LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2013

DODGERS.COM

NLDS starts anew with clash of rookies in Los Angeles

Ryu looks to retain Dodgers' home-field edge; Teheran goes for Braves

By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- The National League Division Series between the Braves and Dodgers has headed west to California for a fresh start, like so many transplanted easterners before it.

Applaud Atlanta if you wanted a drama. Because in Game 2, the Braves won a must-win game by riding Mike Minor, turning double plays, getting timely hits and watching Craig Kimbrel unleash his late-game magic.

And so now the series shifts to the beautiful backdrop of Dodger Stadium and the equally beautiful thought that this clash of NL titans is just getting off the ground.

"Everybody's excited to be here," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Any bumps and bruises and aches, they seem to go away at game time. It's just a different emotion with the playoffs."

Game 3 on Sunday night (8 p.m. ET, TBS) will usher in a different dynamic, in terms of the starting pitching situation, because now we're delving into the lesser-known and undoubtedly unpredictable elements of these two robust rotations.

For those somewhat unaccustomed to either of these two clubs, the national stage provided by Game 3 will be a good chance for "getting to know you."

Or getting to know Ryu, rather.

For those somewhat unaccustomed to either of these two clubs, the national stage provided by Game 3 will be a good chance for "getting to know you."

Tale of the Tape: Game 3

HYUN-JIN RYUDODGERS

JULIO TEHERANBRAVES

2013 regular season

Overall: 30 GS, 14-8, 3.00 ERA, 49 BB, 154 K Overall: 30 GS, 14-8, 3.20 ERA, 45 BB, 170 K

Key stat: Opponents hitting .067 with bases loaded

Key stat: 2.97 ERA in the second half

At Dodger Stadium

HYUN-JIN RYUDODGERS

JULIO TEHERANBRAVES

2013: 15 GS, 7-4, 2.32 ERACareer: 15 GS, 7-4, 2.32 ERA

2013: Did not pitchCareer: Did not pitch

Against this opponent

2013: 2 GS, 0-0, 2.13 ERACareer: 2 GS, 0-0, 2.13 ERA

2013: Did not pitchCareer: Did not pitch

Loves to face: Jason Heyward, 1-for-7, 3 KHates to face: Freddie Freeman, 3-for-4

Loves to face: Michael Young 0-for-3, 1 KHates to face: Only faced two Dodgers

Game breakdown

Why he'll win: Rises to the occasion on big stage Why he'll win: Has a lively fastball with good command

Pitcher beware: Has not pitched in postseason Pitcher beware: Inexperienced in October

Bottom line: Change speeds and attack the strike zone

Bottom line: Build on strong second half, don't get rattled on the road

In the Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Braves' Julio Teheran, we'll be witnessing two of the game's more promising -- and somewhat unheralded -- rookies from the 2013 season. Their accomplishments might get lost in the shuffle, given what Jose Fernandez did in Teheran's division or what Yasiel Puig has done on Ryu's own team, but both of these men are more polished than you'd expect given Teheran's age (22) and Ryu's previous inexperience with stateside ball.

The Dodgers took a risk with the lefty Ryu, signing him to a six-year, $36 million deal, but it's paid off handsomely. His 14-6 record and 3.00 ERA is one thing, but his quick adaptation to the Majors was extremely helpful given the rotation instability the Dodgers endured early in the year.

"He's such a smart, intuitive guy who has a great feel for the game of baseball," catcher A.J. Ellis said. "We've really grown together, him and I working together. He's grown with a lot of guys on the team."

Concerns about Ryu have grown in recent days, as he threw a bullpen session in Atlanta Friday under the watch of team surgeon Neal ElAttrache, medical director Stan Conte and Mattingly, and he's been seen wearing a compression wrap around his elbow. But Ryu and Mattingly both made it clear there is no question about his preparedness to start this game.

"We have no concerns about him," Mattingly said.

Perhaps of utmost concern is the gameplan against Teheran, who is known to the Dodgers only through the wonders of technology and advanced scouting. This was the season Teheran, who has been lauded as a top prospect for what feels like forever, made good on all the laudatory things that have been said and written about him and became a legit Major League weapon with ace-type potential. He racks up strikeouts, he limits walks, he has a live and athletic arm. He has shaken off the struggles that defined his early opportunities at the big league level in 2011 and 2012.

"He's a young kid," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We've seen him for 162 games. He just keeps getting better and maturing with experience, and I think we've just seen the tip of the iceberg with him."

Likewise, we've only seen the bare bones of this series. It's headed to Hollywood, the land of rewrites. And its script will start anew.

Braves: Bullpen still a strengthThe Braves have the undisputed best bullpen in baseball, and they've needed it thus far in this series. Luis Ayala, Jordan Walden, Alex Wood, David Carpenter and Luis Avilan combined for five innings of work in relief of Kris Medlen in Game 1, and Gonzalez turned to the 'pen again with one out in the seventh inning of Game 2, even though Minor was dealing, in order to play with the matchups.

The bullpen came through each time, but it wasn't easy in Game 2. Carpenter, who allowed just 0.69 homers per nine innings this season, served up a two-run blast to Hanley Ramirez in the eighth, before Kimbrel came out for a four-out save. By and large, though, the 'pen has come as advertised.

"We're very confident in those guys down there," Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "You get late into the game, we like our chances. Hand the ball to Kimbrel, we like our chances. They've been steady."

Dodgers: Hanley hurting but still helpingRamirez's bum lower back doesn't seem to be bothering him. He's 4-for-9 with three doubles and a homer in this series. The Dodgers were careful not to play Ramirez on back-to-back days the last couple of weeks of the season, so there was concern about how he'd handle the rigors of the postseason.

So far, so good.

Gonzalez had his issues with Ramirez when the two were with the Marlins at the same time, but Gonzalez has great respect for the player Ramirez was and is.

"When I had him in Florida, he won a batting title," Gonzalez said. "And on any given day, he might have been the best player on the field, and I think he's still that same way. He's scary when he comes to the plate, because he can split a gap or he can run you out of the ballpark. He can steal you a base. He's a very talented player."

Worth noting• Ryu was a once-a-week pitcher in his native South Korea, so maybe this schedule suits him. Then again, maybe not. Ryu last pitched Sept. 29, so he'll be making this start on six days' rest. On regular

(four days') rest this season, Ryu was 5-4 with a 3.26 ERA. On five days' rest, he was 7-1 with a 2.12 ERA. But on six days' rest, he was 2-3 with a 3.65 ERA.

• Ramirez is merely the second Dodgers shortstop since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958 to log two doubles in a postseason game. The other? Maury Wills, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles in Game 5 of the 1965 World Series against the Twins.

• Kimbrel's four-out save in Game 2 was the first multi-inning save by a Braves pitcher in the postseason since John Smoltz went two innings to finish the job in Game 1 of the 2001 NLDS against the Astros.

• The Braves went 40-41 on the road this season. They were the only division champion to finish with a losing road record.

Ryu insists he's healthy heading into Game 3 start

Dodgers rookie's Friday bullpen session with team surgeon raises questions

By Paul Casella / MLB.com

ATLANTA -- Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu insists that he is ready for his first Major League postseason start on Sunday, despite some ongoing questions surrounding his health.

Ryu on Friday tossed a bullpen session prior to the Dodgers' Game 2 National League Division Series loss in Atlanta. The cause for alarm didn't necessarily stem from the session itself -- after all, Ryu has had an extended layoff between starts -- but instead from the fact that it came under the watchful eye of team surgeon Neal ElAttrache, medical director Stan Conte and manager Don Mattingly.

Nevertheless, Ryu said he completed his bullpen work with zero discomfort and has no hesitations about taking the ball in Sunday's pivotal Game 3 of the NLDS at 5 p.m. PT on TBS, opposite Julio Teheran and the Braves.

"Actually, I feel really good right now. My goal is just to get my body ready to be able to go out there and win, and take the lead of the series," Ryu said on Saturday. "Typically, when I rest longer than normal, I always squeeze in a bullpen in there just to make sure that my body is responding the way I want it to."

Tale of the Tape: Game 3

HYUN-JIN RYUDODGERS

JULIO TEHERANBRAVES

2013 regular season

Overall: 30 GS, 14-8, 3.00 ERA, 49 BB, 154 K Overall: 30 GS, 14-8, 3.20 ERA, 45 BB, 170 K

Key stat: Opponents hitting .067 with bases loaded

Key stat: 2.97 ERA in the second half

HYUN-JIN RYUDODGERS

JULIO TEHERANBRAVES

At Dodger Stadium

2013: 15 GS, 7-4, 2.32 ERACareer: 15 GS, 7-4, 2.32 ERA

2013: Did not pitchCareer: Did not pitch

Against this opponent

2013: 2 GS, 0-0, 2.13 ERACareer: 2 GS, 0-0, 2.13 ERA

2013: Did not pitchCareer: Did not pitch

Loves to face: Jason Heyward, 1-for-7, 3 KHates to face: Freddie Freeman, 3-for-4

Loves to face: Michael Young 0-for-3, 1 KHates to face: Only faced two Dodgers

Game breakdown

Why he'll win: Rises to the occasion on big stage Why he'll win: Has a lively fastball with good command

Pitcher beware: Has not pitched in postseason Pitcher beware: Inexperienced in October

Bottom line: Change speeds and attack the strike zone

Bottom line: Build on strong second half, don't get rattled on the road

Mattingly backed his starter, saying the team has "no concerns" about Ryu or his status for Sunday's game. As of Saturday night, Mattingly said the Dodgers' scheduled rotation remains unchanged, with Ricky Nolasco slated to pitch Game 4 on Monday and ace Clayton Kershaw ready for a potential Game 5 in Atlanta on Wednesday.

For now, however, the focus remains on Game 3 and the man the Dodgers signed to a six-year, $36 million deal this offseason.

"I'm really excited to see what he's going to do on Sunday, because he is a big-game pitcher who has got so many different weapons, so many different ways to get you out," said Ryu's batterymate, A.J. Ellis. "He's been a joy to catch all year."

Though technically a rookie, Ryu was a seven-time all-star in the Korea Baseball Organization before signing with the Dodgers last December. Ryu finished his first year in the Majors with a 14-8 regular-season record to go along with a 3.00 ERA over 30 starts.

Considering Ryu's experience in South Korea, Mattingly isn't too concerned about sending the "rookie" to the mound on Sunday for Los Angeles' first home postseason game since 2009.

"Hyun-Jin is a guy that's a rookie, but has really pitched a lot of baseball professionally, just not here," Mattingly said. "So he's an older-type rookie. I'm hoping he'll react good. You don't know how anybody is going to react, but I feel like [all our rookies] will react good, and I look forward to watching it."

Sunday's game will also mark another first, as Ryu will become the first South Korean pitcher to ever start a Major League postseason game. Countrymen Chan Ho Park and Byung-Hyun Kim have combined to make 21 postseason appearances, but neither has ever started a game.

"It's a huge motivation to know that an entire country's going to be watching the game," Ryu said. "But equally important is the fans here at Dodger Stadium and the Korean community here. I understand there are going to be a lot of them coming out [Sunday], but it's a big encouragement for me."

Along with dominating the KBO, Ryu also has some big-game experience. The 26-year-old southpaw earned the win in Korea's gold medal-clinching victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and went 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA for the second-place South Korean squad at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

"This is definitely not going to be the biggest game he's ever pitched, which is a nice thing to be able to say about him," Ellis said. "This is a guy who's basically the Clayton Kershaw of his country -- best pitcher there for years. He's a guy who's pitched in WBCs and Olympics, so he's pitched on a big stage before."

Ryu coasted for much of the season, posting a 12-3 record and 2.91 ERA through his first 23 Major League starts. Over his final seven starts, however, he went just 2-5 -- despite still putting up a respectable 3.30 ERA during that span -- while also dealing with a back ailment that forced him to miss a start in early September.

Insisting he is fully healthy, Ryu emphasized on Saturday that he is indeed ready to embrace his first big league postseason experience. As for his manager, Mattingly fully expects Ryu to channel his past success on the international level into a masterful Game 3 performance.

"Some of the scouts that we talked to [before signing him] seemed to think that all the WBC games he's pitched and things like that, that's when his best outings have come against the best teams," Mattingly said. "So, we feel like he'll step up."

To this point, Ryu has seemingly risen to every other challenge in his debut season in the Majors. He wasted no time adapting to the new culture and his new team in Spring Training, and has even made strides to improve his English throughout the summer.

