.

— Where in the world was Wade Davis? The Cubs have John Lackey, who has never pitched on consecutive games in his major league career, out there in the bottom of the ninth. Unless Davis has some injury we don’t know about, this was a puzzling decision by Joe Maddon. He had Davis warming up in the eighth. Where is your closer?

— Let’s take a moment to discuss Turner’s postseason career. With his 2 for 4, four RBI performance in Game 2, Turner is now hitting .377 in the postseason, with four homers and 22 RBIs in 23 games. He is hitting .375 in thisNLCS with a homer and five RBIs and hit .462 in the NLDS against the Diamondbacks, with a homer and five RBIs. He went 10 for 19 with six doubles against the Mets in the 2015 NLDS and 6 for 15 with a triple and a homer against the Nationals in the 2016 NLDS. His only blip is going 4 for 20 against the Cubs in last season’s NLCS, but even then he hit a homer and had three RBIs.

In short, we are witnessing a remarkable playoff run by a remarkable hitter.

— Charlie Culberson has scored a run in both games and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in Game 2. He’s hitting .400. And hours before Game 1, he learned his grandmother had died.

— Lackey looked like he would have rather been anywhere except out on the mound.

— The Dodgers’ bullpen has been incredible. In 19.2 innings this postseason, they have given up eight hits, walked two and struck out 19. They have a 1.37 ERA.

— I hope the Cubs never figure out that Yasiel Puig no longer chases the outside pitch. He walked three times in Game 2.

— The patience at the plate has been amazing. They forced the Cubs to go to their bullpen early and generally made it a long night for Cubs pitchers.

— Joc Pederson, who was left off the NLDS roster and has had only 22 MLB at-bats since Aug. 19, is asked to bunt against a left-hander and lays down a beautiful bunt. That’s a lot tougher than he made it look.

--Nice catch by that fan on Turner’s home run. He have the ball to Turner after the game after a “little wheelin’ and dealin’” Turner said.

It was a thrilling ending. You can watch Turner’s home run again here.

By the way, in the Game 1 review, I said the Dodgers added Luis Avilan to the NLCS roster and removed Pedro Baez. Of course, the correct answer was Pederson for Baez. Avilan is not on the roster. I wrote that just to test all of you. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it).

Catcher-blocking-the-plate rule

A lot of people emailed about how this new rule is ruining baseball and how men can’t be men anymore when playing sports because of all this emphasis on safety.

Silly me, I don’t think a sport is ruined if we don’t allow two men to potentially ruin their careers by crashing into each other. But after giving it further thought, I see I was wrong and have a list of other things we should change:

Why are these batters wearing helmets? Take them off, you weaklings.

Goalies wearing face masks in hockey? That’s not the way the game used to be played. Ruins it.

Concussion protocols? What do I care what happens to athletes 30 years from now? I demand my entertainment. Be real men.

Seat belts? Why should we wear them? So what if it saves thousands of lives. It’s really inconvenient.

OK, joke’s over. If you have the ball you can block the plate. If you don’t, you can’t. What’s wrong with that? Nothing.

Game 3 preview

Yu Darvish versus Kyle Hendricks

Dodgers versus Hendricks

Andre Ethier: .333 (1 for 3)

Enrique Hernandez: .250 (1 for 4)

Yasiel Puig: .250 (1 for 4)

Justin Turner: .167 (2 for 12), 1 homer