Rosario homer, Matzek strikeouts KO Dodgers in final game of NLCS

ATLANTA — Baseball is a game of opportunities. And both teams had opportunities in this Game 6 of the NLCS. But in the end, the Braves were able to cash in one more opportunity than the Dodgers were. It was an Eddie Rosario three-run home run of Walker Buehler in the fourth inning that proved to be the difference in this one. But the Dodgers didn’t go down without a fight. They staged a strong rally in the top of the seventh and had the tying run at second base with nobody out.

But they could not get him home, and that inability to get that run-scoring knock with three opportunities to do so was what sent your Los Angeles Dodgers down to a season-ending defeat on Saturday night. The final score: Braves 4, Dodgers 2. And somewhere in my memory AJ Pollock will be forever at second base, waiting for that clutch hit that will never come.

Scherzer scratch puts Buehler on the mound

The lead-up to this game was full of more than enough drama. On Friday night, it came out that ace Max Scherzer would NOT be making the start in Game 6 as everyone had supposed going back to Atlanta. It turned out that his “dead arm” issues that sent him to an early shower in Game 2 were still bothering him. Instead, Walker Buehler, who had been slated as Sunday’s starter on regular rest volunteered to start in Scherzer’s stead.

From the early going, it seem like the decision might come back to haunt Dave Roberts sooner rather than later. After a scoreless Dodger first, Buehler gave up a leadoff single to eventual series MVP Eddie Rosario, but with the help of a double play ball off of the bat of Freddie Freeman, there were two quick outs in the inning. However, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley came through with back-to-back doubles and just like that the Braves were off to an early 1-0 lead. Exactly what you wanted not to happen.

Dodgers manufacture a run to tie the game

Braves starter Ian Anderson looked much sharper in this one than he had in his previous start in Game 2, when Corey Seager hijacked him for a first inning home run, and he was giving up a lot of hard contact up and down the lineup. It wasn’t until AJ Pollock led off the third with a double that the Dodgers had a hit in this one. However, Pollock’s double was wasted in the third, as Anderson retired Matt Beaty, Walker Buehler, and Mookie Betts in order to end the Dodgers’ mini-threat.

However in the next inning, the Dodgers were able to manufacture a “small ball” run, thanks to a fine piece of hitting from Cody Bellinger. The rally started with a one-out walk to Trea Turner, which Will Smith immediately followed with an opposite field single to advance Turner to second. After Chris Taylor struck out, Belli came to the plate with a two-out RBI chance. He took a couple of mighty swings at offerings from Anderson, and quickly found himself in a 1-2 hole.

However, Cody channeled his inner Rod Carew, shortened his swing, and slapped a ball through a gaping hole on the left side of the diamond. Turner easily scored, and it was now a new ball game, tied 1-1. However, the Dodgers failed to convert another two-out chance when AJ Pollock popped out to end the inning. It was already second time in the young night that they’d left ducks on the pond, a failure that they would come to almost immediately regret.

Two-out Rosario bomb puts Dodgers in a deep hole

It would have been nice if Walker Buehler could have delivered a shut-down inning in the fourth after the Dodgers had tied it in the top of the frame. And for a time, it looked like Walker was going to deliver just that. He struck out Joc Pederson and then on the next pitch got Dansby Swanson to hit a routine flyout to center. Six pitches into the inning and already Buehler had two outs. And with light-hitting catcher Travis d’Arnaud at the plate with an 1-2 count, it looked very much like Buehler would be walking off the mound with the tie intact.

However, in a lapse of focus, Buehler ended up walking d’Arnaud. Instead of letting his pitcher Anderson hit in the fourth, Brian Snitker pulled him back and inserted his best pinch hitter, switch-hitting Ehire Adrianza. With a 1-0 count, Buehler made a pretty good pitch to Adrianza, but he drilled it into the right field corner for a double. Mookie Betts made a nice play on the ball, and Braves third base coach Ron Washington had to hold d’Arnaud at third.

But now the Braves were at the top of the order, and the hot-hitting Rosario. Though first base was open, Dave Roberts elected to have Buehler throw to Rosario rather than face 2020 MVP Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded. And when Buehler got ahead of Rosario 0-2, the Dodgers’ ace was one pitch away from getting out of the inning. But one of the things that you lose when you come back on short rest is your wipe-out pitch, and Buehler just couldn’t put Rosario away.

Rosario fouled off three good pitches from Buehler, who kept pounded the Braves’ left fielder in on his hands. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Buehler went inside yet again, this time with a cutter at 94 mph. And this one, Rosario did not miss. He drilled it deep down the right field line. The ball left the bat like a rocket and had almost no hook on it at all. It stayed fair and landed in the crowd for a back-breaking three-run home run.

Pen keeps it close during tense middle innings

The home run signaled the end of Walker Buehler’s night. His legendary status as a big game pitcher has taken a few blows this year, and while he showed moments of brilliance during the 2021 campaign and will probably end up top-3 in the Cy Young voting, at the end of the year, he just didn’t have the good Walker Buehler stuff that we were seeing in July and August. The nerds are going to really have to examine his load management next year to make sure that both he and Urias have fuel left in the tank next postseason. Because this year, neither of them did.

