Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Relax, everyone.

If someone had told you before the start of Game 3 that the Dodgers would win two of three in New York and come home up 3-2 in the series, with the final two games at Dodger Stadium, you would have glady taken it.

But, because the Dodgers won Game 3 and 4 and lost Game 5, it leaves a sour aftertaste and things seems much worse than they are. Nothing is guaranteed of course, but if it had been the opposite, if the Dodgers had lost Game 3 and won Games 4 and 5, everyone would be thrilled. It’s all about timing.

As always, these are stream-of-consciousness thoughts written as each game is happening.

Game 3

—The home-plate umpire has a generous strike zone tonight. That usually doesn’t bode well for the Dodgers, who rely on patience at the plate and waiting for their pitch.

—Pete Rose must be somewhere saying “What’s with all this talk of odds and betting?” Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are saying “Weren’t we suspended for being greeters at a casino?”

—This looks like prime Walker Buehler.

—Dodgers get two breaks in the second inning and capitalize. That’s what championship teams do.

—Great catch by Tyrone Taylor.

—Buehler stops attacking the hitter with two strikes.

—Bases loaded, one out in the third. You have to score a run there.

—That Fox graphic “Five hitters away! Shohei Ohtani!” must be incredibly annoying to everyone but Dodgers fans.

—That Geico commercial that makes fun of horror movie tropes is really funny. “Why can’t we just get in the running car?” “Head for the cemetery!”

—You can’t ask for much more from Buehler than he gave tonight. More innings, sure. But that was the first time he has looked like the old Walker Buehler.

—Brandon Nimmo is also a gamer. Obviously in a lot of pain. I always feel for people like him, and others who go to work in pain every day while I’m paid to sit around and write about baseball. However, a hangnail for me could be career ending.

—John Smoltz talks right up until the pitch is thrown. You have to let the game breathe and let the crowd noise wash over the viewers. Or, as Yogi Berra famously said, “John Smoltz was a great pitcher, but he talks too much.”

—Kiké Hernández. How does he do it?

—Most postseason homers in baseball history:

Manny Ramirez, 29 homers, 410 at-bats, 14.14 at-bats per homer
José Altuve, 27, 436, 16.15
Bernie Williams, 22, 465, 21.14
Kyle Schwarber, 21, 228, 10.86
Derek Jeter, 20, 650, 32.5
George Springer, 19, 276, 14.53
Corey Seager, 19, 299, 15.74
Albert Pujols, 19, 304, 16.0
Alex Bregman, 19, 370, 19.47
Nelson Cruz, 18, 187, 10.39
Mickey Mantle, 18, 230, 12.78
Reggie Jackson, 18, 281, 15.61
Carlos Correa, 18, 323, 17.94
Bryce Harper, 17, 193, 11.35
Jim Thome, 17, 232, 13.65
David Ortiz, 17, 304, 17.89
Carlos Beltran, 16, 215, 13.44
Babe Ruth, 15, 129, 8.60
Kiké Hernández, 15, 200, 13.33
Jayson Werth, 15, 227, 15.13

It’s important to note that Mantle and Ruth did not have multiple postseason rounds, they played only in the World Series.

Put another way, best home run ratio:

Babe Ruth, 15, 129, 8.60
Nelson Cruz, 18, 187, 10.39
Kyle Schwarber, 21, 228, 10.86
Bryce Harper, 17, 193, 11.35
Mickey Mantle, 18, 230, 12.78
Kiké Hernández, 15, 200, 13.33
Carlos Beltran, 16, 215, 13.44
Jim Thome, 17, 232, 13.65
Manny Ramirez, 29, 410, 14.14
George Springer, 19, 276, 14.53
Jayson Werth, 15, 227, 15.13
Reggie Jackson, 18, 281, 15.61
Corey Seager, 19, 299, 15.74
Albert Pujols, 19, 304, 16.0
José Altuve, 27, 436, 16.15
David Ortiz, 17, 304, 17.89
Carlos Correa, 18, 323, 17.94
Alex Bregman, 19, 370, 19.47
Bernie Williams, 22, 465, 21.14
Derek Jeter, 20, 650, 32.5

You can see how impressive Ruth and Mantle were.

—Funny to see Blake Treinen in the seventh.