Following Ryu's first start in Dodger blue, Ellis indicated that he was trying to pick up on some Korean to improve communication between the two. Though Ellis hasn't exactly lived up to his own expectations -- admittedly knowing "probably even less" Korean now than he did back then -- Ryu has come a long way with his English.

"To his credit, he's picked up a ton of English. We talk baseball a lot," Ellis said. "He's such a smart, intuitive guy who has a great feel for the game of baseball. Baseball is a universal international language in itself. When he takes the mound, it's my Dodger teammate, it's not anything else. We've really grown together, him and I, by working together."

Along with having a universal language, baseball also has a universal way to measure success -- winning.

"He's a guy who's all about us, all about winning," Ellis said. "So I think he's going to be great."

Blue heaven: October returns to Dodgerland

Club's magical season, spruced-up stadium revitalize Ravine for NLDS

By Anthony Castrovince

LOS ANGELES -- The beauty is still embedded into Elysian Park, resting on a hillside overlooking this man-made American city, showcasing its sport as only it can, with the space-age seats shining in the sun, the San Gabriel Mountains looming in the distance and Vin Scully's voice beaming out into the ether.

Of course, like so many of its fellow famous residents of L.A., Dodger Stadium has maintained its beauty with no small amount of expensive enhancements. But there's no shame in being image conscious, especially in Hollywood, and when you've got good guts, you might as well flaunt them.

Chavez Ravine is ready for its close-up Sunday night, when the Dodgers and Braves continue their National League Division Series (8 ET/5 PT on TBS), and, frankly, it's nice to have it back in the postseason spotlight.

"Looking for it to be hopefully energetic and electric," manager Don Mattingly said. "It seems like the fans this year have been excited about our club. They seem to like our guys. I think Dodger fans in general have always been really supportive of our club. But I think there's been a little bit of a different energy this year. The fans seem to have connected with our players."

Not that it's been an incredibly long wait, for the Dodgers are just four years removed from their last NLCS appearance against the Phillies. But the profundity of their purgatory period cannot be overstated. The bitter McCourt divorce battle wreaked havoc on the Dodgers' finances and, ergo, sullied their spot in the standings. Attendance plummeted, with the 2011 average -- 36,236 -- more than 7,000 lower than what it had been a year earlier. And the sight of empty seating sections and lopsided scores was nothing compared to the concerns about safety and security.

All of those issues have drifted into the distance, thanks to a $2.15 billion infusion of excitement and intrigue brought on by the Guggenheim group and its magnetic franchise face in Magic Johnson. The Dodgers have become a captivating curiosity, a melting pot of personalities that make beautiful music together when they're healthy and in harmony.

They are, you might say, a club worthy of their surroundings.

"Why do you want to see gladiators?" said newly anointed setup man Brian Wilson, as curious a commodity as they come. "You want to see them fight, you want to be entertained. And when your gladiators are doing well, you're going to keep coming.

"I don't really focus on the atmosphere. I kind of just copy and paste stadiums, because the dimensions where I work are always going to be the same and I just focus on the catcher. But I'd be lying if I said I don't notice it when I'm sitting in the bullpen. You can feel the energy here."

There's something about this place that stirs the senses ... and not the sense you'd expect when you're in such close proximity to a former landfill. Here, it's the sense that time has stopped and reversed itself,

and suddenly you're rolling your Impala out of a 76 station and up the road where Sandy Koufax works his miracles.

But Dodger Stadium has also been updated for modern times. As is the case with their roster, the ownership group pumped a staggering sum into the home park, over $100 million total in a single offseason. They enhanced the home clubhouse, renovated every bathroom, installed new high-res video scoreboards, widened the concourses, improved the entries, opened more merchandise stores and expanded the concession offerings.

Indeed, preservation of the game's third-oldest ballpark comes with a high price. But it was worth every penny to keep the motor humming.

This is where the Dodgers completed their '63 sweep of their former New York neighbors, with Joe Pepitone losing sight of Clete Boyer's throw in a sea of white shirts. This is where Orel Hershiser went the distance in the Game 7 LCS clincher, and where Kirk Gibson completed a slow, limping trot around the bases that is as iconic as the home run that immediately preceded it, all with superscout Mike Brito -- wearing a Panama hat atop his head, cigar dangling from his mouth, suit and tie adorning his body and radar gun jutting out of his outstretched hand -- looking on.

This is where Dodger Dog indigestion emanates, where parking congestion congregates, where Randy Newman communicates that he loves L.A. And when you're here and you hear it, so do you.

L.A. crowds have been brandished with a rep for arriving late and leaving early. Not this year. Not when the Dodgers were in the midst of rattling off 42 wins in 50 games, all but sealing their spot in the postseason and rekindling their relationship with a city that had grown skeptical about them.

So now postseason baseball is back, in a setting that feels nothing but natural for it. And on Sunday night, they'll get their French dip sandwiches to-go from Philippe's, and they'll ride along that hillside into the parking lot that rests on about 260 acres of costly concrete. They'll watch a cavalcade of stars on a dynamic diamond within the context of the game's greatest stage: October.

It'll be a beautiful blue sight.

With series tied, Mattingly focused on bouncing back

Dodgers' skipper not bothered by those who second-guess Game 2 decision

By Tracy Ringolsby

LOS ANGELES -- It was the day after.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly wasn't interested in talking about the night before.

His attention is on the next day and what could happen.

Mattingly, however, tried to be polite on Saturday afternoon, a workout day at Dodger Stadium between Games 2 and 3 of the NL Division Series in which the Dodgers and Braves split the first two games at Turner Field. Game 3 on Sunday will begin at 8 p.m. ET and can bee seen on TBS.

A media that enjoys the luxury of the second guess was waiting at the first chance to revisit the seventh inning of Friday's 4-3 loss, in which a series of moves and counter-moves left the Braves with the upper hand when left-handed-hitting Jason Heyward delivered a two-run single off Dodgers left-handed reliever Paco Rodriguez.

"I really don't feel like going through the game again," he said during the daily media session. "Honestly, I'm looking at Game 3. I think the situation in the game last night, no matter which way I go, it could be questioned."

Such is the life of a big league manager.

Dusty Baker manages Cincinnati to three postseason appearances in four years, but after losing the one-game Wild Card showdown with Pittsburgh on Tuesday, he is let go by the Reds even though he has another year at a salary believed in excess of $3.5 million. Hailed for his ability to motivate players, his failing is the uninspired play of his team in the final days of the season.

And the fact that Mattingly is in the last year of his contract, and no talks have begun on an extension, adds to the media unrest in his situation.

Baseball, more than any other team sport, is ripe for second guesses.

"The essence of any competition is the one-on-one, mano-a-mano confrontation," said Dodgers president Stan Kasten, who previously served as the general manager of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and president of the Hawks, Braves, the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, as well as the Nationals. "And no sport has that like baseball has on every single pitch. Everything flows from the pitcher-batter confrontation.

"And we have discrete breaks in the action. Every pitch is a brand new situation from which a thousand things could follow. So each game has literally 200-300 separate ... confrontations. Multiply that by all the variables of every situation, and all the possible outcomes, [and it] makes for a lot of possibilities -- and a lot of second guessing."

Think about it.

An interception or fumble in football and the passer or ball carrier comes under fire.

A basketball player misses a free throw or a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer or turns the ball over at a crucial time and he's under the microscope.

But not in baseball.

"It ain't like football," Yogi Berra is credited with saying. "You can't make up no trick plays."

So when the left-handed Rodriguez served up the two-run single, the question was not over the pitch he threw or where he threw it, but rather why Mattingly brought him in to force Atlanta counterpart Fredi Gonzalez to send the right-handed Reed Johnson in for the left-handed hitting Jose Constanza, which prompted Mattingly to walk Johnson and load the bases for Heyward.

And the next thing Mattingly knows, he's under fire for his strategy, even though nobody knows what would have happened had he left right-hander Chris Withrow in to face the left-handed-hitting Constanza.

"If I leave Withrow in to pitch and give up a hit there, I'm going to question myself and I'm going to be like, 'Why didn't I use Paco?,'" said Mattingly. "So it's one of those things that if the move works, if the matchup works, it's good. If it doesn't, it's bad. So there is really nothing other than it not going the way I want it, that I would change."

As Detroit manager Jim Leyland has said on more than one occasion, "How do you know it would have worked if I had done it the other way?"

That's why the successful manager is one who makes a decision, lives with it and moves on. He doesn't worry what might be said. He doesn't prepare himself for what could go wrong. He is looking for what can go right.

The late Dick Howser was once asked how he was able to so calmly deal with being second-guessed.

"Never have been," said Howser, who was managing Kansas City at the time.

Never? Not even managing the New York Yankees, where he won 102 games in 1980, and then quit at season's end because the late George Steinbrenner fired third-base coach Mike Ferraro.

"Never," he said. "I have just had a lot of opportunities to educate the unenlightened."

Get it?

Self-confidence is crucial in decision-making, particularly in baseball, where there is such an immediate public dissection of every move.

Mattingly comes under fire for a Braves rally in the seventh that turns a 2-1 games into a 4-1 game, and there is even the assumption by some that had the seventh inning turned out differently the Dodgers would have won 3-2 because Hanley Ramirez homered in the eighth.

But if the Braves don't score, does Ramirez get that chance? If the Braves are nursing a 2-1 lead with six outs to go, does Gonzalez still bring in David Carpenter in the eighth, and if he is pitching, does Carpenter approach Ramirez differently in an at-bat with the lead on the line?

Don't forget, the Dodgers had runners on first and third with one out, thanks to Dodger reliever Luis Ayala failing to step on the bag when he covered first base on a ground ball Michael Young hit to first baseman Freddie Freeman, and then four pitches later, Luis Avilan, who replaced Ayala, gets Carl Crawford to ground back to the mound for the start of an inning-ending double play.

And what if, as Dee Gordon claims, he was safe on that stolen base attempt in the top of the ninth, ahead of a walk to Andre Ethier, giving the Dodgers two on with one out, instead of two out and one on?

"That's what you love about the game," said former manager, current scout Jim Fregosi. "It's not duplicate bridge. You don't get to play the game again with the same hand."

The decision has to be made in an instant.

The second-guessing can go on forever.

Wilson fitting in nicely in LA bullpen, clubhouse

Colorful reliever has locked down eighth-inning role for Dodgers

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- It seemed pretty normal, the Dodgers using their setup man in the eighth inning of Games 1 and 2 of the National League Division Series. That's what setup men do.

But there's nothing normal about the Dodgers' setup man, or haven't you ever seen Brian Wilson? He's the guy with the famous jet-black beard and mohawk, sometimes pulled back in a ponytail, wearing the dark glasses in the clubhouse, the ones with the built-in stereo earbuds.

He's showing up so early on game days for conditioning drills that Clayton Kershaw now has company. And when batting practice is over, he'll usually have huge grass stains all over his uniform from diving catches no pitcher should attempt.

Oh, and have you seen his green sequined dress shoes?

That's Wilson. It's no costume.

"He's real," said fellow Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell. "It's not a facade, it's really him. He's an animal, you know? He wants to do anything he can to win. You know what he looks like to me? A winner."

At 31, he also looks healthy enough for that rebuilt ligament to throw 96 mph on consecutive nights, which is probably a surprise to most clubs, especially the San Francisco Giants. Wilson was still recovering from his second Tommy John elbow operation last winter when they non-tendered their World Series closer.

"He wouldn't say this, but I'm sure a lot of people didn't think he'd be doing what he's doing after all he's been through," said veteran reliever Peter Moylan. "He took extra time off, rehabbed at [Triple-A] Albuquerque like it was Spring Training, and I feel he's just hitting his stride."

While some Tommy John patients rush back in a year or less, Wilson rehabilitated the injury for 17 long months, held a workout for interested clubs when he was good and ready, then signed with the Dodgers for $1 million July 30 because he wanted to help a club get to October and beyond.

"I had surgery and I had fear when I came back. He had zero," said Howell. "Just his makeup. He didn't even have a question that he'd be healthy. Just how he is."

Wilson was activated Aug. 19, made 18 regular-season appearances and allowed one earned run, with 13 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings. When he pitched scoreless innings Thursday and Friday, it marked the fifth time he's pitched on consecutive days.

"When he got here, he didn't have a defined role and we found in the Cincinnati series [in early September] that the one thing we didn't want to do anymore was get him up and down," said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. "Now we try to be definitive: This is your inning. He warms up and we get him in. And he's pitched his way into this role."

The role is setup to young closer Kenley Jansen, which had been filled by Ronald Belisario against the toughest right-handed hitters and Paco Rodriguez against lefties. But for a World Series closer who obviously loves the spotlight, he's made sure not to step on toes.

