NLCS Game 5: Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies
How rare and crushing for the Dodgers was Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ two-out, two-RBI double in the ninth inning to rally Philadelphia to a 5-4 victory in Game 4 on Monday night?
It was only the fifth walkoff hit in postseason history in which the batter’s team had two outs and was trailing at the time of the hit. The others: Cookie Lavagetto in 1947 World Series, Kirk Gibson in 1988 World Series, Francisco Cabrera in 1992 NLCS and Ivan Rodriguez in 2003 NLDS.
Dodgers closer Jonathon Broxton has no one to blame but himself for that loss. He walked Matt Stairs and hitting Carlos Ruiz with a pitch before Rollins’s game-ending hit. Broxton had walked and hit a batter in the same inning only twice previously in his career, which spans 308 regular-season games and 12 playoff games.
So now L.A. faces the same 3-1 deficit it did to the Phillies in last year’s NLCS, and Philadelphia was able to finish things off in Game 5 last year. It is a -140 favorite on WagerWeb.com to do the same on Wednesday night.
Rollins has been money in the ninth inning in these playoffs. Heading into that ninth-inning at-bat Rollins was 3-for-18 (.167) in this series, 8-for-37 (.216) in this whole postseason. But he now has batted six times in the ninth inning this October — and gone 4-for-6 (.667). The Phillies have outscored the Dodgers 8-4 in the eighth and ninth innings. They outscored the Rockies 5-4 in the eighth and ninth innings.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre, meanwhile, says Broxton will get the save chance tonight if one is presented.
“I think he’s all right,” said Torre.
The Dodgers held a team meeting on Tuesday, with Torre telling the players they were capable of overturning their 3-1 deficit. He pointed to one his own Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead against the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
L.A. turns to starter Vicente Padilla, who was the pitcher in Game 2 of this series, the Dodgers’ only win. In that game, he allowed only one run over 7 1/3 innings. And that followed seven scoreless innings in the NL Division Series clincher in St. Louis. He hasn’t hasn’t lost since signing with the Dodgers after being cut lose by Texas.
He will need to be careful with Ryan Howard, who is 5 for 13 (.385) with two home runs, eight RBIs and a .529 on-base percentage in this series.
Cole Hamels, last year’s NLCS and World Series MVP, has allowed eight earned runs in 10 1/3 innings (6.97 ERA) in this postseason. He allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings in Game 1. Despite the subpar outing in the opener, Hamels is 5-0 with a 2.19 ERA in seven career starts against Los Angeles, including three in the playoffs.
The Dodgers are 6 for 30 with runners in scoring position in this position.
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