—Before every at-bat, someone needs to tell Ohtani that there are runners on base. Have the base coaches stand as close to the bases as possible to fool him.

—Max Muncy tied the Dodgers record with 13 postseason homers. If he stays in this groove, it’s a major benefit for the Dodgers. And this is why the Dodgers keep him although many fans undervalue him.

Most postseason homers as a Dodger:

Max Muncy, 13, 180 at-bats, homer every 13.85 at-bats
Corey Seager, 13, 233, 17.92
Justin Turner, 13, 315, 24.23
Duke Snider, 11, 133, 12.09
Kiké Hernández, 10, 151, 15.1
Steve Garvey, 10, 182, 18.2
Joc Pederson, 9, 151, 16.78
Chris Taylor, 9, 219, 24.33
Cody Bellinger, 9, 242, 26.89
Adrián González, 7, 114, 16.29
Ron Cey, 6, 142, 23.67
Davey Lopes, 6, 178, 29.67
Will Smith, 6, 182, 30.33

—Surprised they went with Ryan Brasier after his shaky first inning in Game 2. The defense bailed him out during another shaky inning.

—Dodgers get to save Daniel Hudson, Anthony Banda and Evan Phillips, so the Mets don’t get a look at their pitches. That’s an advantage for the Dodgers.

—The Mets have their best starter going in Game 4. Series is far from over.

Game 4

—We’re due for a close game.

—Someone obviously told Ohtani that the first- and third-base coaches were actually baserunners. Why else would he get a hit with the bases empty?

—The commercial with the tiny Troy Polamalu living in the woman’s hair is disturbing. Now every time my scalp itches, I wonder what former NFL player is doing it. I’m going with Lawrence McCutcheon.

—Tommy Edman is an unsung hero.

—Hulu went down for a couple of innings during the game. It went down all across the country. People were unhappy, particularly those who were watching the Yankees-Guardians game in extra innings.

—It’s funny to see a guy such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto look so bad in Game 1 against the Padres, then look lights out after that. I’m surprised every pitcher doesn’t have an ulcer.

—It’s strange to play the Mets and not have anyone on their team to actively dislike. Even their fans don’t root against the Dodgers (no “Beat L.A.”), they root for the Mets (“Let’s go, Mets!”). It’s refreshing.

—Yamamoto strikes out Francisco Lindor and gets removed from the game. I still say that the more pitchers you use, the more likely you are to find one having a bad day. But the Dodgers are proving me wrong.

—Now you all you darn kids get off my lawn.

—Mookie Betts likes having Ohtani as a teammate, but you have to figure at some point he says “Hey, everyone talks about Ohtani. I’m OK too.” And he is having a nice postseason. Extra motivation can be a good thing.

—I’ll probably jinx them, but it seems clear that the Dodgers and Padres are the two best teams in the NL.

—If Mets pitchers don’t stop nibbling at the corners and quickly start attacking hitters, this series will be over Friday.

—Evan Phillips lost the closer role after two bad weeks in July. Other than that, he has been his usual reliable self. And, since he lost the job, he seems to be pitching with a bit of anger. Again, extra motivation can be a good thing.

—Anthony Banda is being asked to fill the high-leverage role Alex Vesia had. Bases loaded, two out in the sixth is the first time he has had to pitch in a tough situation this series. Will he come through?

—And instead, in a surprise, Dave Roberts goes with Blake Treinen! And he does the job. Roberts really, really wants to win. And so far, he has made almost all the right calls this postseason.

—Nice to hear the 1974 Dodgers mentioned. Jimmy Wynn was my very first favorite player. Very underrated team.

—Good to see Edgardo Henriquez rebound from his tough outing against the Padres.

—Taking nothing away from a fine performance by Yamamoto, but you know we live in a different era for baseball when people go on and on about what a great job the starting pitcher did in a game in which he pitched less than five innings.

—This Dodgers have that killer instinct that has been missing. Doesn’t guarantee they will win it all, but it does guarantee they won’t go down without a fight.

Game 5

—I had technical difficulties for the game. The Dodgers won, right? They are on their way to the World Series, right?

—I’m being told now that no, they did not win.