"I'm not doing anything special," he said. "I'm getting outs, what I'm supposed to do, what I'm paid to do."

While Wilson has been dominating since his arrival, Rodriguez had a 5.68 ERA in September (his problems continued in Game 2) and Belisario had a 7.94 ERA in September.

"Lefty, righty, he's getting basically everybody out when he pitches," manager Don Mattingly said of Wilson. "He's solidified that inning for us and enabled us to shorten the game. We were mixing and matching to get to Kenley; now we're mixing and matching to get to Wilson and you're getting those last two innings off."

His new teammates, once they got to know Wilson, were pleasantly surprised to learn there's a lot under that getup.

"He doesn't let anything rattle him," said Jansen. "When we get late in the game, he gets locked in. I watch him. He's a good teammate. He looked mean, serious on the other side and you don't know what to expect. But he tells some crazy jokes. He's a cool guy to be around."

"I didn't know he was that smart and witty," said Howell. "He pays attention and picks up on things. I think he's got a photographic memory. When he got here, he gave everybody some space. He handled it well, coming to a new team in the middle of the season."

"I knew he was talented, but I never thought he was that knowledgeable about the game until I talked and hung out with him and learned that on the mental side, he's extremely strong," said Rodriguez. "He's one of the brightest people I've played with. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. There's a lot of things you don't think about, but he does."

Wilson, who resumed domino games with former Giants teammate Juan Uribe, said there is one easy comparison to make between his current club and his former one.

"It's a similar clubhouse in that everyone gets along," Wilson said. "A lot of big names, a lot of superstars. That said, as long as we play our game, it's really fun to be part of this club."

Hanley, Simmons bring NLDS spotlight to shortstop

Both the Dodgers and Braves boast versatile weapons up the middle of the infield

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- No longer do shortstops dominate Major League Baseball. Gone are the days of superstars supercharging the position, giving way to an era in which many teams -- good teams -- make do with mediocrity up the middle.

Not the Braves and Dodgers, though. Not in this National League Division Series, tied at one-all heading into Game 3 Sunday, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium and will air on TBS.

Not as long as Andrelton Simmons and Hanley Ramirez have anything to say about it.

"Their guy is young, tremendous -- some of the plays their guy makes is off the charts," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, comparing Simmons to Ramirez. "But looking at our guy, I think he's off the charts from the standpoint of what he does offensively. I don't care what position he's playing, he's got to be one of the top guys out there."

This isn't exactly an October-exclusive thing. As calculated by FanGraphs, Ramirez and Simmons finished one-two this season among playoff-bound shortstops in Wins Above Replacement, a catch-all statistic designed to determine a player's overall worth. Ramirez, somewhat incredibly, ranked second among all shortstops despite not having enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title.

They may have derived their value in different ways, with Ramirez doing his best work at the plate and Simmons in the field. But each played well enough to enter into his respective team's regular-season MVP discussion, and each has already revved his engine in October.

In Game 2, for example, Simmons tied things with a second-inning RBI double and participated in three double plays on defense, including reliever Luis Avilan's critical turn in the seventh. Ramirez's answer? A two-run homer that gave the Braves new life one inning later.

In Game 1, Simmons was one of only three Braves hitters to record a hit against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. Ramirez, meanwhile, was the last of five Dodgers to drive in a run, also robbing Evan Gattis of a hit with a diving stop late in the game.

"I keep everything the same," Ramirez said in explanation of his early postseason success. "I don't really get too emotional."

So it goes in the NLDS, for a pair of shortstops one-upping each other in their respective styles. For the Braves, who constructed their starting rotation out of ground-ball pitchers, Simmons has established himself as a critical cog. The advanced metric Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rates his regular-season performance the best of any player in the statistic's 11-year history. Though Simmons was a below-average offensive performer, he made up for it on defense. And then some. And then some more.

For the Dodgers, Ramirez's value is even more obvious. Los Angeles was 51-26 this season when Ramirez started, 41-44 when he did not. When thumb, hamstring, shoulder and back injuries forced Ramirez to the sideline for more than half the summer, it only underscored his value to a team lost without him.

"Hanley's a different animal, really, from the standpoint of most of the time, you don't look at a shortstop as the offensive player that he is," Mattingly said. "He's more of a total middle-of-the-order guy with power. You always talk about being solid up the middle. I think the better clubs, you talk about being solid through the middle defensively. Hanley just brings a different dimension."

Fredi Gonzalez, who managed Ramirez for four seasons in Miami, recalled him as a shortstop who, "on any given day, might have been the best player on the field."

"I think he's still that same guy," the Braves manager continued. "He's scary when he comes to the plate because he can split a gap or he can run you out of the ballpark. He can steal you a base. He's a very talented player."

So is Simmons, who manifests his talent in different ways. Simmons may not possess the star power of Ramirez -- nor of Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Desmond or any of the league's other top shortstops. But like Ramirez, he has transformed himself into a postseason cog at one of the diamond's most valuable positions.

"I haven't really thought about it," Simmons said of his early success. "I'm just going out there doing my best. Every once in a while I hear some positive comments about positive things. It's nice. But I still feel like it's just my job I'm doing."

Adrian's contributions extend beyond playing field

Offensive star studies pitchers, acts as resource for Dodgers teammates

By Austin Laymance / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is his own kind of leader.

For one, Gonzalez leads by example. A major factor in the Dodgers' first postseason appearance in four years, Gonzalez anchored the lineup during the regular season and led the club with 22 home runs, 100 RBIs, 171 hits, 69 runs scored and 157 games played.

"We probably wouldn't be at this point if it wasn't for Adrian," said outfielder Carl Crawford. "He's definitely been a big part of what we do here."

Gonzalez kept the Dodgers afloat during a slew of injuries to key players early in the year, then continued his production down the stretch to help win the National League West.

It didn't take long for Gonzalez to make an impact in October, either. He helped the Dodgers split the first two games of the NL Division Series against the Braves, belting a two-run homer in a 6-1 win in Game 1.

"He's been there from start to finish," said manager Don Mattingly.

Gonzalez had a great season individually, but he also leads by being a team player.

"I'm more of a control guy that's always involved in the game," he said. "I'm playing most of the games and I give it everything I have out there and my teammates know that. I only care about winning. Those are little things that I think people always look for in people they can turn to."

Gonzalez is not outspoken in public forums, but his peers see a different side of him.

"He's vocal when he needs to be," said Crawford, a teammate of Gonzalez's for three seasons. "He leads by example, too. He's definitely a guy you can go and talk to about baseball and get a precise answer."

Gonzalez provides plenty of precise answers when it comes to hitting. Catcher A.J. Ellis said he's never seen a player study opposing pitchers as much and as well as Gonzalez does.

"Adrian is definitely an amazing resource to have," Ellis said. "He watches so much of the game. He's got a great feel for how a guy is trying to get you out."

For all the hard work Gonzalez puts in on the field -- early batting practice before games and extra fielding prep -- he works just as diligently in the video room, studying pitchers' tendencies and forging game plans. That's why his teammates come to him for additional scouting reports.

"I take time and make sure to study every pitcher," Gonzalez said. "I don't just study the starter. I study every bullpen guy, every guy I might face each and every day. I know what that pitcher is trying to do against everybody. So they come to me because they know I've already done all the homework and I can just give them a quick little rundown of what this guy is going to try to do. And nine out of 10 times that's exactly what they do."

Crawford has seen Gonzalez's approach work in both the American League and the NL, so the four-time All-Star trusts Gonzalez's opinion when it comes to opposing pitchers.

"He's probably going to be a hitting coach one day," Crawford said. "That's how valuable he is to our team."

How else is Gonzalez valuable to the Dodgers?

"He's such a pro with the way he does everything," Mattingly said. "The way he's trying to help the other guys, the way he's preparing himself, the way he would take a loss or the way he handles wins -- all of that is such a solid approach for a big league player."

But despite all the praise from his teammates and coaches, Gonzalez isn't focused on being a leader.

"I'm just focused on being myself and being here for my teammates," he said.

Hard-working catcher Ellis living a dream in postseason

Longtime Minor Leaguer gets high praise from Dodgers ace Kershaw

By Paul Casella / MLB.com

ATLANTA -- For nearly a decade, A.J. Ellis embraced the Minor League lifestyle. He took the long bus rides -- and his uncertain future -- in stride, slowly working his way up through the Dodgers farm system.

All the while, it was the dream of one day having the opportunity currently in front of him with the Dodgers locked in a 1-1 tie with the Braves in the National League Division Series that kept him plugging along. That dream of being an integral part of a postseason run, however, is one that dates much further back than to the day the Dodgers selected the Austin Peay product in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft.

"I think every ballplayer grows up out in their backyard wanting to hit that Game 7 home run or strike out that last batter to win the World Series for their team," Ellis said. "So you're always, as a baseball player growing up, thinking about these kind of moments and what it's going to be like if you ever get a chance. And now I finally have one."

Finally, indeed.

Though Ellis is in the midst of just his second full season as the Dodgers' regular starting catcher, the 32-year-old has had a longer path to the big leagues than most. Taken in the 18th round in '03, Ellis spent his first three professional seasons playing no higher than Class A. He spent the next two years exclusively with Double-A Jacksonville.

In 2008, at the age of 27, Ellis reached Triple-A and really started to hit his stride. After never hitting higher than .269 at any of the lower levels, Ellis posted a .321 average over 84 games with Triple-A Las Vegas and earned a late season callup from the Dodgers.

Yet despite making his big league debut Sept. 15, 2008, Ellis played in just four Major League games that season and eight the following year. From 2010-11, he sported a Dodgers uniform for just 75 total games.

"It's not even just the Minor League stuff, but all the hard work from Spring Training through the season -- it's all a grind, all a battle to get to this point," Ellis said. "Now it's time we're just going to sit back and enjoy it and trust everything we've done to get to this point."

It's no secret within the Dodgers clubhouse that few players have earned the right to enjoy the experience as much as Ellis. Regarded by his teammates and coaching staff as one of the hardest-working players in the league, Ellis has emerged this season not only as a viable big league starting catcher, but also as a leader of sorts for his club.

"It's been awesome working alongside A.J.," said 26-year-old backup catcher Tim Federowicz. "The biggest thing is easily his work ethic. He's got the best work ethic on the team in my mind. He's always in the video room, studying opposing hitters and making sure he knows them inside and out. That's tough to do 162 games and now going into the postseason as well, but he's there doing it every single day."

It's that type of dedication that has also earned Ellis the respect of his pitching staff. Though headed by co-aces Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, Ellis had his work cut out for him when the season began.

The Dodgers spent more than $200 million on their pitching staff this offseason, signing Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu, a seven-time All-Star in the Korea Baseball Organization. While the talent on the mound was unquestioned, Ellis had the responsibility of learning how to best work with two new pitchers, one of whom spoke a different language.

"First and foremost, they're pretty easy guys to catch. I can't take much credit there," Ellis said. "They're great command guys who get the ball to both sides of the plate and they also have great secondary pitches. It makes my job back there easy. I have a lot of options, lot of choices, so I can't really screw that up."

His batterymates tend to see it a different way. Take Game 1 of the NLDS, for example, when Kershaw had only four strikeouts and had run his pitch count up to 77 through the first four innings. He went on to complete seven innings, striking out a Dodgers NLDS record 12 batters, including nine of the final 11 he faced.

The turning point, Kershaw said, was Ellis picking up on the fact that Kershaw's fastball command was not up to par on that night and altering the game plan on the fly.

"I give credit to A.J. on that one," Kershaw said. "He picked up on that even before I did and made the necessary adjustments. And that's something he's able to do because he's always so prepared and knows the opponent better than anyone. He's definitely made me a better pitcher and the pitching staff better as a whole."

That's every praise coming from the staff ace, who won the 2011 NL Cy Young Award and finished second in Cy Young voting in '12. Yet this season, Kershaw has, for whatever reason, been even more dominant, posting a career- and Major League-best 1.83 ERA and NL-best 232 strikeouts.

Though Ellis would be the first to divert all the credit to Kershaw, there is no denying he has excelled this season at handling the Dodgers' improved pitching staff. In doing so, Ellis has not only secured his role as the Dodgers' starting catcher, but he's played a pivotal role in positioning himself to achieve an even more significant personal goal.

One day reaching the Majors -- and possibly the postseason -- may have been what motivated Ellis during his time in the Minor Leagues, but potentially hoisting a World Series trophy is what's now motivating him.

"I'm just blessed and fortunate that I've been given this opportunity," Ellis said. "I'm just excited to be here and hopefully I can live out one of my dreams later this month."

