Steve Webb
NLCS Game 1, 10/13/2024: Dodgers 9, Mets 0
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Now, THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you start out a series. With authority! What didn’t go right for the Dodgers on Sunday night. Jack Flaherty was fantastic, the offense got ahead early, Shohei’s bat came to life, and the Dodgers romped to a 9-0 shutout win of the New York Mets to go up 1-0 in this best of seven series. Wooboy!
The Dodgers struck early in this one. After Flaherty pitched an sharp 1-2-3 inning to start the game, Kodai Senga, the Mets starter, was the opposite of sharp. Although he got the leadoff man Shohei Ohtani to ground out to second. He completely lost the strike zone, walking Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernandez to load up the bases. After Will Smith flied out, Mookie was held at third even though it seemed deep enough to score the run. It became an academic disccusion on the very next batter, because Max Muncy ripped a single to easily score Betts, and even Freeman was able to lumber home on the bad ankle to give the Dodgers a nice 2-0 lead after the first frame of baseball.
Flaherty kept rolling, pitching hitless frames in the second and third. Meanwhile, the Dodgers decided to play some small ball. In the bottom of the second, Gavin Lux led off with another walk off Senga, and Tommy Edman followed it up with a perfect sacrifice bunt to the left side of the diamond. Noted small-ball player Shohei Ohtani hit a single to score Lux and the Dodgers had their third run of the game.
Though, they didn’t score in the third, the Dodgers were all over Met pitching in the fourth. And this time it was Game 5 hero Kike Hernandez who started things off with an opposite field single. Then, yet another bunt, this one from Gavin Lux. It’s not a great play, analytics-wise, but it worked yet again. This time, Tommy Edman singled him home to make it 4-0 Dodgers. Shohei came up and drilled a ball off the right field wall for a run scoring double and the Dodgers were absolutely in the driver’s seat. After Mookie Betts grounded out, Freddie Freeman came through yet again, with a patented opposite field hit to score Ohtani. It was 6-0 Dodgers and the fans at the Ravine were very happy indeed.
Jack Flaherty’s string of no-hit innings ended in the fifth when a couple of Mets got singles, but due to some poor baserunning and a great fake out from Kike in center to cut down Jesse Winker at third (little league mistake!), the Dodgers got out of the inning with yet another zero on the scoreboard. Flaherty was having his best start of his career in the postseason. Flaherty would pitch two more scoreless and exit the game with a nearly flawless start: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. It was spectacular.
The Dodgers added on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth when Mookie Betts hit a bases-loaded triple, and Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius completed the Dodgers third straight shutout. With that performance, the Dodgers equal the 1966 Baltimore Orioles, who threw 33 straight scoreless inning in the postseason, ironically enough against the Los Angeles Dodgers en route to a World Series sweep. That means if they get a clean first inning out of whoever on Monday, they will have set the record. Not bad for a “suspect” pitching staff.
With Game 1 now out of the way, there isn’t much time to think about what happened. We’ve got a day game slated for Monday afternoon. The Dodgers hinted that there might be a bullpen game in the offing before Game 1 began, so we’ll see what the braintrust figures out for Monday. Regardless, somebody’s going to throw that first pitch at 1:08 PDT. For the Mets, noted Dodgers punching bag Sean Mannea sort of reinvented himself in 2024, so we’ll see if he brings the good stuff to the mound for Game 2. Sound like a good day to take a personal day to observe Columbus Day to me! See you at the ballpark!
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