EL SEGUNDO HERALD October 20, 2016 Page 5 Dodgers Escape Division Series By Adam Serrao There are no two greater words in sports than: “Game Seven”. In the Dodgers case, however, that Game 7 was a Game 5 where the winner still took all and literally the entire season was on the brink. Last Thursday night in Washington, the Dodgers sent their entire team into battle to win one last game. Manager Dave Roberts put everything on the line, got an entire team effort, and when all was said and done, came away with a 4-3 win in what was one of the craziest games of the season to stay alive in the 2016 MLB playoffs. With no shortage of risky moves, a completely unorthodox outline to the game and with everyone who watched holding their collective breaths, the Dodgers completed a comeback from down two-games-to-one to advance to this year’s National League Championship Series. After the Dodgers lost their first home game of the series two Monday night’s ago to the Nationals by a score of 8-3, the excitement surrounding the team certainly lowered a bit as despair quietly rolled into Los Angeles like a black cloud of rain. Thoughts of World Series potential quickly turned into sentiments of, “It’s the same old Dodgers,” with everyone thinking that L.A.’s season was basically over. The Dodgers never gave up, though. They rallied the next day for a 6-5 win to tie the series at 2-2 and force a Game 5 in the best of five series. Though the Dodgers had to go back out on the road and play in an electric Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., there was still hope. Hope is all a gritty Dodgers team would need. “Adversity, and grit, and battling,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said to describe the way his team played in Game 5 and for that matter, all season long. “Down to the last pitch, just fighting for everything. We’re just glad to be covered in alcohol right now. It feels good.” Turner has been feeling good in the playoff division series, leading the Dodgers in just about every offensive category. A .400 batting average with five runs scored and five RBIs, in addition to a 13 pitch at-bat with two outs in the fourth inning to draw a walk and a two-run triple in the seventh inning that proved to win the game are all statistics of Turner, the MVP for the Dodgers after their first playoff series. The 13-pitch at-bat played a huge part in slowing down opposing pitcher, Max Scherzer, who was, to that point, holding the Dodgers scoreless. “That’s probably one of the craziest, if not the craziest, games I’ve ever been a part of in my career,” Scherzer said. “Man, this is a tough one to be on the wrong side of.” Scherzer has the type of stuff that could hold a good offensive team like the Dodgers scoreless throughout an entire nine innings of baseball. Joc Pederson, however, broke Scherzer’s scoreless streak with a home run on the first pitch of the seventh inning to tie the game at 1-1, leading to opposing manager Dusty Baker’s decision to pull the right-hander from the game. “If somebody had told me and Max that the guy was going to hit an opposite-field home run, we’d have taken him out then,” Baker explained. “But how do you take out your A guy in a 1-0 game? And Max is capable of going 100-some-odd pitches.” The home run came on pitch 99 for Scherzer. The Dodgers proceeded to score three more runs after his departure from the game to take a 4-1 lead. That’s when the craziness really started. It wouldn’t be a Dodger game if they didn’t try to give up their lead. Rich Hill started on short rest and despite giving up a run, actually had a successful outing. In just 2.2 innings of work, he struck out six batters. Former starting pitcher and now Dodgers reliever, Joe Blanton, entered in the third inning in relief of Hill and cleaned things up. Julio Urias was next and had an impressive two innings of work to eventually become the winning pitcher and the youngest Dodgers pitcher (age 20) ever in the postseason and youngest playoff pitcher in the MLB since 1970. The Nationals got to Dodgers rookie Grant Dayton in the bottom of the seventh with two runs to pull within one at 4-3. That forced Roberts’ hand. In an unorthodox, but genius move, he brought in closer Kenley Jansen in the highest leverage situation of the game. “Whatever role I ask of these guys, they believe in me and the coaching staff. It’s just so fulfilling,” Roberts said. That’s why when he asked his closer to enter in the seventh inning, Jansen was ready. Jansen got the Dodgers out of their jam in the seventh, holding the Nationals to just the three runs that they already had. He then