Blue in the Face: Dodgers Stunned in Ninth

The Dodgers are now down 1-3 in the NLCS, basically recreating the series from last year, only switching a few things around.  LA wins Game 2 instead of Game 3.  LA starts at home, instead of the road.  But the Phillies and the Dodgers did not regress fully to last year’s pennant race than in Game 4, where Jonathan Broxton blew a one-run lead and gave up a two-run double to Jimmy Rollins with two out in the bottom of the ninth that won the game for Philly.  The Dodgers had the lead since the fifth after Matt Kemp’s solo-homer, and added insurance in the sixth.  The Phillies came back, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to one.  The Boys in Blue could not add insurance, and after the ninth, they have to win every game to make it back.

Randy Wolf gave up a two-run homer to Ryan Howard in the first inning, and did not allow another baserunner until the fifth, by which point the Dodgers had retaken the lead.  After the Phillies snatched a run in the sixth, Wolf was pulled for Belisario, who was then pulled for Kuo, who finished the inning.  George Sherrill was shaky in the eighth, but after getting two out with two on, Broxton was brought in to get the final four outs to tie the series.  He forced Jayson Werth to fly out, and the Dodgers were three outs away from a 2-2 tie.

But Broxton fell apart in the ninth.  After one out, he walked Matt Stairs on four pitches, the same Stairs who hit a crushing home run in Game 4 of last year’s NLCS that gave Philly a win.  Broxton then hit Carlos Ruiz on the first pitch, and the winning run was put on first.  Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs lined out softly for the second out, and Broxton had only one more out to record in Jimmy Rollins.  With the count at 1-1, the big closer left a fastball out over the middle and Rollins smoked a line drive into the gap, scoring both runners without a play.

Game 5 is on Wednesday, with Vicente Padilla to go for LA and keep hope alive.  Cole Hamels will try to repeat his success against the Dodgers.  Hamels also closed out Game 5 of last year’s LCS.