Go beyond the scoreboard
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A pattern emerged. All four Game 1s Tuesday in the four best-of-three MLB wild-card series went to teams that led by the middle innings and relied on stalwart bullpens to win.
No dramatic comebacks. No walk-offs. No unforgettable heroics from bit players. And barely any fans at Tropicana Field.
But top moments by players with Dodgers ties or Southland roots occurred in every game.
Here they are:
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For the love of the glove
Third baseman Evan Longoria won Gold Gloves a long time ago, in 2009 and 2010, his second and third seasons in the big leagues. He won a third in 2017, his last of 10 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
And the former Long Beach State, Rio Hondo College and Bellflower St. John Bosco High product made a Gold Glove play Tuesday in the No. 6 seed Arizona Diamondbacks’ 6-3 win over the No. 3 seed Milwaukee Brewers. The winner of the series plays the Dodgers in the National League Division Series beginning Saturday.
The Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins won the opening games in their wild-card series.
With the bases loaded and one out after an apparent RBI hit-by-pitch was overturned on replay, Longoria stabbed a line drive by Milwaukee’s Tyrone Taylor and doubled Willy Adames off second to end the fifth inning and preserve Arizona’s 4-3 lead.
It appeared the Brewers had tied the score when the plate umpire ruled a backfoot slider indeed clipped Taylor’s back foot. But replay revealed the foot wasn’t touched by the ball and instead Taylor lined out.
Longoria, who will turn 38 on Saturday, made another key play in the sixth when after juggling a chopper he whirled and threw out Christian Yelich, who had rounded second too aggressively.
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Remember this thief?
Trea Turner stole second in the fifth inning of the Philadelphia Phillies’ 4-1 win over the Miami Marlins, noteworthy only in that it continued his perfect pilfering.
Turner was a documentary-worthy 30 for 30 this season. He’s elevated the stolen-base efficiency he’s exhibited throughout his nine-year career. He’s been successful on 260 of 302 attempts, including 38 of 42 in a year and a half with the Dodgers.
Jimmy Rollins, an Oakland native and former Phillies shortstop who is now an analyst with TBS, discusses what it took to become an MVP and more.
The Dodgers declined to pay the $300 million over 11 years Turner got from the Phillies. He underachieved this season until getting hot down the stretch, and he hit a double and a single Tuesday to lead an 11-hit attack.
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Royce is the choice
Royce Lewis finally is tapping into the potential that earned him The Times’ high school player of the year award in 2016 and the first overall pick in the draft a year later. He was given a bonus of $6.725 million to sign rather than attend UC Irvine.
In Game 1 of the Minnesota Twins’ series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the designated hitter hit a two-run home run to left field in the first inning and a solo home run to right field in the third. The early lead held up in the Twins’ 3-1 victory, snapping a streak of 18 consecutive postseason losses dating to the 2004 American League Championship Series.
“It means a lot, and it means a lot that the fans encouraged us,” Lewis said during an on-field interview. “They had that energy for us. They brought it, and we brought it for them.”
Injuries slowed Lewis’ rise through the minors and he missed the first 53 games this season while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that also cost him most of the previous season, his second such operation. He missed another 35 games beginning July 2 because of an oblique strain and suffered a hamstring injury that cost him the last 10 games of the season and jeopardized his postseason readiness.
A lot happened to suggest the Dodgers would not make the playoffs this season. Now that they have, they’re considered longshots to win the World Series.
But Lewis reported to Target Field with a smile, saying he’d slept well and felt ready to play. Certainly, he was ready to swing the bat. He became only the third player to hit home runs in his first two postseason at-bats, joining Longoria and the Twins’ Gary Gaetti.
Lewis, 24, already had displayed a flair for hitting dramatic home runs, setting an MLB record this season with four grand slams in an 18-game span.
5
Seager takes aim
Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz was criticized for taking the last regular-season game off Sunday when he was slightly behind Texas’ Corey Seager in the race for the American League batting title.
Seager, who spent his first seven seasons with the Dodgers, went 0 for 4, dipping to .327, and Diaz won the title while idle. His post on X, formerly known as Twitter, was succinct: “I got it”
Diaz seemed flustered early in the Rays’ 4-0 Game 1 loss to the Rangers. In the first inning, Seager, who went two for four with an RBI, pulled a one-hop rocket down the first-base line that ate up Diaz, who after retrieving the ball made a poor throw to pitcher Tyler Glasnow and was charged with an error.
Diaz was out of position on a single by Leody Taveras that led to the first run of the game in the second inning, which ended with Diaz catching a throw from shortstop Taylor Walls to retire Marcus Semien with runners at second and third. Diaz, however, didn’t know it was the third out and frantically threw to the plate.
The Dodgers had one of the worst relief corps in the major leagues, but the group has been as good as anybody in the last three months.
In Diaz’s defense — although defense clearly isn’t his forte — the criticism about sitting out Sunday was misplaced. He had two leg injuries in September, and with the finale essentially meaningless to the Rays, it was prudent to take the day off.
Also, Seager could have won the title just by going, say, one for three. Instead, he and the rest of the Rangers were punchless against the Seattle Mariners in a 1-0 loss that cost them the AL West title.
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Runnin’ with the Devil
The Rays wore jerseys emblazoned across the front with Devil Rays, the team name from its inception in 1998 through 2007.
Why? Because it’s the 25th anniversary of the name change, not that the reason makes a ton of sense.
It certainly wasn’t to remind fans of glory days. In 10 seasons as the Devil Rays, the team posted a .399 winning percentage with no postseason appearances. In 25 seasons as the Rays, their winning percentage is .548 with 16 winning seasons and nine playoff appearances.
As the baseball playoffs begin, let’s update the inspiring tale of Dennis Kasumba, an 18-year-old catcher from Uganda who dreams of playing in the major leagues.
And Tuesday they played like it was 1998, making four errors and getting shut out by Rangers left-hander Jordan Montgomery and two relievers.
At least not many Rays fans witnessed it: The attendance at Tropicana Field of 19,704, the lowest for a postseason game since Game 7 of the Black Sox Scandal 1919 World Series in Cincinnati — remembered for the Chicago White Sox throwing the game.