—Roberts had a decision to make with Jack Flaherty. A) Pull him and get high-leverage relievers in there quickly in a game you are already losing. B) Stick with him and see what happens. C) Put in a low-leverage reliever such as Brent Honeywell Jr. or Landon Knack. Roberts went with a combination of B and C. It didn’t work. Of course, those of us at home would have gone with option A and it would have worked perfectly, just like all our decisions at home do. There’s no guarantee bringing in someone like Daniel Hudson would have worked either. Maybe he blows out his elbow on the first pitch. All we know for sure is what they tried in Game 5 didn’t work. But, they saved all their relievers for Sunday’s bullpen game, and when the other team beats your ace, sometimes all you can do is turn the page.

—Roberts, after the game: “You have to kind of remain steadfast in how you use your pitchers. Because ultimately it’s about winning four games in a seven-game series. At 5-1, I’m not going to deploy our leverage guys, knowing there’s a cost on the back end and appreciating the fact that there’s still more baseball to play in the series.”

—You can argue that you don’t worry about the rest of the series, you try to win the game in front of you. If the Dodgers win Game 6 or 7, it doesn’t matter. If they lose Games 6 and 7, people will be talking about it all offseason.

—Turns out Flaherty was “under the weather” before the game.

—And, sad to say it, but it may be time to just give Freddie Freeman the rest of the series off. He doesn’t look good out there. Applaud the effort, but he may not be helping the Dodgers by playing.

—There’s really not much else to say, the Dodgers just got beat. The offense still looks good. A couple of guys are slumping, but the Dodgers usually win when they score six runs.

—You still have to like the Dodgers’ chances. But as we know, in baseball, anything is possible.

—Besides, Game 6 is on Oct. 20. It would have been my mom’s 94th birthday. You can’t get much better karma than that.

—My prediction remains: Dodgers in six.

Dodgers postseason stats

NLCS stats

Batting
Tommy Edman, .409, 9 for 22, 2 doubles, 7 RBIs, 4 Ks
Max Muncy, .385, 5 for 13, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 9 walks, 4 Ks
Mookie Betts, .364, 8 for 22, 3 doubles, 2 homers, 8 RBIs, 4 walks, 4 Ks
Shohei Ohtani, .333, 6 for 18, 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 8 walks, 6 Ks
Andy Pages, .333, 4 for 12, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 4 Ks
Kiké Hernández, .300, 6 for 20, 1 homer, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 Ks
Chris Taylor, .200, 1 for 5, 2 walks, 1 K
Freddie Freeman, .167, 3 for 18, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 4 Ks
Will Smith, .158, 3 for 19, 2 RBIs, 2 walks, 4 Ks
Teoscar Hernández, .000, 0 for 18, 7 walks, 9 Ks
Kevin Kiermaier, .000, 0 for 2, 1 K
Gavin Lux, .000, 0 for 6, 1 walk, 1 K
Team, .257/.388/.440, 45 for 175, 5 doubles, 9 homers, 36 walks, 47 Ks, 7.2 runs per game

Pitching
Walker Buehler, 0.00 ERA, 4 IP, 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 Ks
Ben Casparius, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 1 walk, 4 Ks
Blake Treinen, 0.00 ERA, 2.1 IP, 2 hits, 3 Ks
Anthony Banda, 0.00 ERA, 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K
Evan Phillips, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.1 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 Ks
Michael Kopech, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 K
Daniel Hudson, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 K
Edgardo Henriquez, 2.25 ERA, 4 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks, 2 Ks
Yoshinbou Yamamoto, 4.15 ERA, 4.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 walk, 8 Ks
Ryan Brasier, 0-1, 4.50 ERA, 2 IP, 2 hits, 2 walks, 1 K
Brent Honeywell Jr., 4.70 ERA, 7.2 IP, 8 hits, 2 walks, 2 Ks
Jack Flaherty, 1-1, 7.20 ERA, 10 IP, 10 hits, 6 walks, 6 Ks
Landon Knack, 22.50 ERA, 2 IP, 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 Ks
Team, 3-2, 4.30 ERA, 44 IP, 42 hits, 22 walks, 39 Ks

