2021 Post-NLCS Game 5 Thread: Chris Taylor Will Not Go Quietly

Chris Taylor puts the Dodgers ahead for good in the second inning (great photo by Luis Sinco, LAT)

DODGERS 11, BRAVES 2

Chris Taylor saved the Dodgers in the 2021 Wild Card Game, winning the game with a walk-off two-run HR. And though none of Taylor's astounding three home runs were a walk-off last night, he definitely punctuated this NLCS Game 5 victory as well, multiple times. With Justin Turner felled by a hamstring in Game 4, and Joe Kelly gone for the series after being removed in the first inning, it was up to one of the remaining Dodgers left standing to step up and carry this team.

Enter Chris Taylor:

Amazing. Having been at Adam Kennedy's three-HR ALCS performance in 2002, and watched Kike Hernandez do the same against the Cubs in 2017, it was awesome to view Taylor going to town for the final game of this series at Dodger Stadium (I watched this game at home). There have been 11 players with three home runs in a postseason game (including teammate Albert Pujols), but Taylor is the first to do it in an elimination game.

Chris Taylor carried us for the first half of this season, cooled off in the later months, and then came alive again for the postseason (despite his baserunning gaffe in Game 1). He now has four HR this 2021 postseason, in which he is batting .364 with a 1.254 OPS. Taylor is a free agent at the end of this season, and I so hope he is back in Dodger Blue.

Not that Taylor was the only Dodger hero in NLCS Game 5. AJ Pollock went 3-for-5 with two HR and 4 RBI of his own; Pollock's eighth-inning, three-run HR was a definitive game-ending smash. Love this picture:

That’s a baaaaaaad man. pic.twitter.com/cBzfgnBomn

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 22, 2021

Albert Pujols went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Trea Turner, elevated to the two spot, went 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI. Will Smith was the only Dodgers position player to go 0-fer, and even Smith made a fine play to throw out Eddie Rosario at second on a stolen base attempt.

That was the Dodgers' seventh straight win in a postseason elimination game. Four of these backs-against-the-wall wins have been against the Braves.

So we head back to Atlanta for a Game 6 on Saturday. But I'm going to just buzz and enjoy this beatdown, right now. Let's cue up Don Henley (and Axl Rose on backup vocals):

Post-2021 NLDS Game 2 Thread: Offense Erupts, Dodgers Even Series At One

DODGERS 9, GIANTS 2

The line favored the Dodgers in this NLDS Game 2, but I didn't believe it. Not after getting shut down by Logan Webb in Game 1, where we went scoreless in the 4-0 defeat. It reminded me that, with the exception of a solo shot by Justin Turner and a game-winning walkoff HR by Chris Taylor, the Dodgers hadn't had much of an offensive show for this 2021 postseason.

Many Dodgers were to blame for this power outage, but none received more criticism than Cody Bellinger, who struggled through multiple injuries and could never get that corkscrew swing to be back into place this season. He looked thoroughly lost all year, especially on the high fastballs in which he was inevitably late. But in Game 2, with the Dodgers nursing a tight 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning and one out, Bellinger met Giants reliever Dominic Leone and came through:

AJ Pollock followed Bellinger with another two-run-scoring double down the left field line. Pollock had also been maligned for his poor postseason performance as a Dodger (though unlike Bellinger, Pollock almost hit .300 this year during the regular season). Suddenly, it's 6-1 LA in the sixth, and the pressure was lifted.

But that wasn't all. In the eighth inning, Will Smith hit a first-pitch solo shot off of Zack Littell for a 7-2 lead.. After a Chris Taylor single, a Bellinger K, and a AJ Pollock single, Dodgers bench reserve Matt Beaty had an RBI single to left.

I couldn't be more happy for Beaty, who was the one Dodgers player not to get any appearances in the 2020 World Series. He wasn't great in Game 1 starting in place of the injured Max Muncy at first, but it was great to see him contribute here in a pinch (he replaced Corey Knebel). When Corey Seager added a two-out single to score Pollock and make the score 9-2, it was more than over.

Of course, the Dodgers were only in this spot thanks to Julio Urias' five innings of three-hit, 5 K ball that yielded only one run despite a couple of jams and leadoff Giants on the basepaths. The Giants ended up 1-for-8 with RISP; the Dodgers were 6-for-15. Urias also stroked a RBI single in the second inning to help the cause and open up a 2-0 lead early.

