Russell Martin visits Jonathan Broxton at the mound during the ninth inning in Pittsburgh, September 27, 2009. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
How close are the Dodgers to the National League West title? They can see it, even though it’s invisible. They can smell it, even though it’s scentless. They can feel it, even though it takes no earthly form.
Defeat the Giants tonight, and the Dodgers clinch no worse than a tie for the division championship and a one-game playoff. Any combination of three Dodger victories and Giant defeats this week, and the NL West title returns to Los Angeles outright.
It’s all so simple, and yet I’m reminded that the last time the Dodgers went to the final week to clinch, in 2009, they lost five games in a row, starting with a memorable bullpen collapse at Pittsburgh, before carving out a 5-0 victory over Colorado with one game remaining in the season. I remember walking on the moonlit shores of Catalina Island, at the end of a week of nearly crippling tension, trying to scrape a signal for my cellphone to get updates before I could finally relax.
The Dodgers threatened to repeat the pattern beginning with Saturday’s come-from-ahead loss to the Cubs, but Sunday’s victory — and the Giants’ own three-game weekend Waterloo in San Diego — provided a 4 1/2-game cushion. Still, I’m going to stare directly at the demon elephant in the room and work my way through how everything could go wrong.
Tonight: Giants (Jake Peavy) at Dodgers (Dan Haren)
Peavy has made seven consecutive starts without allowing more than two earned runs. Haren has nearly as good over the same stretch, with the exception of last week’s Coors Field outing. The Giants win a game they have to have, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 3 1/2 games with their ace pitching next.
Tuesday: Giants (Madison Bumgarner) at Dodgers (Zack Greinke)
Bumgarner has a 1.75 ERA this season against Los Angeles, and he edges Greinke in the best pitching matchup remaining in the 2014 season. Lead cut to 2 1/2. Local sportstalk radio and Twitter accounts race to assign blame for the Dodgers’ imminent collapse.
Wednesday: Giants (Tim Hudson) at Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw)
This should be where the Dodgers fix the wobbly wheel on their wagon. But Tim Lincecum steps in for the slumping Hudson at the last minute and flashes his vintage form one more time to vanquish Kershaw and reduce the deficit to 1 1/2 games. There is no Dana, there is only Zuul.
Thursday: Padres (Andrew Cashner) at Giants (Yusmeiro Petit), Dodgers off
Sensing favor from the storytelling gods, Petit finds a comfort zone back at AT&T Park and bests the Padres’ talented Cashner, even after the latter held the Giants in his thrall as recently September 20. San Francisco pulls within one game of the Dodgers with three to play. Dodger Insider sends out urgent all-points missive for fans to keep calm.
Friday: Padres (Ian Kennedy) at Giants (Ryan Vogelsong), Rockies (Jordan Lyles) at Dodgers (Roberto Hernandez)
Hyun-Jin Ryu declares his shoulder ready to go and makes the start in place of Hernandez. He pitches capably, but is just wobbly enough for the Rockies to knock over — while the Giants rock on their confounded roll. The games end at the exact same Friday night moment, with the teams tied for first place. Dodger Stadium’s Friday Night Fireworks are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Saturday: Padres (Eric Stults) at Giants (Jake Peavy), Rockies (Eddie Butler) at Dodgers (Dan Haren)
Stults, the former Dodger lefty, wins the NL loss title with his 18th, and the Dodgers are vexed for eight innings by the 23-year-old Rockies rookie, rally to tie the game in the ninth, but lose after five hours and 59 minutes in the 17th. The Giants move into first place, and the unseasonable snowfall and influx of locusts does little to calm the tired tempers in Los Angeles.
Sunday: Padres (Robbie Erlin) at Giants (Madison Bumgarner), Rockies (Christian Bergman) at Dodgers (Zack Greinke)
Greinke ends the Dodgers’ five-game losing streak, but with an outright division title nine innings away, Bumgarner brings it home. Aliens from outer space invade Chavez Ravine and take away everyone’s will to live, along with all the Fan Appreciation Day prizes.
It’s not pretty.
Postscript: The Dodgers travel to Pittsburgh, win the wild-card game, and then sweep the next three playoff showdowns — including the Giants in the NLCS — to win the World Series, thanks to the indispensably inspirational words of Apollos Hester.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ymriMhoj0&w=550&h=309]
Michael Green
Jon, it’s the oldest trick in the world: say the worst possible thing that could happen, and it won’t happen. Thank you for doing that.
leekfink
You had me until you got Lincecum beating Kershaw. That’s just fantasy-land. Really, at this point, we have effectively clinched, since we only need to win the games that Clayton Kershaw starts (Wednesday and, if necessary, the one-game tie-breaker next Monday on full rest) in order to Win the NL West.
Ron Zrodlo
We know who to come after if this happens now,,don’t we. You should NEVER speak about your team losing,,NEVER.
Ron Zrodlo
This also assumes we can’t win two of our last 6 and the Gnats win 5 of their last 6.
John Tiner (@RawhideBlue)
Jon, Jon, Jon. I threw up, cried, laughed and cheered all in the space of a couple minutes! All I can say is “Go Dodgers!” Please clinch against the Gnants. I said “Please!”
Mark Hagerstrom
So, you are saying we have a chance?
artieboy
Imagine pitching Haren twice this week with everything on the line…yikes!
winnipegdave
I think all this will happen because Martin and Broxton had a significant encounter via the Pittsburgh vs Milwuakee match-up last week.
Actually, the thing that niggles at me is the fact that if Dodgers had won on Saturday and had gone on then to sweep the Cubs (which is a very hard task in a 4 game series on the road, certainly no given) – then the magic number would have been 2. 2 instead of 3 is relatively big. 2 means needing to win only one game against the Giants; 3 means needing to win twice.
And as 2009 showed, sometimes that last game is the hardest to win.
winnipegdave
Perhaps tonight’s game will be the 17 inning game Jon said would happen…