As we hope for 1981 and 1988-style heroics from the Dodgers, I’m not blind to the possibility that this season could end like that another team from that era, the 1988-89 Lakers.
That season, the Lakers cruised through the early rounds of the playoffs – going 11-0 in fact – before both Byron Scott and Magic Johnson pulled up lame before Game 1 and during Game 2 of the NBA Finals. You can see Johnson’s injury about 5:40 into the clip below.
There was no Kirk Gibson here – the Lakers ended up getting swept in four games.
The difference is that the Lakers had recently given fans a steady stream of NBA titles, including the previous two seasons, while Dodger fans are starving.
No Matt Kemp. Maybe Andre Ethier and Hanley Ramirez – who has a hairline fracture in his rib – can do something. Maybe. But otherwise, it’s time for the rest of the gang to step up and complete the greatest Dodger story of the past 25 years.
Jaime Gomez
Gary Vitti must be a hundred years old.
Jon Weisman
Starting lineup announced: Crawford, Ellis, Ramirez, Gonzalez, Ethier, Puig, Uribe, Ellis, Ryu.
ASW1
Yeah, I remember the headlines in the papers throughout that series
“Lakers Hamstrung by injuries”
“Lakers Hopes Hamstrung” etc etc
Hopefully we don’t have to see :
“Dodgers Ribbed Out of NLCS”
Jon Weisman
NPUT
WBBsAs
I like two-pitch outs.