Gulp. Sigh. Damn. It’s happening again.
For the second time in three postseasons, the Dodgers showed up at San Diego’s Petco Park on a cool October night brimming with confidence, riding on emotion, stung by skepticism, ready for revenge.
And once again, they’re eating it.
This wipeout is not yet as spectacular as the stunning crush of two Octobers ago, but give it time.
Once again, after losing Game 3 of the National League Division Series to the San Diego Padres, 6-5, the Dodgers find themselves on the brink of an all-too-familiar fate.
One more loss, and they finish a baseball-best season flat on their face.
One more loss, and more than a billion dollars is bloodied and bruised and crawling into winter.
One more loss, and the Dodgers have once again suffered the worst of fates against the worst of opponents, once again crushed by an obnoxious little brother that is everything they’re not.
Those preening, petulant, damn good San Diego Padres.
The southern rivals lead the best-of-five series two games to one, with the ending possibly — probably? — occurring Wednesday night in a Game 4 that will feature a bunch of Dodger relievers trying to compensate for an offense featuring a bunch of wild hackers.
The blue future looks, well, blue.
“We have to pick up the pieces,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but how?
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani walks to the dugout after striking out in the eighth inning Tuesday against the Padres.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
In a Game 3 ringing with “Beat L.A.” chants and thick with an encore energy carried over from the Game 2 maelstrom, the Padres brought the intensity while the Dodgers surrendered it.
The Padres scored six runs in the second inning and, with the exception of a grand slam swing by Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers did little to engage in the battle.
They were supposed to still be furious at how the Padres had showboated their way to a Game 2 victory that incited Dodger Stadium fans into idiocy, right?
Wrong. They didn’t act mad, meekly banging out six hits against five Padres relievers and not scoring after the third inning.
They were supposed to want to defend Roberts’ honor after Padre Manny Machado threw a baseball at him in Game 2, right?
Wrong. They were tentative from the moment starter Walker Buehler was assessed a pitch clock violation while facing Machado in the second inning, Buehler eventually struggling like all Dodger starters have recently struggled, allowing six runs in five innings.
“Yeah, not a great situation,” Roberts said.
To add insult to embarrassment, the Padres did not retaliate for the Dodger fans showering their players with bottles and baseballs in Game 2. The Padres fans were, instead, the portrait of strength, roaring and waving yellow towels until finally howling themselves hoarse when Tanner Scott struck out Shohei Ohtani looking in the eighth inning to end the Dodgers’ best last chance.
And to think, the game began with a home run for a guy who was 0 for 6 in this series and 3 for 44 dating back 12 playoff games, a stunned Mookie Betts finally putting one beyond the diving Jurickson Profar’s reach.
Dodgers batter Gavin Lux reacts after striking out in the ninth inning to end the game Tuesday against the Padres.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers didn’t stay in control for long. They appeared to lose their mojo before the bottom of the second inning even began with that pitch-clock violation, and it only got worse.
Machado singled up the middle, then forced an error when he ran inside the baseline on a grounder to Freddie Freeman and Freeman’s throw to second glanced off his shoulder and into left field. Shortstop Miguel Rojas complained that Machado should have been called out, but it was a legal play, and the Padres suddenly had two men on base, setting the stage for a Xander Bogaerts deep grounder that Rojas couldn’t turn into an out, instead allowing a run to score.
Then David Peralta doubled down the right-field line to score two runs, a Kyle Higashioka fly ball scored another run, then Fernando Tatis Jr. crushed a home run to deep left field to make it six runs.
Trailing 6-1, the Dodgers appeared beaten almost before the game started, and even Hernández’ third-inning granny couldn’t change that.
The game began amid lingering tensions over the clash of emotions in that Game 2 Padres victory, Adding fuel to the potentially combustible situation was the Dodger allegations that Machado threw a baseball at Roberts while he was standing in the dugout in the seventh inning. The ball bounced into the protective netting and never hit Roberts, but it sparked a war of words between the players that spread to the managers and heightened the hate.
Watching the video of the incident, it’s not clear if Machado was throwing at Roberts or just routinely tossing a dead ball into the dugout.
But in several interviews afterward, Machado did not deny throwing at Roberts and implied it was payback for Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty earlier hitting Tatis.
The guess here is, Machado did it. He threw at Roberts. The two men were not close when Machado was briefly a Dodger in 2018, as Machado offended Roberts’ hustling sensibilities by playing lazily and carelessly.
In an interview during Monday’s off-day workout, Roberts called the incident “unsettling” and said if Machado was throwing at him, “it’s pretty disrespectful.”
When asked about those comments before Tuesday’s game, Padres Manager Mike Shildt took a shot at Roberts, saying, “I’m not nor will I ever disparage another player on another team, especially anybody I’ve managed in the past… that’s not how I want to operate.”
Given a chance to respond to Shildt’s response, Roberts declined comment, saying, “Those are his words.”
Later, the Dodgers’ play in Game 3 was the baseball equivalent of another “no comment.”
They better speak up, and soon.