Column: Dodgers land back in the same potential nightmare with Clayton Kershaw
Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell walks back to the mound in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the National League division series against the New York Mets.
After spending two days listening to the baseball world debate the definition of a bad slide, the Dodgers walked into Citi Field on Monday and spelled it out in crooked numbers.
Bad slide: Their pitching rotation after Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.
On a night when thousands of New Yorkers vengefully chanted for the appearance of public enemy Chase Utley — “We want Ut-ley!” — the Dodgers handed them Brett Anderson and Alex Wood, and they all went home happy.
Two days after Utley’s rotten slide broke the leg of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada, Anderson and Wood threw a body block on the Dodgers’ season, combining to allow 10 runs in a 13-7 loss to the Mets in Game 3 of a National League division series.
Those two pitchers were the new Dodgers administration’s answer to starting pitching depth in lieu of more established talent that could have been acquired with prospects, remember? This was going to be different from the last two Octobers, right?
Well, Monday’s debacle has landed the Dodgers right back in the same potential nightmare — their season is on the line and weary Clayton Kershaw will be forced to pitch on short rest to save it.
The Mets lead the best-of-five series two games to one with Game4 here Tuesday featuring Mets left-handed rookie Steven Matz against you-know-who in a we’ve-been-here-before.
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In each of the last two seasons, Kershaw has pitched the Dodgers’ final elimination game of the season, and both times his rescue attempt has failed.
Last season, working on three days’ rest, he allowed three runs in six-plus innings in losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2013, after pitching on three days’ rest earlier in the postseason, he allowed seven runs in four innings in a loss to the Cardinals.
That’s two must-win games that became season-ending losses, 10-plus innings, 10 earned runs, yet full steam ahead, because what other choice do the Dodgers have?
“I appreciate the confidence Donnie has ... in me to do it,” Kershaw said Monday, referring to Manager Don Mattingly. “Makes you want to prove him right, for sure.”
The only person proved right in this series so far is every fan who blasted new baseball boss Andrew Friedman this summer for failing to acquire another veteran arm to avoid the problem of the past two Octobers. Instead of chasing down the likes of David Price or Cole Hamels, Friedman decided to rely on fringe players and projects while protecting some of the top Dodgers prospects for the future.
While most prospects are still hidden in the minor leagues, two of Friedman’s solutions were on the Citi Field mound Monday, both of them making a complete mess of the place.
First up was Anderson, who was signed last winter and actually pitched decently during the summer. But he is injury-prone and has never thrown this many innings in a season before, perhaps leading to the dead arm he showed in allowing six runs in just three innings.
“It kind of nose-dived,” said Anderson afterward, shaking his head. “My body felt good, my arm felt good … it just didn’t work out the way I wanted.”
Next up was one of Friedman’s solutions at the trading deadline, Wood being acquired from Atlanta and essentially acting as the Dodgers’ fourth starter. He relieved Anderson in the fourth inning and pitched like the 10th starter, allowing four runs in two innings including a monster three-run homer into the left field second deck by Yoenis Cespedes.
“He missed down the pipe …and [Cespedes] hit it pretty far,” said catcher Yasmani Grandal.
This was all made worse because, though it might not seem like it now, this was a game the Dodgers could have won. After they had batted twice, in fact, this was a game they should have won.
Spurred by Grandal’s first hit of the postseason, a two-run single to right, the Dodgers led, 3-0, entering the bottom of the second, and Mets starter Matt Harvey was clearly out of rhythm and promising to allow more.
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Yet moments after the Dodgers put up those runs, Anderson gave them back by allowing four consecutive hits for a run and then ending his second inning by allowing a three-run double to the center field wall by Curtis Granderson. Anderson eventually left after three innings but even then, thanks to Harvey’s inconsistency, they were still in the game trailing 6-3. It took Wood all of six batters to make it 10-3.
By the end of the seventh inning, the Mets led by nine runs, and the only thing undecided was whether Mattingly would allow Utley to make an appearance two days after that fateful slide that resulted in a two-game suspension that Utley is appealing.
No such luck, Mets fans. Utley never left the dugout, and all the action around him occurred later in the Dodgers’ clubhouse, as he stood facing his locker, when Dodgers publicity consultant Steve Brener stepped between Utley and two New York reporters and loudly repeated that Utley wasn’t talking. The scene could have been avoided if Utley had simply turned around and brushed off the reporters himself, but perhaps he felt he had been in the middle of enough turmoil for one night.
Now, back on the field, it’s up to Kershaw, and, if he wins, it will be Greinke in a deciding Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, and the Dodgers are already counting on having them both.
“You always feel good when you have that two-headed monster out there for you,” said Grandal.
On this night, as on several nights since that lost opportunity of July 31, they could have used a third.
Follow Bill Plaschke on Twitter: @BillPlaschke
MORE DODGERS NEWS:
Clayton Kershaw will start Game 4 of NLDS on short rest
How MLB’s suspension of Chase Utley is unfair to players and umpires
Inning by inning: Dodgers pitching implodes in 13-7 loss to New York Mets
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