Kershaw ready, but Nolasco still slated to start

By Ken Gurnick and Austin Laymance / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw threw a shortened "touch-and-feel" bullpen session Saturday, leaving him as an option to pitch Game 4 of the National League Division Series for the Dodgers on short rest Monday.

Manager Don Mattingly said he's still planning to start Ricky Nolasco in Game 4, but left some wiggle room.

"Right now we're scheduled to go with Ricky, and that's the way we're going to go," said Mattingly.

Would that change based on how Game 3 goes? If a Dodgers loss in Game 3 made Game 4 an elimination game, would Mattingly start the likely Cy Young winner?

"Obviously, again, you're going to go through every scenario," he said. "But really we're looking at Ricky as Game 4."

Kershaw has never pitched on three days' rest. He threw 124 pitches over seven innings Friday night. Because of the Tuesday day off, a Game 5 would set up Zack Greinke on regular rest. Kershaw would be pitching a Game 5 on one extra day of rest.

Nolasco allowed 17 runs in 12 innings over his last three starts. His last start was Sept. 25, so he will go 12 days between starts, with only one inning of relief Sept. 29 in between.

Ethier to stick to pinch-hitting in Division Series

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he's not planning any changes to his lineup for the remainder of the National League Division Series and doesn't expect Andre Ethier to be available in the outfield.

Mattingly said Saturday "it would be a great surprise" if Ethier plays in the outfield against the Braves. Ethier has been limited to a role as a pinch-hitter in the NLDS because of a left ankle injury similar to shin splints. He came off the bench in the eighth inning of a 6-1 win in Game 1 and grounded out. During a 4-3 loss in Game 2, Ethier walked with two outs in the ninth and was removed for a pinch-runner.

"He's swung the bat well off the bench for us, and he's kind of been doing what we intended him to be able to do this series," Mattingly said. "If we get any more than that, I think it would be just a nice surprise."

Skip Schumaker has filled in for Ethier in center field, and rookie Yasiel Puig has replaced Ethier in the middle of the lineup behind cleanup hitter Adrian Gonzalez. Mattingly said he feels "pretty good" about his starting lineup heading into Game 3 on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

"I don't feel like there are a whole lot of changes that we could make," the manager said. "We still like Yasiel back in the middle, being able to be dangerous in the middle of our order. It lengthens us out a little bit and balances us. So we're pretty much going to be rolling with that."

Whicker: Freeman is vision of greatness for Braves

By MARK WHICKER

LOS ANGELES – Our County has not produced a Most Valuable Player since 2000.

We present for your consideration Freddie Freeman.

Freeman is the Braves’ first baseman. He just turned 24 last month, and this year he bore the responsibility of placing the Braves’ offense on his ample shoulders and running with it.

He did.

It helped that he could see where he was going.

Freeman squirmed through 2012 with vision problems that defied contact lens changes, special goggles, Visine and prayer. He saw clearly this season and hit .319 with 23 home runs and 109 RBI.

The Atlanta fans chant M-V-P when he comes up, and he should finish amid the top five, at least. San Francisco’s Jeff Kent, from Edison High, won the award in 2000.

Freeman’s RBI tied Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce for most on a playoff team. He ranked third in batting average, eighth in slugging (.501) and seventh in OPS (.897).

More critically, the El Modena alum never went more than four games without a hit, and he only did that once. And if voters consider numbers that affect how games are won, Freeman was a .448 hitter with men in scoring position and a .411 hitter in scoring position/two-out situations.

Those numbers glisten when weighed against a schedule dominated by NL East clubs. Freeman deals with Jordan Zimmerman, Gio Gonzalez, Jose Fernandez, Matt Harvey and Cole Hamels on a regular basis.

On Saturday he and the Braves were frolicking around Dodger Stadium, still riding their 4-3 Game 2 Division Series victory Friday, laughing as Jason Heyward was rocketing nearly every pitch into the pavilion seats.

The core Braves – Heyward, Freeman, catcher Brian McCann, shortstop Andrelton Simmons, and pitchers Craig Kimbrel, Kris Medlen, Mike Minor and Julio Teheran – were all homegrown. That is largely how the Braves became baseball’s team of the ’90s. They have not been bad millenials either.

“It’s the secret sauce,” club president John Schuerholz said. “You have to draft. But drafting without development is like giving an artisan a big slab of sandstone and telling him just to sculpt something. We’ve always emphasized scouting and instruction, especially with pitchers.”

The Braves drafted Heyward and Freeman in the first and second rounds of the 2007 draft. Heyward was the Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2010 and might still be a serious MVP candidate someday, but Freeman has now surpassed him.

“Things have come together,” Freeman said. “I battled through injuries last year, weird ones. This year I had an oblique in April, but I didn’t have anything lingering.

“They gave the job in the middle of the lineup and I took it with open arms. I like carrying that weight day to day. I watched Chipper Jones, and how he handled it. He kept telling me to keep doing what I did on the way to getting here. A big first baseman might come here and decide he needs to hit a bunch of home runs. But I got here as a gap-to-gap hitter. My base swing is left-center field, and I can always get back to that.”

In fact, his dad, Fred, made sure Freddie used the entire acreage. They would go to the park and Fred would pitch out of three buckets. He insisted Freddie hit the first bucket of balls to left field.

Of course, Freeman could see the ball then. He couldn’t last year, which is why his .259 average and 94 RBIs were actually works of Bravery.

“It was nerve-wracking,” Freeman said. “I make my living with my eyes, pretty much. I had worn contacts for years, but suddenly everything was blurry. Then I’d blink and everything would be clear. Late in the season it calmed down a little bit but by then I’d lost confidence in myself.

“I wish people could understand how tough it was. The ball wasn’t sharp. But I think it made my mental strength better.”

It began in Denver, where winds sent dirt into his eyes, and Freeman had to change his contacts six times. In doing so he scratched his cornea. He tried a number of goggles but none worked for very long.

This year he has special contacts. “No one knows how to get them,” he said, smiling, “but my eye doctor can get them.”

They are “weeklies” that Freeman changes daily. “Using weeklies wasn’t good, because it was the same thing going in and out,” he said. “This way, we’re going through a lot of contacts but it works.”

On top of them he wears protective goggles that are non-prescription. He wore them Saturday, as the Braves worked out and hit at 5 p.m., which happens to be the shadowy time of tonight’s Game 3 first pitch.

Freeman’s vision was not a problem. His visibility is growing, too.

Pitching not lost in translation for Dodgers' Ryu

By BILL PLUNKETT / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Even after a full season with the team, some things about South Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu remain a mystery to the Dodgers — like how he communicates with Juan Uribe, perhaps his closest friend on the team.

“My favorite part of the game is when he'll run over and cover first base on a play and Juan Uribe will go to the mound to give him a little breather, to kind of rest,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “You see them out there talking with each other — I mean, what can these two possibly be talking about because they don't know any languages between them?

“I always wonder what they're talking about.”

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he has no idea what language Ryu and Uribe might have in common — other than “they both speak ‘Funny'” — and calls them “like the odd couple,” mock fighting in the clubhouse, the dugout or during the team's pregame workouts.

But the Dodgers have learned a couple things about the rookie left-hander they will send to the mound Sunday for Game 3 of their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.

“He's really not a rookie,” said Mattingly, alluding to Ryu's seven years in the Korean Baseball Organization as well as international experience in the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics.

And he likes the spotlight.

“This is a guy who's basically the Clayton Kershaw of his country. He's been the best pitcher there for years,” Ellis said. “He's a guy who's pitched in WBCs and Olympics so he's pitched on the big stage before.

“We've even seen that this season, games where he's kind of raised his level. I can remember a game against Cincinnati when (fellow South Korean Shin-Soo) Choo came to town. It was a big matchup between the two of them, the most-watched major league game of all time (in South Korea). He's throwing 95 mph from the first pitch and this is a guy who usually throws 89-90 (mph). He can raise his level.

“I'm really excited to see what he's going to do on Sunday because he is a big-game pitcher who's got so many different weapons, so many different ways to get you out.”

The numbers back up Ellis. Ryu has raised his level when facing top teams. In six starts against playoff teams, Ryu was 3-1 (the Dodgers won four of the games) with a 2.37 ERA, 26 hits allowed and 40 strikeouts in 38 innings. That includes the two-hitter against Choo and the Reds in July.

“He's come over and you know, nothing seems to bother him,” Mattingly said of Ryu's transition to the majors that produced a 14-8 record and 3.00 ERA in 30 starts. “He's not going to speed up for anybody. I just think he's going to handle it. He seems so relaxed coming over and I think he's pitched a lot of games in his mind that have been big games.

“Some of the scouts we talked to seemed to think that all the WBC games he's pitched and things like that, that's when his best outings have come, against the best teams. We feel like he'll step up.”

Before the series, Ryu was asked by the coterie of South Korean reporters who follow him what he thought playoff baseball would feel like in the major leagues. He told them to check back after he got a taste of it, so they did at Saturday's workout.

“Obviously the first two games of the postseason I experienced were both in Atlanta so my first comment is that being on the road during the postseason it gets really loud and they cheer for their home team a lot,” Ryu said through a translator.

“Therefore, I'm pretty excited about (Sunday). I can't wait to see what our fans are going to act like when we take the field (Sunday).”

The one concession the Dodgers have made to Ryu's rookie status has been to get him extra rest as often as possible. Sixteen of his 30 starts came after more than the standard four days' rest. Sunday, he will take the mound for the first time since throwing four innings and 76 pitches in the Dodgers' regular-season finale a week ago.

As a concession, Ryu threw a bullpen session earlier this week, one that was watched by Mattingly, Dodgers medical director Stan Conte and team physician Neal ElAttrache.

That and a compression sleeve on Ryu's pitching elbow raised some speculation about his status for Game 3. But Ryu dismissed the questions on the eve of his first MLB postseason start.

“Here, he's representing the Dodgers. Over there he's representing his entire country,” Ellis said. “This is definitely not the biggest game he's ever pitched, which is a nice thing to say about him.”

Mattingly won't second-guess late move

By PEDRO MOURA / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Back at Dodger Stadium on the eve of Game 3 in the NL Division Series, Don Mattingly was in no mood to discuss his decisions in Friday’s Game 2 loss in Atlanta.

The Dodgers manager was heavily criticized for his seventh-inning moves that led to a lefty-lefty matchup with Paco Rodriguez and talented Braves leadoff hitter Jason Heyward, but he stood by them Saturday.

“Well, I really don't feel like going through the game again, honestly,” Mattingly said. “But I think the situation in the game last night, no matter which way I go, it could be questioned.”

With two outs and runners on second and third, Mattingly removed right-hander Chris Withrow in favor of Rodriguez when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez substituted in left-handed pinch-hitter Jose Constanza.

Then, when Gonzalez immediately replaced Constanza with the right-handed Reed Johnson, Mattingly ordered an intentional walk to get to the left-handed Heyward, who promptly delivered the decisive two-run single.

“If I leave Withrow in to pitch and give up a hit there, I'm going to question myself and I'm going to be like, ‘Why didn't I use Paco?’” Mattingly said. “So it's one of those things that if the move works, it's good. If it doesn't, it's bad.”

Heyward had an .802 OPS against lefties in 2013; Johnson’s was .673, and he hadn’t recorded a hit since July 28 while bothered by an Achilles tendon strain.

Constanza has 60 career major-league hits and a .665 OPS against right-handers.

“I don't look at it like we did anything crazy,” Mattingly said.

GAME 4 STARTERS

Right-hander Ricky Nolasco remains slated to start Monday’s Game 4 at Dodger Stadium, a potential elimination game if the Dodgers lose Sunday.

Ace Clayton Kershaw could conceivably start that game on short rest and has said he’d be open to it, but Mattingly continues to maintain that Nolasco will be the choice.

“Right now we're scheduled with Ricky, and that's the way we're going to go,” Mattingly said Saturday.

Kershaw has never started on short rest professionally and threw 124 pitches in Thursday’s NLDS opener, the third-most of his career.

Braves ace Kris Medlen threw just 74 pitches Thursday, but Gonzalez said he will start veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia in Monday’s Game 4 no matter Sunday’s outcome.

ETHIER UPDATE

There was once hope he could, but outfielder Andre Ethier is unlikely to play any outfield this series, Mattingly said.

Ethier has been unable to run curves while bothered by left ankle soreness for much of the last month, but he made the NLDS roster as a designated pinch-hitter.

“It would be a great surprise if we get him to be in the outfield this series,” Mattingly said. “But he's swung the bat well off the bench for us, and he's kind of doing what we intended him to be able to do this series.”

