Dodgers fall to Brewers again
From Maddie Lee: Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras’ mitt.
Betts had been setting the tone for the Dodgers from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB’s best starting pitchers. But there wasn’t much he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe’s.
Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the crowd at American Family Field roared.
Then, with left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman coming to the plate, Milwaukee had an answer for him too. Manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged and struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.
“They all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
Those back-to-back strikeouts in the eighth inning were part of five perfect innings thrown by the Brewers’ bullpen — a postseason record.
The Dodgers’ performance against the Brewers bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn’t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.
Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic after the game that he would “have a conversation” with Ohtani Tuesday to determine “what’s best for him, what’s best for [the team].”
In the NLCS, the Dodgers are seeing what money can’t buy: a bullpen such as Milwaukee’s
Dodgers Debate NLCS Game 2: Did the Dodgers forget how to hit?
Three-peat chance is looking weak
From Bill Plaschke: Once brimming with life, the Dodgers’ historic quest has curled up into a withered heap.
The three-peat is dying.
The three-peat is slowly, agonizingly having the life squeezed out of it by a collection of hardscrabble Midwesterners with no regard for stardom or status.
Two games into the National League Championship Series, the three-peat was formally placed on life support Monday after the mighty Dodgers lost a second consecutive game to those little giants known as Milwaukee Brewers.
This time the score was 7-4 after another devastating night at American Family Field, and now the Dodgers trail two games to none in a best-of-seven series that appears beyond their control.
For a second consecutive game, their ace was knocked out. For a second consecutive game, their powerful offense petered out.
For a second consecutive game, they looked like a weary, aging band of fallen stars that had stumbled into a surprisingly deep pothole and had no idea how to climb out.
MLB postseason schedule
All times Pacific
NLCS
No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 2 Dodgers
at Milwaukee 2, Dodgers 1 (box score)
at Milwaukee 7, Dodgers 4 (box score)
Wednesday at Dodgers, 5 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
Thursday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
*Friday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
*Sunday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
*Monday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., FOX/FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
ALCS
No. 1 Tampa Bay vs. No. 2 Cleveland
Cleveland 7, at Tampa Bay 3 (box score)
Tuesday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
Thursday at Cleveland, 3 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
Friday at Cleveland, 3 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
*Saturday at Cleveland, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
*Monday at Tampa Bay, 2 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
*Tuesday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
* if necessary
World Series starts Friday, Oct. 23
Rams lose to Bills in OT
From Gary Klein: The losses are mounting.
And the coach of the supposedly Super Bowl-favorite Rams is frustrated.
With the kicking unit.
“Not even close to good enough,” a gravelly-voiced Sean McVay said.
With himself.
“I’m sick right now,” he said.
With the Rams’ 37-34 overtime defeat by the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium.
“It’s been a while,” McVay said, “since I’ve been this pissed after a game,”
Really?
McVay and the Rams have been getting plenty of practice. See the season-opening debacle against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, or the turnover- and penalty-plagued loss to the Denver Broncos.
On Monday, when Buffalo’s Tyler Bass kicked a winning 45-yard field goal, the Rams’ record dropped to 2-3.
McVay was not the only one frustrated.
Offensive lineman Alaric Jackson was captured on video punching Buffalo’s Bradley Chubb on the field after the game.
Nico Iamaleava probably out for the season
From Connor Dullinger: UCLA coach Bob Chesney wasn’t ready to declare the end of UCLA senior starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s season on Monday, but the forecast was grim.
Iamaleava is expected to miss the rest of this season with a knee injury, according to a person with knowledge of the injury not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Chesney said he is waiting for UCLA doctors to “make the final call on things.”
“He has a meeting later today, and he’ll have a whole lot more clarity on exactly where things are at,” Chesney said of Iamaleava during a news conference Monday. “Everything being reported is what’s being reported. There is a serious concern at this moment, but at the same point in time, there is nothing that has been fully ruled at this moment.”
The injury is a blow for the No. 12 Bruins, who are 5-0 during Chesney’s first season and have a favorable path to the College Football Playoff.
Chesney said that while Ty Dieffenbach and Madden Iamaleava, Nico’s younger brother, both earned the right to start, Chesney will start Dieffenbach going forward and see how it plays out.
This day in sports history
1893 — The U.S. yacht Vigilant wins the America’s Cup with a three-race sweep over the British challenger Valkyrie II.
1947 — The NHL holds its first All-Star game with the All-Stars beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Toronto’s Harry Watson scores the game’s first goal and assists on the other two goals. Trailing 3-2 after two periods, Montreal’s Maurice Richard and Chicago’s Doug Bentley each score to give the All-Stars the win.
1961 — Jacky Lee of the Houston Oilers passes for 457 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-31 tie with the Boston Patriots. Charley Hennigan of the Oilers catches 13 passes for 272 yards.
1963 — Mickey Wright wins her fourth LPGA championship in six years by beating Mary Lena Faulk, Mary Mills and Louise Suggs by two strokes.
1982 — IOC Executive Committee approves the reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s gold medals from the 1912 Olympics.
1985 — Phil Simms of the New York Giants passes for 513 yards with an NFL-record 62 pass attempts in a 35-30 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Simms completes 40 passes with 29 for first downs, also an NFL record.
1998 — For the first time in NBA history, the league cancels regular season games after labor talks break off.
2001 — DeShaun Foster of UCLA runs for a school-record 301 yards and four touchdowns as the Bruins beat Washington 35-13.
2001 — Georgia Southern fullback Adrian Peterson is held to 71 yards rushing, snapping his NCAA-record streak of 36 straight regular-season games with at least 100 yards.
2011 — American Jordyn Wieber wins another gold medal, beating Russia’s Viktoria Komova for the all-around title at the world gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Wieber, who led the Americans to the team title two days earlier, finishes with 59.382 points, just 0.033 ahead of the Russian.
2013 — Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, six weeks removed from a bout of malaria, breaks the course mark in capturing the Chicago Marathon. Kimetto finishes in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, leading a 1-2-3 finish for Kenyan men. He beats the mark of 2:04:38 set by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede last year.
2017 — Gustav Nyquist scores twice and Detroit has four goals in the third period to beat Vegas 6-3, handing the NHL’s newest franchise its first loss. Vegas is the first NHL expansion team to win its first three games.
2019 — Simone Biles becomes the most decorated gymnast in history when she wins record 25th medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1903 — The Boston Pilgrims win the first World Series, 5 games to 3, with a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1960 — Bill Mazeroski opens the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory and the World Series championship.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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