pitched a scoreless eighth and got one out in the ninth before he visibly lost steam. Jansen threw 51 pitches to maintain the win. He had never thrown more than 42 in a game before. “I will never forget this game,” he explained. “I’m really tired right now. I’m exhausted. We talked about how this wasn’t going to be easy and that to get our goal we just have to keep fighting.” The team kept fighting, and once Jansen’s job was done, Kershaw came in for the save. The last time Clayton Kershaw recorded a save was in 2006 when he was 18 years old and pitching in the Gulf Coast league. His catcher? Kenley Jansen. Their manager? Nationals third-base coach Bob Henley, who controversially sent Jayson Werth around third base and to home plate before he was tagged out by a mile in the sixth inning, keeping the Nationals lead at just 1-0. In walked Kershaw anyways; the ace and starting pitcher who started Game 4 just two days previously and has struggled throughout his postseason career. “It was only fitting for Clayton to get the last couple of outs right there,” said Roberts. “With Kenley sticking his neck out there going out in the seventh, I want to have his back, so I feel like I wanted to get out there at least for a little bit just to give us an option,” Kershaw explained. “Kenley did more than he’s ever done in his career. I just wanted to have his back.” Kershaw had his back, recorded the last two outs of the game, and in an absolutely wild game, stood on the pitcher’s mound getting mobbed by his teammates as dreams became reality. The Dodgers erased a 2-1 series deficit. They advanced to the NLCS. The team won every game that Kershaw pitched in. Nothing was ordinary about the last game of the division series. With Blanton arriving in the third inning, Urias entering in relief, a closer entering in the seventh and an ace shutting the game down, it was truly one for the ages. With a team as gritty as the Dodgers and a manager willing to take smart risks like Dave Roberts, nothing is impossible for L.A. The Washington Nationals now know that fact firsthand as their postseason run has come to an end. • Eagles Reach New Highs in Homecoming Win Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin The El Segundo high school football team played host to a once proud Beverly Hills team. The Eagles were coming off a demoralizing loss to Culver City and were not about to let down against Beverly Hills. The Eagles, playing in front of an overflow Homecoming home crowd, scored early and often as they defeated the Normans, 69-0. The 69 points eclipsed the record of 67 points scored in a game two seasons ago against Hawthorne. The points differential was also another record. Had the mercy-rule (running clock) hadn’t been in affect with four minutes remaining in the second quarter and throughout the second half, the Eagles were certainly on track to score in triple figures. This was more of a David versus Goliath scenario only it ended badly for David. The game got out of control early on and ended the same way it started. Beverly Hills’ football program was once one of the top high school programs around when they allowed transfers in but those days are long gone. The Eagles took advantage of their superior athleticism, speed and talent. Of the Eagles’10 possessions, they scored on each, including on the only punt of the evening when they extended their possession by recovering a fumbled return. Taz Tauaese got the scoring going with a 55- yard run. Tauaese ran at will and rushed for 103 yards on just four carries. He got some great blocking from the line but it was his speed that carried him to his seventh consecutive game of rushing for 100 yards or more. In his last 17 games, Tauaese has rushed for 100 yards or more in 13 of them. His next touchdown was a 2-yard dive into the end zone, behind the blocking of Brandon Weldon who blocked his opponent out of the end zone. Kobee Lagarde hooked up with Haamid Brooks Jr. for a 33-yard touchdown near the end of the first quarter. Lagarde’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Tauaese on the second play of the second quarter made it 27-0. The route continued but this time it was Isaiah Gray who scooted past the Beverly Hills defense for a 20-yard touchdown run. On the Eagle’s next possession, Lagarde found Brooks again for an See Eagles, page 12 Taz Tauaese, who rushed for 103 yards on just four carries, gets a great block from No. 52 Jess Caravello. “The last time Clayton Kershaw recorded a save was in 2006 when he was 18 years old and pitching in the Gulf Coast league.”
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