Ethier pinch-hit in Games 1 and 2, grounding out to first Thursday and then drawing a walk Friday. Outfielder Scott Van Slyke pinch-ran for him after the free pass.

GORDON’S STEAL

Infielder Dee Gordon said he had not seen any replays that indicated he was out on his key steal attempt of second in Friday’s ninth inning.

Gordon was called out by second-base umpire Bill Miller on a close play, with Andrelton Simmons’ initial tag attempt either just touching Gordon or just missing him.

The decision to try the steal right away was Gordon’s, and he said he didn’t regret it “one bit.”

“(Bench coach) Trey Hillman told me, ‘You gotta have (guts) to go on the first pitch there,’” Gordon said.

NOTES

Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the only time the Dodgers clinched a World Series title at Dodger Stadium. They clinched a four-game sweep over the New York Yankees on Oct. 6, 1963. …Gonzalez on Hanley Ramirez’s eighth-inning home run in Game 2, on which the Dodgers shortstop appeared to lift one hand from his bat before making contact: “He one-handed it, both feet up in the air. That's how talented this guy is.”… Braves closer Craig Kimbrel had attempted just one four-out save before he did so successfully in Friday’s Game 2, but Gonzalez said the results boded well for the rest of the series. “I think tomorrow he could do it again.”

On deck: Braves at Dodgers, Sunday, 5 p.m.

By PEDRO MOURA / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Where: Dodger Stadium

TV: TBS

Did you know: Compton native and top-charting rapper Kendrick Lamar is scheduled to announce, “It’s time for Dodgers baseball!” before the game. American Idol Season 11 runner-up Jessica Sanchez will sing the national anthem.

Numbers game: .077 – Dodgers on the NLDS roster are hitting 3 for 39 (.077) off Braves closer Craig Kimbrel. Skip Schumaker has all three hits. Kimbrel has issued five walks, four to catcher A.J. Ellis.

THE PITCHERS

HYUN-JIN RYU (14-8, 3.00)

In a surprising development to many impartial baseball observers, the 26-year-old Ryu had one of the best-ever rookie seasons by an Asian import to the major leagues. Even better for the Dodgers, the Korean pitched solidly in two outings against Atlanta and has generally been far superior at home than on the road. Ryu also got better as the season went on, with a 58-8 strikeout-walk ratio and 2.57 ERA in his final 11 starts. Although he rarely throws bullpen sessions in between starts, he threw a session Friday to keep his rhythm with the extra rest he’s getting this time.

vs. Braves: 0-0, 2.13 (122/3 innings)

at Dodger Stadium: 7-4, 2.32

Loves to face: Evan Gattis, 0 for 3

Hates to face: Freddie Freeman, 3 for 4 (.750), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB

Never pitched in postseason

JULIO TEHERAN (14-8, 3.20)

A former top prospect who put it all together this season, Teheran is still just 22, the second-youngest player in the series after only Dodgers left-hander Paco Rodriguez. A Venezuela native, he struggled in April and September but was lights-out in between, allowing one run or fewer 12 times in 21 starts in that span. Despite more than 200 major-league innings to his name, Teheran has never faced the Dodgers or any Dodger hitters, save for three Michael Young plate appearances when Young was with the Phillies, which all ended in outs.

Never pitched in postseason

Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez is a film buff when it comes to hitting

First baseman prepares for games by watching as much video as possible of the opposing pitcher and catcher at work, and creating a plan of attack accordingly.

By Dylan Hernandez

By the time Adrian Gonzalez steps into the batter's box Sunday evening to face Julio Teheran, he figures to have a decent idea of how the Atlanta Braves right-hander will attack him.

"Adrian is probably the smartest hitter I've ever played with," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said.

That's why Dodgers players are sometimes seen talking to Gonzalez before their at-bats. There were multiple times this season when Yasiel Puig said the four-time All-Star's advice helped him hit a home run.

For Gonzalez, everything starts in front of a computer screen.

Gonzalez spent Saturday watching video of Teheran, the hard-throwing 22-year-old who will take the mound for the Braves at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 of a National League division series.

"When I first started looking at video, I did a lot of stuff that normal people do, where they just look at their own swing and try to break down their swing so they can make adjustments on their swing," Gonzalez said. "But then I realized that I don't need video to know my swing. I know my swing. So I'm better off putting that time into getting to know the pitcher and catcher.

"Once I get to know the pitcher and catcher, I can pretty much call their game. I feel when I'm at the plate, I can tell what a catcher wants to call or what a pitcher wants to throw. At that point, it's just about execution."

Gonzalez said he typically gains a feel for a pitcher after watching him throw 150 to 200 pitches. Seeing how hard a pitcher throws is difficult, but Gonzalez said there are ways to tell.

"The gun really means nothing, at least to me," Gonzalez said. "It could be 95, but it could be a soft 95. It could be 90, and when you get up there, it's a lot harder, so in my mind it could be 95. That's the only thing I can't tell you. But I can see it off a hitter's reactions or if guys are late on a fastball down the middle over and over and over again, it means the pitches have life."

From the video room, Gonzalez migrates to the batting cages.

"Every swing I take is focused on the game plan that I have, what I'm trying to cover, what I'm trying to lay off of," Gonzalez said. "If I catch something in my sleep or overnight, I'll come in and make a tweak here or there."

Often, adjustments are made mid-game.

Take Game 1 of the division series, when Gonzalez was two for five with a home run in the Dodgers' 6-1 victory.

In his first at-bat, with no outs and no men on in the second inning, starter Kris Medlen threw him a first-pitch changeup. Gonzalez swung and missed.

"When a pitcher throws you a first-pitch changeup with nobody on, leading off an inning, he's kind of saying that's going to be his go-to pitch that day," Gonzalez said. "So when I got a chance with runners in scoring position, I was going to go up there and look for it the whole at-bat."

That opportunity came in the third inning. With two outs and Carl Crawford on second base, Medlen threw him another first-pitch changeup. Gonzalez crushed the pitch over the center-field wall.

Gonzalez's knowledge of the opponents extends beyond the starting pitcher. Before the first game of a series, Gonzalez will familiarize himself with all of the team's relievers and catchers.

For this series, he has studied how catchers Brian McCann, Gerald Laird and Evan Gattis like to call games. He has noted the pitchers' on-field relationships with each of them, to see if a particular catcher will shake off one catcher more than another.

"I'm very methodical with everything I do in life," Gonzalez said.

He was an honors student at Eastlake High in suburban San Diego. He said he would have studied mechanical engineering had he attended college.

What allows Gonzalez to put his ideas into practice is his calm demeanor. Gonzalez admitted he was overly energized for his first career playoff game, which was with the San Diego Padres in 2006. He was hitless in four at-bats and struck out twice.

He told himself to be patient. He was five for 10 with three walks over the remaining three games of the series, which the Padres lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Gonzalez said he was able to take that calm approach into the Dodgers' series against the Braves.

"I wasn't nervous at all," Gonzalez said. "I felt normal for my first at-bat and first play on defense. I was really just enjoying the moment. It really seemed like another game."

The combination of smarts and composure makes Gonzalez a force in crucial situations. Gonzalez led the Dodgers this season with 100 runs batted in and batted .356 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

"There's nobody else we'd rather have up in a big situation than Adrian," Ellis said. "That's for sure."

Clayton Kershaw is an option for Dodgers in Game 4 if necessary

Ace left-hander could be called upon to pitch on short rest if the Dodgers lose Game 3 and face elimination in best-of-five National League division series with the Atlanta Braves.

By Bill Shaikin

Would the Dodgers really risk an end to their season without letting Clayton Kershaw pitch one more time?

Kershaw threw a bullpen session Saturday at Dodger Stadium, keeping open the possibility of him starting Monday in Game 4 of a National League division series against the Atlanta Braves if the Dodgers lose Game 3 on Sunday. Kershaw usually likes to throw a bullpen session three days before he starts, so he probably would have waited until Sunday if he were locked into Game 5.

The Dodgers and Braves are tied, 1-1, in the best-of-five series.

QUIZ: Postseason Dodgers -- what do you know?

Kershaw never has started on short rest, but he has told club officials he is willing to do so in Game 4. If the Dodgers lose Game 3 and face elimination, they could go with Kershaw on short rest in Game 4, with the hope of getting to Zack Greinke on regular rest in Game 5.

Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez said unequivocally that Freddy Garcia would start Game 4 for Atlanta, win or lose in Game 3. Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Ricky Nolasco would start Game 4 but left the door ajar for Kershaw.

"We shouldn't say we haven't thought about it, because you're always going to think about everything," Mattingly said. "Right now, we're scheduled with Ricky, and that's the way we're going to go."

Kershaw, a strong candidate for the NL Cy Young Award, pitched seven innings in the Dodgers' Game 1 victory, giving up one run and three hits with 12 strikeouts. Nolasco, who has not started since Sept. 25, gave up 19 runs over 12 innings in his three most recent starts.

Hyun-Jin Ryu intrigue

The Dodgers were worried enough about a possible injury to Hyun-Jin Ryu that their head physician and vice president of medical services watched Ryu throw his bullpen session Friday.

Ryu was cleared for his start Sunday. The Dodgers kept mum on what triggered their concern, so much so that one club official responded to that question by asking, "Have they made a statement?"

Two club officials confirmed there was concern about Ryu's status, but the Dodgers made no statement of explanation. Ryu said he felt "really good," and Mattingly said the Dodgers had "no concerns" about letting Ryu start.

Asked why Dodgers physician Neal ElAttrache watched Ryu's bullpen session, Mattingly said with a smirk, "I think Neal just loves being in the bullpen down there in Atlanta."

The Dodgers could be in big trouble if Ryu is forced to make an early exit. They left Edinson Volquez, their fifth starter in September, off the playoff roster.

Chris Capuano, on the playoff roster to retire left-handers, has not started since Aug. 31. None of the other relievers has pitched more than two innings in any game since the All-Star break.

Short hops

Mattingly brushed aside a question about whether he had any regrets about his failed strategies during the seventh inning of Game 2. "I really don't feel like going through the game again. ... I don't look at it like we did anything crazy," he said. … Andre Ethier, hobbled by pain above his left ankle, did not run on the field during Saturday's workout and is likely to remain limited to pinch-hitting through the series. "It would be a great surprise if we get him to be in the outfield this series," Mattingly said. … Sandy Koufax is expected to attend the games Sunday and Monday. ... Fernando Valenzuela is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday.

Is there too much Georgia on TBS announcers' minds?

Dodgers fans think there's been hometown favoritism in TBS' play-by-play coverage of the L.A.-Atlanta playoff series.

By Chris Erskine

What's next for the TBS announcers? Will they start chanting "Beat L.A."? If TBS cameras panned the broadcast booth, would they catch the announcers doing the tomahawk chop?

Talk about Southern cooking. As far as a lot of fans are concerned, the Dodgers are getting sauced in TBS' coverage.

"The TBS announcers favored Atlanta more than Scarlett O'Hara," grumbled Dodgers fan Patrick Caneday after Friday night's telecast. "And not a mint julep in sight."

Charges of favoritism are always subjective — sports fans can be sensitive sorts when it comes to how their home team is portrayed by out-of-towners.

And the fact that TBS is based in Atlanta, and that play-by-play man Ernie Johnson Jr. has a long history with the Braves, might make Dodgers fans suspicious of their allegiances (Johnson's father was the Braves' play-by-play announcer for four decades).

But tonally — in what the announcers say, how they say it, with the level of detail they provide — the TBS crew of Johnson, Ron Darling and Cal Ripken seems by many to have had a decidedly pro-Braves bent. And that has Dodgers fans a little bent as well.

"The 'East Coast bias' is alive and well," says Lolly Hellman, who's been following the Dodgers for more than 50 years. "You hear it every time they open their mouths. It's all Braves talk, and you can practically hear the announcers thinking 'Beat the Dodgers!'"

TBS officials did not want to comment on any perceived favoritism.

Of note in Friday's telecast:

•A lack of story lines for the Dodger players, while unloading mounds of material on the Braves.

•Comments early in the game about ball and strike calls all going the Dodgers' way.

•The gushing over Braves pitcher Mike Minor's performance, even as Zack Greinke is matching him nearly pitch for pitch. "Mike is really in a rhythm right now," Ripken said in the sixth inning.

•In talking about pitchers as generally poor hitters, never acknowledging that Greinke, who is on the mound as they're discussing this, hit .328 in the regular season.