Also of note: Although Joe Kelly gave up a run in the sixth inning (and Alex Vesia gave up a run in Game 1), our bullpen has still been pretty strong in these two games. The Dodgers got to both Leone and Littell for multiple runs on Saturday. Both the Dodgers and Giants have strong bullpens. I hope this is a portent of things to come for this series.

Meanwhile, Kenley Jansen and Blake Treinen have yet to make an appearance in the NLDS.

Mookie Betts also had a momentum-saving pirouette move in right field on an RBI single by Brandon Crawford. When Wilmer Flores tried to stretch from first to third on the same play, Mookie gunned his butt out at third by a sweet throw to Justin Turner:

Flores nailed. Rally over. Good prevails over evil in Game 2.

Now we're back to Los Angeles for two home games. I'm feeling a lot better now that it's a best-of-three series with two games at home; some of the sleeping bats woke up in a tense affair on enemy territory; and we've got Max Scherzer going on Monday.

Clench up, Dodgers fans.

Series Thread (Games 21-23): Aug 14-16 @ Angels

Congrats on your latest Silver Slugger, Mookie! (Better make a macro for that line.)

Fri, 6:30p: Clayton Kershaw vs Patrick Sandoval
Sat, 6:30p: Walker Buehler vs Andrew Heaney
Sun, 1p: Dustin May vs Julio Teheran

So, Mike Trout. Best player in baseball. Hands down. I'm a certified Mookiehead and in awe of Aaron Judge, but Trout's dominance is indisputable.

The rest of the Angels? Well, put it this way: Arte Moreno didn't think adding Ross Stripling to his team "would make much of a difference." The Angels' pitching staff has a 4.54 ERA, 22nd in MLB.

But! Do the Dodgers play the Angels well? They do not. I'm not going to look up stats to back up my totally irrational hunch; just trust me on this one. But we have our top three pitchers going and Mookie and A.J. Pollack (!) carrying the offense. But, Mike Trout HEAD EXPLODES

Series Thread (Games 18-20): Apr 15-17 vs. Reds

With Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp back in town, will the Dodgers step up and bury a friend?

Mon 7p: Clayton Kershaw vs. Luis Castillo (1-1. 0.92)
Tue 7p: Kenta Maeda (2-1, 4.76) vs. Tyler Mahle (0-0, 0.82)
Wed 12n: TBD vs. Sonny Gray (0-2, 2.03)

I guess I should have used last week's series thread photo for this series, given we're seeing the Reds and everything. But I suppose I'm just too surprised that we actually won a game Sunday, our first win in seven games against NL Central teams, who seem to be more formidable opponents than the cushy NL West teams we've played. Amazingly, the Dodgers' plummet to Earth still has us only 2.0 GB the league-leading Padres (I can't believe I just typed those last three words in succession), so it's not inconceivable that we could find ourselves back in first before the end of this homestand Wednesday. (The Padres host the 4-12 Rockies for a quick two-game two-step.)

This series also gives us the opportunity to see an inevitable video montage of Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp on Monday night; after all, the Dodgers gave passed-ball king Yasmani Grandal a video tribute on Friday. Both Puig and Kemp were so instrumental to the Dodgers' 2018 run, not to mention the Dodgers' teams over the past years, that it's inevitable to be a little nostalgic. Let's hope A.J. Pollock, whose batting average has slipped from .324 to .242 over the past 8 games (excluding Sunday's game, in which he went 2-for-5), continues to get back on track and make us forget about these two outfielders.

Oh, and we've got some new guy making his first start of the year on Monday night, Jackie Robinson Day. Good luck to him!

Dodgers Sign That Big-Name Outfielder We've Been Coveting All Off-Season

Welcome, Bryce Ha.... oh, wait a second here.

Free-agent outfielder A.J. Pollock and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a four-year deal, league sources confirmed to ESPN.

The Athletic first reported the agreement. The total value of the deal is $55 million and has a player option for a fifth year at $10 million, with a $5 million buyout, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney.

Los Angeles adds the best center fielder on the market to a team that was seeking a right-handed bat to complement its deep lineup.

Pollock, 31, hit .257/.316/.484 with 21 home runs, 65 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 113 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, but he missed nearly two months with a broken left thumb. It was the latest in a line of injuries that have prevented Pollock from playing more than 113 games in a season since his breakout All-Star turn in 2015. He passed his physical with the Dodgers.

Well, I suppose the Top of the Park store can start selling hats saying "let's make baseball fiscally responsible again."

Welcome, A.J. Ellis Pollock!