All postseason games

Batting
Kiké Hernández, .310/.375/.517, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 Ks
Mookie Betts, .300/.404/.675, 3 doubles, 4 homers, 11 RBIs, 7 walks, 7 Ks
Andy Pages, .286/.333/.714, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 5 Ks
Shohei Ohtani, .263/.417/.500, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 10 walks, 16 Ks
Max Muncy, .258/.452/.582, 1 double, 3 homers, 5 RBIs, 10 walks, 10 Ks
Miguel Rojas, .250/.250/.250, 2 for 8
Freddie Freeman, .219/.242/.219, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 6 Ks
Gavin Lux, .208/.250/.333, 1 homer, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, 3 Ks
Teoscar Hernández, .167/.333/.333, 2 homers, 7 RBIs, 9 walks, 13 Ks
Will Smith, .143/.268/.229, 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 6 walks, 6 Ks
Chris Taylor, .111/.273/.111, 2 walks, 1 K
Kevin Kiermaier, 0 for 2, 1 K
Austin Barnes has not batted in the postseason.
Team, .243/.339/.421, 6 doubles, 18 homers, 49 walks, 85 Ks, 6 runs per game

Pitching
Blake Treinen, 0.00 ERA, 2 saves, 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 7 Ks
Evan Phillips, 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.2 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 6 Ks
Anthony Banda, 0.00 ERA, 4.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 Ks
Michael Kopech, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 4.1 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 6 Ks
Daniel Hudson, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 Ks
Alex Vesia, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 4 Ks
Brent Honeywell Jr., 4.70 ERA, 7.2 IP, 8 hits, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Ryan Brasier, 1-1, 4.77 ERA, 5.2 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 3 Ks
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-0, 5.11 ERA, 12.1 IP, 11 hits, 4 walks, 11 Ks
Walker Buehler, 0-1, 6.00 ERA, 9 IP, 10 hits, 3 walks, 6 Ks
Jack Flaherty, 1-2, 7.05 ERA, 15.1 IP, 15 hits, 7 walks, 8 Ks
Edgardo Henriquez, 7.20 ERA, 5 IP, 8 hits, 3 walks, 3 Ks
Landon Knack, 15.00 ERA, 3 IP, 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 Ks
Michael Grove, 27.00 ERA, 0.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K
Team, 6-4, 4.30 ERA, 88 IP, 78 hits, 33 walks, 71 Ks

Poll: Who will win?

Who will win the series? We asked this after Game 2, and after 17,863 votes, the results:

Dodgers in six, 50.5%
Dodgers in seven, 35.3%
Dodgers in five, 5.6%
Mets in six, 5.1%
Mets in seven, 2.4%
Mets in five, 1.1%

Dodgers’ NLCS schedule

Game 1: at Dodgers 9, New York 0. WP-Jack Flaherty. LP-Kodai Senga. (box score)

Game 2: New York 7, at Dodgers 3. WP-Sean Manaea. LP-Ryan Brasier. Save-Edwin Díaz. (box score)

Game 3: Dodgers 8, at New York 0. WP-Walker Buehler. LP-Luis Severino. (box score)

Game 4: Dodgers 10, at New York 2. WP-Evan Phillips. LP-José Quintana. (box score)

Game 5: at New York 12, Dodgers 6. WP-Ryne Stanek. LP-Jack Flaherty. (box score)

Sunday: New York at Dodgers, 5 p.m., FS1

*Monday: New York at Dodgers, 5 p.m., Fox

*-if necessary

In case you missed it

Hernández: Shortage of healthy pitchers forcing Dave Roberts into high-risk balancing act

Shaikin: Freddie Freeman is hurting, and the Dodgers need to keep him on the bench

Two unsung heroes may have set up the Dodgers for success in NLCS Game 6

Plaschke: Everybody chill! Dodgers are still in control of their World Series destiny

Dodgers drop NLCS Game 5 to Mets. Who has momentum now?

Shaikin: With Jack Flaherty starting NLCS Game 5, Dodgers aren’t overthinking things

Hernández: Pitch around Shohei Ohtani? Not when Mookie Betts is this hot at the plate

Dodgers bullpen shows their ‘pick each other up’ culture at critical Game 4 moment

How much for two tickets for a World Series in L.A.? Thousands, not hundreds

Shaikin: Dodgers spent $1 billion on Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It’s payoff time

And finally

“Hey dad? You want to have a catch?” Watch and listen here.