•Talk of how Greinke is "struggling," as they flash a graphic in the fourth inning showing he's given up no walks and four hits against a lineup that won 96 games in the regular season.

•Their easy acceptance of Dee Gordon being called out on his pivotal steal attempt in the ninth, though at least some replays seemed to show he beat the tag.

Overall, the TBS visual storytelling has been sufficient, sometimes extraordinary, as when they picked up Braves catcher Brian McCann chalking his fingers so the pitcher could get a better read. And, thankfully, TBS seems to forsake the ultra-close-ups of ballplayers spitting or fiddling with their noses, which seems to be a Fox trademark.

Otherwise, the telecasts have been largely uninspired. Oddly, TV directors across the board still fail to catch where fielders are positioning themselves with runners in scoring position at key points in a game.

Largely colorless as well, the only light moment in TBS Friday coverage came when correspondent Craig Sager, he of the dollar-store sport coats, flubbed the number of years Tom Lasorda had been with the Dodgers. Baseball's grandpa-emeritus quickly corrected him, making you wonder if at 86, Lasorda is still quicker than most TV types.

Meanwhile, what's a Dodgers fan to do? TBS says the same announcers will also do the NL Championship Series.

Perhaps the telecasts will balance out, now that the next two are set in L.A., though the venue should really have nothing to do with fairness in coverage.

"I muted the TV and listened to our beloved Vin announce part of it on radio," said fan Catherine Domier Canamar.

That solution goes back decades, though the radio action frequently is out of sync with the network video.

At the end of the day, the extraordinary Scully, who has done Dodgers games since the dawn of time, has never been a "homer." To have him consigned to radio while this team does network telecasts is almost beyond comprehension.

And, you know, the birth of a dynasty is difficult to diagnose, but these Dodgers figure to be winners for a while to come — dynastic or not. Just in case, maybe those from back East could study up a bit.

Dodgers' hot season fires up the faithful

Invigorated by the team's wins and its new owners' decisions, Dodgers fans thrill to the playoffs and happily muse about next year.

By Hector Becerra

With her Dodgers dogged by injuries, Emma Amaya made a stop before work at the Our Lady Queen of Angels church in downtown Los Angeles, where she lit a prayer candle for her boys in blue.

The next day, as the team prepared for game one of their series against the Atlanta Braves, Amaya, 57, rushed to take her train to Glendale, listening to the telecast on her iPhone, where she picked up her car for an hour drive to El Monte. There, amid countless bobbleheads like Vinny and Sandy and Fernando, her anxieties washed away in the warm pulsating glow of her television set and a growing Dodgers lead.

What a time to be a Dodgers fan.

"The future is bright," Amaya said. "They're spending a lot of money. With these owners, it's not just talking with them that they're going to put the best team on the field. They're putting their money behind it."

Although a series loss would be a bitter disappointment for Dodgers fans, many say it would be eased by a growing sense of optimism about the franchise's future. It is a stark contrast to the Frank McCourt years, when the team's ownership came to be reviled and when troubles on and off the field — with loutish and even violent fans — seemed to take a little of the shine off the storied team.

It's easy to forget that during those years, the Dodgers frequently had winning teams, though none that went far in the playoffs. Now, the team under Guggenheim Partners is spending like the Yankees, not only in acquiring top-shelf talent but also on renovating a stadium that, 52 years after its opening, remains a major-league cathedral to the Dodgers faithful.

"There's a sense of confidence in the early days of this ownership group," said Terry Cannon, founder of the Baseball Reliquary in Pasadena. "Obviously, with the recent spending orgies of the current regime, fans are now encouraged that ownership will go out and bring in the pieces that are needed to put the team over the top."

That will soon bring expectations not just of playoff wins but also championships, Cannon said. The Dodgers last won a World Series in 1988.

In the meantime, many fans say their love of the Dodgers has been, if not rekindled, spiced up.

When an Atlanta Braves fan on his Echo Park street playfully taunted Stephen Seemayer, saying the Braves would sweep the Blue Crew in three games, the 59-year-old artist and documentary filmmaker had a Zen reaction for a guy who watches almost every home game from the upper deck of Dodger Stadium.

"I say, 'No, you're totally wrong. They're going to beat them in five,'" Seemayer said.

In fact, he was worried about his team's chances because of key injuries. For years, Seemayer has painted Dodgers-related signs and planted them in his front yard. His latest read in Spanish: "Nuestro equipo esta cojeando a los playoffs!" Our team is limping into the playoffs!

But Seemayer's attitude also had to do with his feeling that the Dodgers' success this year isn't a one-off because the team is "literally doing what the Yankees did, spending ridiculous money."

That's also the sentiment of Marcos Ortiz, 32, a powder coat company worker from Downey. He had been turned off by the rowdiness of some fans in recent years, rowdiness that culminated in the near-fatal beating in 2011 of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Ortiz said when he went to a game late this season, he was gratified by the friendlier vibes in the stadium — and by the roster on the field.

"They have a really good team, and it can only go up from here," he said. "I'm pretty confident if we don't win it all this year, then the next year and the years to come."

David Carter, executive director of USC's Sports Business Institute, said winning is a cure-all for a lot of things. But he said the optimism many fans feel is driven in part by the sense that the team had fallen so far in the eyes of the community, with the off-field drama of the prior ownership and teams that weren't competitive enough.

"The performance is better. The perception of the team is better. There's certainly a buzz because there's great stories in [Yasiel] Puig and some of the great pitchers," Carter said. "I think there's certainly a lot of reason for the optimism shared over the Dodgers."

With Magic Johnson, a minority owner of the Dodgers, becoming the public face of the team, many fans wonder whether the franchise is using a model for winning employed by legendary Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died earlier this year. Lon Rosen, the Dodgers' chief marketing officer, was a Lakers publicist under Buss and became Johnson's agent.

Rosen said that the Dodgers studied how other great teams around the country and in Europe did business, and that there's clearly a Lakers way of doing things in that mix. "We all learned quite a bit from Jerry Buss," he said.

The Dodgers have some die-hard celebrity fans, including "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston, but the team has reached out to stars — including NBA players — and made it easier for them to come to games, Rosen said.

"It's fun for them, and fans love to see them," he said. "If you talked to Jerry Buss, that was one of his mantras."

Clement Hanami, 51, a visual artist and art director for the Japanese American National Museum in downtown L.A., said he recently took his 20-month-old son to watch his first game, a slugfest against the Colorado Rockies in which the Dodgers scored 11 runs.

"He's been running around the house with a baseball bat, swinging it everywhere. He gets excited hearing us cheer," Hanami said, adding that if the team falls short of a championship this year, it won't dim his hope. "In my mind, they are committed to winning.... It makes us proud to be in Los Angeles with the Dodgers."

Amaya was so excited to get home Thursday night for the Dodgers' first playoff game that she left her keys in the car with the radio on — and found the battery dead early the next morning. The computer programmer, who has a popular blog about the team, walked into her condominium, past a light switch with a cover custom-decorated with a famous picture of Pee Wee Reese pushing his wheelchair-bound former Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Roy Campanella.

She wore a Dodgers shirt emblazoned with a 22 and the name of one of her favorite players, ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw, and earrings with the Dodgers' interlocking "LA" logo. Her friends sent her constant text messages as the game went on, such as, "6th strikeout in a row for kersh." When Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis couldn't make an at-bat count, a friend smitten by him texted in Spanglish: "My AJcito no pudo." My little A.J. couldn't.

Amaya talked about Vin Scully, about the Sandy Koufax signed baseball she won and about being teased by Fernando Valenzuela and how Kershaw is always smiling. Amaya gushed about Hall of Fame Spanish-language Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrin, and about how he calls her "Emmita" and follows her on Twitter.

"Jaime follows only 88 people. And he follows me," she said, smiling widely. "Isn't that special?"

Amaya was worried after Atlanta's starting pitcher struck out the side in the first inning as she took her Metrolink train from Chatsworth. When the Dodgers scored two runs to open a lead, she yelled and clapped so hard she woke a friend and startled other passengers. By the time she got home, around 7 p.m, the Dodgers had scored a barrage of runs. They won, and now the series is split with the Braves as they return to Dodger Stadium on Sunday. All was right with the world.

Dodgers say Hyun-Jin Ryu is fine, logic says maybe not

By Steve Dilbeck

There’s what they say and what they do, and then somewhere is the truth.

Which is where you’re kinda left after the Dodgers tried to explain away Hyun-Jin Ryu throwing an odd bullpen session Friday in Atlanta while Manager Don Mattingly, team doctor Neal ElAttrache and vice president of medical services Stan Conte looked on.

Husbands arriving home in the wee hours with lipstick on their collars and reeking of bourbon don’t look half as suspicious.

But back in Los Angeles on Saturday, the Dodgers said it was really nothing. Just Ryu – who normally never throws a bullpen session between starts – getting in a little extra work because it will be a week between his last game and his scheduled start Sunday in Game 3 of their division series with the Braves.

Ryu said there was no reason for concern.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Typically, when I rest longer than normal, I always squeeze in a bullpen in there just to make sure that my body is responding the way I want it to.”

Well, Ryu throwing a bullpen has happened, but maybe once or twice all year. And he’s had a half-dozen games during the regular season with at least six days between starts.

Ryu said there really was no reason the team doctor, the head of medical services and the manager all wanted to take in the session.

“There wasn't any specific reason,” Ryu said. “It was just to make sure that I could take the mound tomorrow. … and I think they were just there to check it out.”

You know, like they had reason to be concerned he might not be able to take the mound.

“We have no concerns about him,” Mattingly said. “He's starting [Sunday].”

So why all the eyes to observe a simple between-starts bullpen session?

“Stan's pretty much always watching him,” Mattingly said. “And I think Neal just loves being in the bullpen down there in Atlanta. It's nice. It's cool there, the whole thing. So it's good. Full disclosure.”

Red flags everywhere. You know how when some starts a sentence with, “To be honest” your immediate suspicion is to wonder if everything else they’d said was a tall tale?

That’s full disclosure. It immediately makes you suspect that it’s something far less.

Logic says they were down there because of some kind of Ryu concern. The rookie made 30 starts for the Dodgers in 2013, throwing 192 innings, which isn’t far off the 181 innings he averaged over the last seven seasons in South Korea.

I’m thinking ElAttrache has been in enough bullpens in his life and has no burning desire to hang there, no matter how really cool it is.

So the suspicion is Ryu is battling something and the Dodgers don’t feel it’s to their advantage to let the Braves know about it.

If Ryu does have something flare up and can’t go long Sunday, the Dodgers will have to turn to Chris Capuano and Chris Withrow as their long men. Capuano, who had a groin strain, threw a total of 3 2/3 innings in September. Withrow has thrown more than two innings in a game only once all season (three on July 10).

Maybe the medical concern was minor and Ryu goes lights out on the Braves. And maybe, they had real concern.

ESPN.COM

Hyun-Jin Ryu ready to go for Game 3

By Ramona Shelburne | ESPNLosAngeles.com

LOS ANGELES -- Both Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and Game 3 starter Hyun-Jin Ryu said the pitcher was healthy and ready to go for Sunday's start against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS at Dodger Stadium.

Questions had emerged about Ryu's status Friday when he took the unusual step of throwing a extra bullpen session in the presence of Mattingly and team doctor Neal El Attrache.

"No, not at all," Ryu said through an interpreter, when asked if the bullpen session was cause for concern. "Typically, when I rest longer than six days, I always squeeze in a bullpen session to make sure that my body is responding the way I want it to."

Said Mattingly: "We have no concerns about him. He's starting tomorrow."

Ethier still not ready for the outfield: Mattingly said Andre Ethier (ankle) was not ready to even try to play the outfield yet.

"It would be a great surprise if we get him to be in the outfield this series," Mattingly said. "But he's swung the bat well off the bench for us, and he's kind of doing what we intended him to be able to do this series. If we get anymore that, I think it would be just a nice surprise."

Rolling with Ricky: Mattingly said he still planned to start right-hander Ricky Nolasco in Monday's Game 4 and hadn't thought yet about potentially moving up Game 1 starter Clayton Kershaw, but added that "you're always going to have to think about everything. But right now we're scheduled with Ricky, and that's the way we're going to go."

Don Mattingly stands by decision

By Ramona Shelburne | ESPNLosAngeles.com

LOS ANGELES -- Don Mattingly didn't have had much time to sleep on some of the moves he made in the seventh inning of the Dodgers' 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night in Game 2 of the NL Division Series.

The team charter didn't get back to Los Angeles until about 2 a.m. local time Saturday, and Mattingly and the Dodgers were required to be back at the stadium by midafternoon.

