Two games, 23 pitching changes, 7½ hours and 18 innings into the National League Championship Series, it’s safe to say the template has been set. These games are going to be tense, terse chess matches and you better be ready to dig in for nine innings, because the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers certainly are.
The bottom line is that the series is tied, both in games and runs. After Los Angeles came from behind to win 4-3 on Saturday, both teams have taken a one-run affair. Both teams have scored nine runs.nike nfl jerseys cheap paypal
“It’s the best of the best,” Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said after earning the save. “These guys are the best team out there right now. We just go out there and play all 27 outs. They’ve been doing a fantastic job so far.”
Games 1 and 2 were mirror images of each other in many ways. Runs were hard to come by early, the Brewers did damage their second time seeing an L.A. starter, and they did it with the bottom of their order. The Dodgers came back in both games against the vaunted Milwaukee bullpen. In Game 1, they fell just short, miraculous in a way after L.A.’s mistake-filled performance. In Game 2, they blasted through the Brewers’ relievers on Justin Turner’s game-turning, two-run homer in the eighth.
And get this: Both games ended with the tying run in scoring position with the last out made by the team’s best hitter. On Friday, it was Turner who struck out with a runner on third to end it. On Saturday, Milwaukee’s MVP-in-waiting Christian Yelich rolled out to short with Hernan Perez on second.nfl nike jerseys for cheap
“We feel good about it because even though we played our worst baseball yesterday, we feel like we almost got that one,” Jansen said. “Today, we come from behind and get to that bullpen and it feels great. Feels great to be going home tied 1-1.”
We’re only two games in and this series has had it all. Heroic moments — from Turner in Game 2, Brandon Woodruff in Game 1. Stars scuffling — Turner in the first game, Yelich for most of the series. Cinderella stories, like Orlando Arcia, Woodruff and Milwaukee’s Game 2 starter Wade Miley.
It has had cutting-edge strategies like bullpenning and good, old-fashioned starting pitching as well. There has been plenty of emotion, from Woodruff shuddering with glee after homering against Clayton Kershaw in Game 1, to Yasiel Puig snapping a bat over his knee after striking out with the bases loaded in Game 2.
