TORRANCE TRIBUNE October 27, 2016 Page 5 L.A. Can’t Dodge the Cubs By Adam Serrao The curse in Chicago is over. The one in Los Angeles, however, still remains. With a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers last Saturday night in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, the Chicago Cubs qualified for their first World Series appearance since 1945. The team hasn’t won a championship since 1908. For the Dodgers, the team failed to put up even one run in their biggest game of the year. With Clayton Kershaw - the team’s best pitcher – on the mound, Los Angeles squandered yet another playoff run by losing three games in a row and watched as the Cubs celebrated their biggest win of season at Wrigley Field. The Dodgers have a strange way of creating rivals in the National League by losing in the playoffs. Two years ago, it was the St. Louis Cardinals. Last year, it was the New York Mets. This year? The Cubs. There’s quite a different feeling surrounding the loss to Chicago, though. The team that won 103 games during the regular season and finished with the league’s best record simply deserves their shot at the World Series. With one of the best pitching staffs in the league and possibly the best offense, the Dodgers did well to attempt to keep up with Chicago, but ultimately the better all-around team won the series. “We only have four more, so let’s go do it now,” an ecstatic Ben Zobrist of the Cubs explained. “We’re in the exact spot we wanted to be in. We’ve got a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in 108 years. Let’s go do it.” The Cubs left fielder will face-off against the Cleveland Indians in this year’s World Series to battle it out for the ring. Despite Cleveland having an amazing team in their own rite, destiny certainly seems to be pointing toward the dugout including the Cubs. “Making the World Series is no small feat,” said Clayton Kershaw, possibly the best pitcher in the game who has been trying his best to make it that far for seemingly his whole career. “Give a lot of credit to the Cubs the whole series, they started swinging the bats the last three games. Better team.” That better team took it to Kershaw early and often in Game 6. From the outset, you could tell that Kershaw simply didn’t have his stuff and after the first run scored in the first inning, it was obvious that both the Dodgers ace and his team were going to be in for a long night. Two runs in the first, followed by one more in the second, one in the fourth and one in the fifth, all basically given up (four earned) by the pitcher who has struggled mightily in his postseason career. A career postseason 4.55 ERA lies in stark contrast to his pristine 2.37 career regular season. In the end, though, it’s not just one pitcher who loses a game or a series. “You know what, I think that they beat us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said plainly. “We made mistakes. And you hate to have sour grapes, but the better team won the series. That’s why you play seven-game series, and they showed it.” It was Chicago who had the better offense and as Game 6 plainly stated, it was also the Cubs who had the better defense. As their outfielders were consistently making dazzling gems all over the grass, the Dodgers had Andrew Toles taking his eye off the ball in left field dropping a routine fly ball for what would have been the second out of the first inning last Saturday night. While the Cubs had four, maybe even five started who could pitch deep into games in the playoffs; the Dodgers had Kershaw and rich Hill. Los Angeles was simply not deep enough where it meant the most and ran into a team that, simply stated, was. The Dodgers will now look to refocus their attention on next year after what was certainly a successful season, despite their playoff loss. The team’s needs have made themselves glaringly evident because of the playoffs, and their strengths have stood out, as well. A great first year manager, paired with an amazing rookie shortstop in Corey Seager and MVP caliber third baseman in Justin Turner all stand out as strengths for the club, among many more. Pitching, pitching, and more pitching highlight the weaknesses that fans can certainly expect to be addressed this offseason. After watching a Cubs offense that exploded for 31 runs in the six game series versus the Dodgers, more offense wouldn’t be a bad thing, either. So, it’s back to the drawing board for the Dodgers, who will open next year’s regular season April 3 at Dodger Stadium against the San Diego Padres. The team’s loss will certainly sting all offseason long, but the lessons learned will be carried over into what should certainly be another postseason run next year. The Dodgers will be looking to win their fifth National League West division title in a row while trying to also stave off their rivals from San Francisco, as usual. Naturally, no season is considered a success without a World Series ring. That’s exactly what the Dodgers will be focused on attaining once again next year. – Asixlion@earthlink.net • Warriors Show Dominance in Rout of Spartans Story by Adam Serrao Photos by Dirk Dewachter With the end of the regular season steadily approaching, the Pioneer League is beginning to figure itself out. Teams that are good enough to be toward the top of the division are rising to the top, while teams that simply don’t have the firepower this season are slowly sinking towards the bottom. That’s exactly what happened last weekend when the South High Spartans traveled to West High to take on the Warriors. A 28-0 rout by the Warriors not only explained why the West is one of the best teams in the Pioneer League this season, but also explained why a team like the Spartans is a year or two away from having enough weapons to keep the team competitive with other cross-town and division rivals. The story of the night was the stout defense of the Warriors. Sure, the offense also put up four touchdowns, but to hold an opponent - and an inner-city, divisional rival, at that – to zero points, is certainly a great feat to accomplish. “We’ve built up a lot of defensive momentum in the last two games,” Warriors senior defenseman Kyle Reinsch explained. “Our defensive line and linebackers have really stepped it up the past few weeks.” Reinsch stepped it up in this game, too. He finished with two interceptions to lead West’s superior defensive attack and hold the Spartans at bay. While South was having problems moving the ball, West and their starting quarterback, Drake Peabody, were marching all over the field. Two short-distance touchdown runs by E.J. Hatter got the team off to a nice 14-0 lead in the first quarter before Peabody connected with backup quarterback and wide receiver, Max Parish, on a 15-yard touchdown completion. Just like that, it was 21-0 at the half and while the Warriors were impressed with their own all-around team effort, the Spartans and head coach Matt Mishler were wallowing in their sorrow and miscues. “We just made too many mistakes in the beginning,” Mishler said. “We knew this was an important game for us and we let that kind of get to us early on.” While South may have had the jitters early on, West was able to put points on the board both early and late. The team tacked on another touchdown halfway through the third quarter when Hatter went 20-yards for his third score of the night. West would recover a fumble and record another two interceptions before all was said and done. The game ended at 28-0, without much more action in the fourth quarter as things were already well out of reach for the Spartans. Hatter finished the night as the biggest offensive star for West, recording three touchdowns on 10 carries for 78 yards. Peabody finished the game with one touchdown and 112 yards through the air on 12 completions. The Spartans were only able to amass a total of 25 yards rushing all night and aside from their own offensive miscues, not much else. Coach Mishler and his Spartans (3-5, 1-2) will be looking to right their wrongs as they host the last place Centennial Apaches (0-8, 0-3) this Friday night at South High in a get-right-game, looking to rise out of the fifth place spot (tied with Torrance and Up and Adam South Torrance’s quarterback Anthony Bjazevich game was disrupted by a strong performance of West Torrance’ defense. West Torrance quarterback Drake Peabody finished the game with 112 yards on 12 of 25 passing. See Up and Adam, page 12
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