But in what little time he did have to reflect, he said he wouldn't have done anything differently.

"I think the situation in the game last night, no matter which way I go, it could be questioned," Mattingly said of his decision to lift right-hander Chris Withrow in the seventh inning for left-hander Paco Rodriguez, who surrendered what proved to be a game-winning two-run single to the left-handed hitting Jason Heyward. "If I leave Withrow in to pitch and give up a hit there, I'm going to question myself and I'm going to be like why didn't I use Paco? So it's one of those things that if move works, if the match-up works, it's good. If it doesn't, it's bad. So there is really nothing other than it not going the way I want it, that I would change."

Mattingly said that he does "go back through and look at every game." But he added that when he rehashed the situation in Game 2, "I don't look at it like we did anything crazy or something that we haven't been doing all year long."

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said he wholeheartedly supported Mattingly's decision in that spot, even though it didn't work out the way the Dodgers hoped.

"I would do the same thing, too, if I was the manager," Jansen said. "You have to go by the match-ups. Normally, Paco might get Heyward out. You've got to give the other team credit, too. Atlanta's a pretty tough team. We know that. They never give up, they never quit. We know that. You have to give Heyward credit for getting that hit.”

For more news, notes and analysis of the Dodgers, check out ESPN LA's Dodgers Report. Blog

Why then is Mattingly drawing such heavy criticism?

"Baseball is like that. There's always what-ifs," Jansen said. "If I go out there as a pitcher and I throw a slider and give up a hit, it's like, 'What if? Why didn't you throw your fastball?'

"But I feel like in that situation, Donnie did a tremendous job. You bring Paco in to face Heyward and most of the time, Heyward would've grounded out or Paco would have gotten him out. So you've got to tip your cap to them. They did a tremendous job against us."

Lost amid the decision to lift Withrow -- who would've faced the light-hitting Jose Constanza -- for Rodriguez, were the three critical double plays the Dodgers hit into Friday that squandered many of the 10 hits they managed off Braves pitchers.

"Yesterday we weren't able to get that key hit we needed," Mattingly said. "We don't get the key out, they do. ... It's back to the same thing. Can we execute when we need to? Can we do the things we need to do to win a game?"

Dodgers no iran detrás de Canó

Servicios de ESPNdeportes.com

Los Dodgers de Los Angeles no iran tras el segunda base dominicano Robinson Canó, quien se espera sea una de las piezas más grandes en el mercado de agentes libres en el próximo invierno, según le dijo el dueño de los Dodgers Magic Johnson al diario USA TODAY Sports.

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"No puedo hablar sobre el otro tipo", le dijo Johnson al diario el jueves, "pero ya ustedes saber que ese tipo en Nueva York va a conseguir su dinero. no con nosotros. Pero si lo va a conseguir".

Johnson dijo que la prioridad de los Dodgers es firmar de vuelta al as zurdo Clayton Kershaw, de acuerdo con el reporte. Lershaw ponchó a 12 contrarios en siete entradas en la victoria de los Dodgers 6-1 sobre los Bravos de Atlanta en el Juego 1 de la Serie Divisional de la Liga Nacional el jueves en la noche, y tuvo efectividad de 1.83 durante la temporada regular. Si Kershaw sigue con este tipo de actuaciones en la postemporada, es posible que su valor aumente considerablemente.

"No estamos preocupados por eso. Ya sabemos que le tendremos que dar mucho dinero. ¿Qué son unos cuantos ceros más, quiero decir, realmente?" le dijo Johnson al diario mientras se sonreía.

Los Dodgers tuvieron una nómina al Día Inaugural de $214.8 millones, convirtiéndose apenas en la segunda franquicia en todo el béisbol en sobrepasar la marca de los $200 millones. Mientras tanto, el actual equipo de Canó, los Yankees de Nueva York, han sobrepasado esa cifra en seis temporadas consecutivas.

Canó, de 30 años, batea de por vida .309 y promedia 28 cuadrangulares y 102 remolcadas en las últimas cinco temporadas, y se espera que consiga el contrato más grande de la historia para un intermedista. Fuentes le dijeron a Buster Olney de ESPN la semana pasada que es posible que Canó acepte la oferta más grande que reciba, independientemente de si viene de los Yankees o de otro equipo. Canó dijo que planifica tomarse su tiempo para decidir.

Johnson le dijo además al USA TODAY Sports que el equipo se va a sentar con el manager Don Mattingly, quien no ha recibido una extensión de contrato, luego de terminada la temporada.

"Donnie ha estado presionando los botones correctos", dijo Johnson, de acuerdo con el reporte, "y los fanáticos lo adoran. ... Pero este no es el momento para hablar de contratos ahora mismo. Luego que todo esto termine, todo el mundo verá donde estamos, y partiremos de ahí. Así que, ahora mismo, solo quiero disfrutarme este momento".

Información de The Associated Press y Wallace Matthews de ESPNNewYork.com contribuyeron a este reporte.

La meta se cumplió

Los Dodgers lograron lo que querían, volver a casa con la serie empatada

Por Rodrígo AzurmendiESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com

Fernando Álvarez y Guillermo Celis analizan el segundo encuentro de los playoffs entre los Bravos de Atlanta y los Dodgers de Los ÁngelesTags: espn deportes, luis alfredo alvarez, guillermo celis, dos en base, los angeles dodgers, atlanta braves, bravos, zack greinke, mike minor

Muchos de los jugadores de la plantilla dijeron en la previa que el objetivo principal era regresar al Chávez Ravine con una victoria en el bolsillo, para de esa manera poder finiquitar la serie en su casa.

Y eso, por más que le pese a Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel y compañía, fue exactamente lo que consiguieron.

Los angelinos se robaron el primer juego en el Turner Field, y a lo largo de los primeros 18 innings de esta reyerta al mejor de cinco juegos dejaron la mejor imagen.

El picheo abridor, el factor clave en el beisbol de postemporada, fue brillante, y Clayton Kershaw y Zack Greinke estuvieron exactamente a la altura de las expectativas.

Ambos ases hicieron de las suyas, y aunque no mostraron su mejor nivel, dieron funciones de un calibre que cualquier ofensiva quisiera tener.

Realmente a estos no se les puede pedir mucho más, y por eso los Dodgers ganaron de manera relativamente cómoda el primer partido y tuvieron chances hasta el final en el segundo.

Quizás un tema para reprocharle a Don Mattingly es la rapidez con la que retiró del juego a Greinke, ya que solo había tirado 83 picheos sobre seis capítulos.

Está claro que la razón principal fue para sacarle el bate de las manos (los blanquiazules estaban en desventaja), pero la decisión complementaria de darle la bola al inexperto Chris Withrow fue al menos contradictoria.

La ofensiva le había demostrado a lo largo del juego que se encontraba a solo un paso de dar vuelta el marcador, y aunque cada out vale oro en esas instancias, quizás lo más sensato parecía dejar a Greinke en la lomita (estaba de 2-0 pero es de los mejores lanzadores bateadores) y mantener el curso.

Obviamente esto es fácil decirlo con el resultado puesto.

Withrow (junto a Paco Rodriguez y Ronald Belisario) falló, y la ofensiva de los Dodgers eventualmente consiguió el hit ansiado con un bombazo de Hanley Ramírez, aunque el daño ya estaba hecho.

Luego ingresó Kimbrel y apagó las luces, como tiene acostumbrados a todos.

Por eso, quizás la mayor enseñanza que se pueda sacar de la derrota es que este equipo parece saber exactamente lo que tiene que hacer. Solo deben dejarlos jugar, e interferir lo menos posible.

El picheo fue magnífico, como mencioné, y la ofensiva fue aún mejor que la de los Bravos.

Los Dodgers tuvieron más hits (10 contra seis) y boletos (cuatro contra tres), pero cayeron en tres costosísimas dobles matanzas, y terminaron de cavar su tumba con el error en las bases de Dee Gordon.

En total dejaron a siete corredores en base, y batearon de 7-2 cuando tuvieron gente en posición anotadora.

Los números son buenos, pero el viernes la defensa de Atlanta fue mejor.

Ambos aspectos son sostenibles, ya que el picheo de los Bravos puede ser intocable por momentos, pero la ofensiva de estos Dodgers no le se baja a nadie, aún sin Matt Kemp o Andre Ethier.

Los Dodgers dejaron una buena imagen, y aunque el resultado final no fue el esperado, hay mucho para rescatar.

Será cuestión de mantener el rumbo, y dejar que su fanaticada, sedienta de títulos durante 25 años, se encargue del resto.

LA OPINION

Dodgers tienen tarea ante los Bravos de Atlanta

Novena angelina tratará hoy de sofocar la rebelión de los Bravos

Por:

Carlos Alvarado

Cuando a Don Mattingly le informaron que los Bravos de Atlanta serían el rival en la postemporada, el mánager de los Dodgers se limitó a comentar que "es un equipo complicado", nada más.

Esta tarde, sus huestes regresan al Dodger Stadium con la tarea de terminar con las ambiciones de una tribu sureña que llega a esta ciudad en pie de guerra y así no volver el miércoles al Turner Field a ver las hachas amenazantes en un quinto juego que definiría el boleto hacia la siguiente ronda. Clayton Kershaw no tuvo complicaciones en la primera cita de la Serie de División con un asfixiante trabajo remachado con 12 ponches. El nombre del estelar zurdo en la rotación de abridores sumado al de Zack Greinke y Hyun-Jin Ryu fortaleció los vaticinios que señalan a los Dodgers como favoritos no solo para avanzar a la Serie de Campeonato sino hasta la Serie Mundial. Greinke, ese derecho que consulta con su cabeza en cada lanzamiento al estilo de Greg Maddux, puso su parte tirando seis innings en los que permitió dos carreras y cuatro hits en el segundo encuentro. Fue el bullpen el que falló, sobre todo el zurdo cubanoamericano Paco Rodríguez, víctima de un sencillo con las bases llenas de Jayson Heyward en la séptima entrada que garantizó el triunfo que puso fin a siete victorias seguidas de Dodgers en series divisionales, una racha que comenzó en 2008. En tanto, el zurdo Mark Minor, se encargó de ahogar a la temida ofensiva de los azules, menos a Hanley Ramírez. El estelar paracorto dominicano fue el autor de las tres carreras de los Dodgers, una con doble en el primer inning y otras dos con cuadrangular en el octavo ante el relevista David Carpenter. "Es clave haber ganado un partido fuera de casa", dijo Ramírez, quien se convirtió en el segundo pelotero en la historia de Grandes Ligas en conectar dos dobles y un jonrón en sus primeros dos juegos de una postemporada. El primero fue obra de otro miembro de los Dodgers, Ron Cey. El recordado "Pingüino" lo logró en el segundo partido de la la Serie de Campeonato de la Liga Nacional del año 1974. "La fanaticada en Los Ángeles se volverá loca el domingo [hoy]. Eso espero", añadió Ramírez, una de las grandes bujías ofensivas de los angelinos, que el viernes fue víctima de tres dobles matanzas. "Definitivamente tuvimos muchas oportunidades. Necesitábamos un gran hit y no fuimos capaces de conectarlo. Tenemos que hacer un mejor trabajo con hombres en base", comentó Adrián González. "Trataremos de terminar en casa", sentenció el toletero zurdo e inicialista titular mexicano, a quien con justicia le llaman el "Titán". Los Dodgers intentarán rematar a los Bravos en el parque Chávez Ravine soltando para el tercer partido de la serie a Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-8) en la temporada regular. El zurdo surcoreano sube con efectividad de 2.12 en dos aperturas contra los campeones de la División Este. En ambas salió sin decisión. Por otro lado, el piloto cubano de los Bravos, Fredi González, enviará a la lomita de los sustos al colombiano Julio Teherán, que justo tiene el mismo récord del surcoreano en la campaña regular. Una versión de este artículo se publicó en la edición impresa de La Opinión del día 10/6/2013 con el título "Dodgers tienen tarea"

LA DAILY NEWS

Dodger brand suddenly catching on again

By Tom Hoffarth, Los Angeles Daily News

Own up to it. What’s the best way to measure the Dodgers’ success in 2013?

Stan Kasten tries every day.

His metrics of the moment are fans in the stands.

The National League West champions have emerged from recent attendance apathy to not only eclipse the 3.7 million mark at home — leading all of baseball as they had once done on an annual basis in years gone by — but also have the greatest road attendance average per game.

Seeing these Dodgers in person are believing in them, Kasten said.

“We don’t even know the last time a National League team led in both those categories,” the 61-year-old Dodger president, CEO and co-owner said the other day, a reference to the fact the New York Yankees last accomplished that in 2010.

