Alexander: Dodgers exorcize ghosts and Padres

LOS ANGELES — A winner-take-all game — whether it’s a Game 7 or, in this case, a Game 5 — can be worth the wait.

It certainly was for Dodger fans on Friday night.

All those frayed nerves after being pushed to the brink of elimination by the San Diego Padres after Game 3 of the National League Division Series?

All this anger after the exit of NLDS two years in a row?

All that doubt that Friday’s starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was the right guy to pitch an elimination game, especially against a Padres team that upset him earlier in the season in South Korea and again in the first game of this series?

Fuhgeddaboutit, as they say in New York. Which, incidentally, represents the Dodgers’ next hurdle. The search continues, the Amazing Mets – that description has been true for years this season – will be at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night for the start of the NL Championship Series … and Dodger fans, you need to rest Saturday and take a few deep breaths before the frenzy resumes.

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The Padres were swept aside on Friday night, finally, all the hustle and bustle of the series opener dissipated in a 2-0 win that included solo home runs by Kike and Teoscar Hernandez and a brilliant five innings by Yamamoto, the kind of pitching Andrew Friedman and his front office envisioned when they agreed to a 12-year, $325 million deal to bring the Japanese right-hander stateside.

Doubts that Yamamoto could handle the pressure of an elimination game were quickly quelled Friday night. He sat around 97-98 mph with his four-seamer, a few ticks above his average velocity. He allowed two hits, only allowed one into scoring position, showed no nerves and (we assume) tipped no pitches.

“What he did tonight, that’s who he is,” Hernandez told Kike. “And we’re not surprised at all. Game 1 didn’t go his way, but that’s the beautiful thing about baseball; you get to do it the next day. In this case, it was five, six days later. He did his job.”

Five innings was probably two more than the Dodger faithful expected, and perhaps three or four more than expected, and it set the likely pattern by which the Dodgers would have to operate throughout October if they were to deliver on them and their parade. After the 2020 World Series title, fans got no more.

It was a superior bullpen that Dodger fans had raised in years past, and it was a parade of relief pitchers who finished the series with a 24-inning scoreless streak. After a six-run second inning victory in Tuesday night’s 6-5 Game 3 that pushed the Dodgers to the brink, San Diego not only never scored again but reached runners in scoring position in just six of those 24 innings, including 15 against the inning. Dodgers’ high-leverage reliever.

So that should be the script for a team whose core starting pitching plan has been seriously compromised by injuries: get what you can out of the starters, and then turn it into a bullpen with multiple leverage arms and multiple looks (Michael Kopech, along with a proven flamethrower , whose final pitch of the eighth inning was a 102 mph four-seamer up — or perhaps above — the territory that Jake Cronenworth waved in vain for strike three).

Given that scene, there was a scary moment Friday night. Alex Vescia advanced from the seventh to the final by striking out Jackson Merrill. He came out to warm up for the eighth and then walked from the mound with an athletic trainer, to the dugout and then to the clubhouse. Manager Dave Roberts later said that Vecia described it as a cramp, but that he would conduct further tests.

“I’m crossing my fingers that it’s not some kind of intercostal or oblique situation,” Roberts said. “I hope it’s just a cramp.”

If it’s more serious, it could be a problem given that Vecia and Anthony Banda were the only left-handed relievers on the roster for this series, and Mets left-handed hitters Brandon Nimmo and Jesse Winker will likely be targeted in key spots. The only other left-handers currently on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster are relievers Justin Robleski and Zach Logue … and Clayton Kershaw, who was ruled out of the postseason with an injury before the start.

But there’s a day to sort it out, just as the Dodgers have a day to cool down after their traditionally raucous clubhouse celebration. As the players sprayed champagne, family members mingled around the field and their children chatted about what turned out to be LA’s prettiest playground. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of fans at the stadium remained in their seats, too moved to enjoy the spectacle.

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