However, the Dodgers’ bullpen came through yet again, putting up nothing but zeros the rest of the game. Brusdar Graterol looked very good in 1.2 innings of work in the fifth and sixth. Though he was at just 18 pitches, Roberts pulled him when Rosario came up again in favor of the lefty Alex Vesia. The usually reliable Vesia just didn’t have it tonight and walked the bases loaded with two outs. He needed to be bailed out by Blake Treinen, who came on to face Austin Riley in a key situation.

Treinen, who had the most consistent season of anyone in the Dodgers’ bullpen this year, again rose to the occasion. He struck out Riley on four pitches and ended the Braves’ threat in the inning. The game went to the seventh with the lead still 4-1.

Dodgers score one in the seventh

In the seventh inning, the Braves sent Game 3 goat Luke Jackson to the mound for the first time in the series since he gave up that fateful Cody Bellinger home run in the eighth inning earlier this week. And once again, the Dodgers’ hitters seemed to have Jackson measured up pretty well. Chris Taylor led off by smoking a double over Eddie Rosario’s head in left field. Then, Cody Bellinger and Jackson squared off again. This one was much less dramatic; Jackson walked Belli on four pitches.

But suddenly, the tying run was at the plate in the person of AJ Pollock. AJ got behind 1-2 on a couple of called strikes on sliders, but then Jackson tried to come in on Pollock’s hands with another slider. Pollock was able to get the barrel to it, and drilled the ball down the left field line. It landed just fair, and Taylor scored easily. Now the Dodgers were cooking with gas: men on second and third, nobody out.

Dodgers strike out (literally and figuratively)

With the game seemingly on the line, Brian Snitker called on his relief ace Tyler Matzek to get him and the Braves out of this nasty jam. The 43,000 fans at Truist Park had reason to be worried. The stats tell us that with nobody out and men on second at third, a team can reliably expect to score 1.96 runs in the inning. So, even if the Dodgers delivered an average performance over the next three plate appearances, this game would be tied.

But the statisticians didn’t know about the nasty stuff Tyler Matzek was bringing on Saturday. The guy was practically unhittable. First man up Albert Pujols managed a foul tip against Matzek, but in the end chased a ball out of the zone to strike out for the first out of the inning.

Then, Dave Roberts made a pinch hitting move that will have us talking all winter. Instead of going with promising youngster Gavin Lux, who has had some big clutch hits in his young career, Robert went straight chalk and called on Steven Souza, Jr. to pinch hit for Blake Treinen. Problem is, Souza had delivered a grand total of one hit in the postseason and was hitting about a buck fifty for the entire year. Not exactly a real threat off the bench. And Souza did about as well as you might expect. He too struck out. If either of these two guys had put the ball in play at all, chances were good that the speedy Bellinger could have scored the third run of the game. However, they did not.

So it was up to Mookie Betts, who had had a great NLDS, but had cooled considerably as the postseason wore on. Still, he had the biggest clutch opportunity of his season so far. One base hit and it was a new ball game. And all the stats tell us that Mookie is exactly the kind of guy you want up in this situation. His numbers with two out and RISP were through the roof.

Matzek went into his stretch and through a fastball in the heart of the plate. Mookie watched it sail by for strike one. Then, Matzek came back with almost exactly the same pitch in almost exactly the same location. Once again, Mookie left the bat on his shoulder as strike two was called. Now, it a very deep hole, Betts prepared for the third pitch of the at-bat. Matzek kept the gas coming, throwing yet another fastball that got a whole lot of the plate. This one Mookie found to his liking and swung. But there would be no joy in Mudville tonight. The mighty Mookie had struck out. Three pitches. Three strikes. One swing. Nothing to show for it.

In fact, the entire Pujols-Souza-Betts sequence is one that is going to inhabit the nightmares of many a Dodger fan for years to come. They had the Braves on the ropes. And they let them off the hook In the most pathetic way possible.

Matzek and Smith close it out

Though the Dodgers had six more outs to play with, the game was essentially over after that seventh inning failure. Tyler Matzek came on again in the eighth and was equally effective against Corey Seager, Trea Turner, and Will Smith.

And for what might be the last time ever as a Dodger, Kenley Jansen got the ball in the eighth. He gave a up a hustle double to Jorge Soler to lead off the inning, but got a couple a clutch outs and a nice play from Cody Bellinger in center to get out of the inning with no damage. It was nice that the last memory of 2021 was a clutch strikeout of Austin Riley with two runners in scoring position to keep the game close. Thanks for everything, Kenley. I hope the Dodgers treat you right this offseason.

The Dodgers’ ninth inning was pretty much an anti-climatic bummer of an inning. Previous heroes Taylor and Bellinger came up empty with strikeouts, and AJ Pollock got gunned down at first on a nice infield play from Dansby Swanson. And, that, dear friends, was that.

Requiem for a Repeat

In the end, the Dodgers didn’t have what it took to compete all the way to the end of the season. They sustained too many injuries and got too inconsistent production out of its vaunted lineup to overcome the setbacks. So it will be the Braves who will face the Astros* in the World Series this year. And if they win, the Astros* will claim that is is they, not the Dodgers, who are the team of this era of big league baseball. And with three world series appearances in five years (and maybe two titles, however legitimate), it will be hard to argue against them.

As for the Dodgers, they can only join with every other team in baseball and repeat softly like a prayer until pitchers and catchers report, “Wait ’til next year…”