“To me, that speaks to the progress we’ve made. None of us feel our job is close to being done because we want to be a team that has sustained success and we’ve just started. But we feel we’ve made real progress.

“The response, the reaction and the support from our fans have been very gratifying.”

Ask any Dodgers fan how far this franchise has come since the departure of Frank McCourt, who with wife Jamie took over in 2004 only to see it all come unglued by early 2012, and you’re likely to get a number in the vicinity of infinity.

When former Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals general manager Kasten pulled together a ownership group that starred the Chicago-based deep pockets of Mark Walter with the L.A.-savvy Magic Johnson, and then outbid everyone else on the planet with a $2.1 billion deal, a lot of major promises were made 16 months ago once the paperwork was completed.

In concert with upping the team payroll to $216 million on Opening Day (second only to the Yankees’ $228 million), the extensive excavation of Dodger Stadium included an elaborate new underground training facility — which came in very handy this season considering all the injury rehabs taking place.

Capturing the NL West title was a notable but not unexpected accomplishment, but Kasten admitted it’s all about keeping the proper perspective at this point.

“The NL West title is a milepost, a marker on the road in what we want to accomplish this year,” Kasten said. “I do think the most extraordinary part of this restoration process over the last year and a half was implicit on our bet on this fan base that, if we did things right, it would make the gamble pay off for us.

“Not that we ever thought it was a bad gamble. It was a good, smart one. Mark Walter put it best when he said that we’re a little tired of the silly question: Why did you pay so much for the team? Because we thought it was worth a lot more.

“That’s as straight as we can be, because of the size and depth of this market and the passion of its extraordinary broad fan base.”

General manager Ned Colletti, who has seen the highs and lows of the franchise since arriving in 2005, has this perspective:

“Any business in the sports and entertainment industry should prioritize opportunity to create goodwill and precious memories at their events. That includes an exciting, competitive team, a comfortable ballpark experience conducive to a family outing, an outreach program that makes a positive impact in the community and region. Those three facets should be able to independently stand on their own but also need to blend together for the ultimate fan experience.

“We have a tremendous fan base and brand that reaches throughout the world. We see it every road stop we make. By next April we will have played in Beijing, Taiwan and Australia during the last seven years. When you have a fan base that vast and they are proud to be connected to a franchise and they voice their support and show their passion, that is also a measure of being successful.”

When ESPN The Magazine recently released its 10th edition of the “Ultimate Team Rankings” — objectively taking eight weighted categories derived from fan surveys and marketing research and deciding which franchise of the four major sports qualified best as “turning dollars into wins” — the Dodgers landed in a rather pedestrian No. 56 out of 122.

The NHL’s Ducks (8) and Kings (24) were far ahead. The MLB’s Angels (51) and NBA’s Clippers (55) were in the same ballpark. Interestingly, the NBA’s Lakers (77) were lagging behind.

Since 2011, however, the Dodgers have seen a most noticeable rise in these standings based on ownership — moving up an incredible 65 spots. They now rank at No. 43 in that category, the best number of all eight categories on the Dodgers’ ledger.

That still may put them behind the Ducks’ Henry and Susan Samueli (13), the Kings’ Philip Anschutz and Ed Roski (17) and Lakers’ Buss family (39). But it is better off than the Angels’ Arte Moreno (65) and the Clippers’ Donald Sterling (89).

Ownership — defined as “honesty and loyalty to core players and to the community” — only accounts for 10.2 percent of the total package in this ESPN aggregated mess. More important are fan relations (25 percent), the affordability of tickets, parking and concessions (17.4 percent) and something called “bang for the buck” (16.8 percent), which accounts for “how efficiently teams convert revenues from fans into performance on the field.”

In fan relations, the Dodgers are No. 53 — ahead of the Angels, Lakers and Clippers. In “bang for the buck,” the Dodgers are 52nd.

Aside from not being sure what those ESPN numbers mean in the grand scheme of things, Kasten offered this analysis to ESPN’s poll: “As a guy who runs a team, I can’t think of anything more important than how your own fans feel about you. That’s why being number one — of all the teams in all the sports — is the most gratifying ranking of all.”

Performance in 2013 means the Dodgers’ first postseason in four years. A team roster mixed of veterans and youth, experience and talent and the rejuvenation of the farm system only point toward moving up future franchise polls, no matter how they are measured.

During a town-hall meeting Kasten attended in July at the L.A. Sports Museum, at a time when the team had rebounded from an injury-riddled start and finally crept back up to the .500 mark, he was asked if there was a chance at getting an All-Star game back at Dodger Stadium.

Kasten said that was a bit problematic, since “until a year ago, this wasn’t a popular franchise or a popular place for Major League Baseball, you know?”

In the last couple of months, he has noticed change in that perception.

“No question, the way we are treated and received with the rest of baseball, I think any questions that were raised up to the time we’ve got here are put to rest,” Kasten said. “We have an excellent relationship with central baseball as it relates to all of our partners.”

Kasten paused for a moment.

“Maybe with the possible exception of that one team that has a pool or something in their stadium,” he added with a slight grin. “Other than them, we have a pretty good relationship with everyone else.”

Measuring success is more than just who you can call to hold a neighborhood pool party, of course.

Johnson may be invested financially in the future of the team, but as the former Lakers NBA champion can tell you as a competitor he’s got a whole other barometer when it comes to how ownership follows up with the fans.

It’s a Dodgers season with a World Series title. Or bust.

“That’s going to always be my feeling,” Johnson said this week in Atlanta. “Whether that’s everybody else’s feeling, that’s another thing. Am I trying to put that type of pressure on my team? No. That’s how I feel.”

Johnson also recently went on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” and promised if the Dodgers won it all — that’s “if” — he would don a Dodger blue Speedo and jump into a pool. And he admitted he can’t swim.

“I will go and stand in the pool, but if you’re trying to get me to swim that won’t happen,” Johnson told Leno. “But if we win the World Series, I’m puttin’ them on and gettin’ in the pool.”

If Johnson does that, he’ll have 3.7 million friends who want to join him.

Notebook: Mattingly doesn’t regret Game 2 decision

By Clay Fowler, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly clearly stated his desire on Saturday not to revisit the decision on which Game 2 of the NLDS series against Atlanta hinged.

Then he did it anyway.

“No matter which way I go, it could be questioned,” he said. “So it’s one of those things that if the move works, if the matchup works, it’s good. If it doesn’t, it’s bad. But obviously I’m going to go back through and look at every game, but I don’t look at it like we did anything crazy or something we haven’t been doing all year long.”

The Game 2 move for which Mattingly has received the most criticism was calling for rookie left-handed reliever Paco Rodriguez to walk right-handed Reed Johnson to face left-handed Jason Heyward. The move is certainly by the book, but understandably questionable considering the 6-foot-5 Heyward is one of the Braves’ most feared hitters.

The appearance was the 22-year-old Rodriguez’s first in a playoff game. It certainly didn’t help that the first four pitches he threw were intentional balls. Walking Johnson, whose slugging percentage is 86 points lower than Heyward’s, wasn’t something Rodriguez questioned, but he wouldn’t have had a problem pitching to a right-handed hitter.

“I have no problem facing righties and it’s just a matter of what the stats say,” Rodriguez said following Game 2. “I’ve been better against lefties and that’s fine, but I have my confidence facing lefties or righties, so it doesn’t matter.”

Rodriguez was one of the Dodgers’ most dependable relievers all year but struggled in September, during which opponents hit .308 off him. He didn’t allow opponents to hit more than .185 in any of the previous five months.

The only other left-handed pitchers in the Dodgers’ bullpen Friday night were J.P. Howell and Chris Capuano, neither of whom was warm at the time.

“I’ll take Paco Rodriguez against any left-handed hitter in baseball,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “You’ve got to give Jason Heyward credit for making a play.”

Injury update

Andre Ethier, who has been hampered by an ankle injury, doesn’t appear to have much of a chance to appear in the outfield in this series. One of the Dodgers’ biggest offensive weapons during their run to the NL West title drew a ninth-inning, pinch-hit walk Friday, but pinch-runner Dee Gordon replaced him on the basepaths.

“It would be a great surprise,” Mattingly said, “if we get (Ethier) in the outfield this series.”

Hanley Ramirez, still nursing an irritated nerve in his back, acknowledged on Thursday he wasn’t 100 percent, but is there reason for concern moving forward?

“No, no, I feel good,” Ramirez said. “I’ll be in there (today) and I’ll be ready to go from the first pitch until the last out.”

Dodgers rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu ready for big stage

By Clay Fowler, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Brian Wilson didn’t include anything about it being easier said than done. The Dodgers reliever just put it in the simplest of terms.

“It’s just enhanced adrenaline,” Wilson said. “It kind of feels like your first-ever appearance.”

The postseason certainly is different than the previous 182 games, Wilson acknowledged, but the idea is not to treat it that way.

“People say,” Wilson said, “they can’t do that.”

Count Hyun-Jin Ryu among those.

The Dodgers’ rookie pitcher will be the first South Korean to start a Major League playoff game when he takes the mound today in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. With the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves tied at one game apiece, there will be no shortage of Adrenaline in the first postseason game at Dodger Stadium in four years.

“I will be a little extra nervous (today) because it’s the postseason,” Ryu said. “But as I do every game, I take the mound trying to win.”

The largest capacity stadium in baseball will provide a raucous atmosphere, but big games haven’t slowed Ryu (14-8, 3.00 ERA) to this point. Aside from his role in South Korea winning Olympic gold in 2008 and then silver in this year’s World Baseball Classic, the 26-year-old has answered the call more often than not in his more significant games in a Dodgers uniform.

The sentiment that Ryu is unflappable was echoed throughout the Dodgers’ locker room and catcher A.J. Ellis added one more reason not to be concerned.

“This isn’t going to be the biggest game he’s ever pitched,” Ellis said. “He’s dominated an Olympics. He’s dominated a WBC. He’s representing the Dodgers but he’s been representing an entire country.”

Ryu threw a bullpen session Friday — with Mattingly, team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache and owner Stan Kasten in attendance, an abnormal amount of brass for such circumstances — but all parties agreed there is no cause for concern.

Ryu will have his hands full with a fellow rookie pitching opposite him. The Braves’ Julio Tehran (14-8, 3.20 ERA) is a talented 22-year-old who has come into his own this season.

Tehran bookended his season with struggles in April and September, but had a sub-3.00 ERA from May until August. He did win seven of his last 10 decisions, but today easily represents the biggest start of his short career.

“I never thought that I’m going to be in this situation in my first year,” Tehran said. “But I’m just trying to calm myself down and try to be focused on the game and try to do the same thing I’ve been doing.”

Tehran likely will face the lineup the Dodgers employed the first two games, one that collected 11 hits in Game 1 and 10 hits in Game 2.

Hanley Ramirez, who hit .345 during an injury-shortened regular season, is not 100 percent but clearly is the Dodgers’ most dangerous hitter. The shortstop was 3 for 4 in Game 2 and is hitting .444 in the series with four RBIs. His two-run home run in the eighth-inning of Game 2 wasn’t enough to bring the Dodgers back, but it did leave an impression.

“One-handed it, both feet up in the air. That’s how talented this guy is,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Created enough bat speed to hit the ball out of the park. It’s scary how good this guy is.”

The Dodgers have the elements to not only win today but claim their first World Series since 1988, according to Michael Young. The Dodgers’ veteran utility man has some credibility in that department, having led the Texas Rangers on consecutive trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011.

The pitching, hitting and defense are in place, according to the veteran. Only one more thing is required.

“It’s something synonymous with heart, but it’s not a word you can print in the paper,” Young said. “Let’s just say you’ve got to have the guts to go out and get it. You can’t let anything come to you if you’re going to win these types of games.”

TRUE BLUE LA

Hanley Ramirez, Andrelton Simmons impacting NLDS in own ways

By Eric Stephen

LOS ANGELES -- One of the strengths shared by the Dodgers and Braves is great play from the shortstop position, even if Hanley Ramirez and Andrelton Simmons make their mark on the National League Division Series in different ways.

Ramirez has enjoyed his first taste of postseason so far, going 4-for-9 (.444) with three doubles and a home run in two games. He tied a Dodgers record with three extra-base hits on Friday, accomplished eight times. The home run was a pop fly down the left field line that somehow stayed fair, and brought the Dodgers to within one run in the eighth inning of Game 2.

"He hit that one-handed, both feet up in the air. That's how talented this guy is," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who manged Ramirez in Miami from 2007-10. "And he kept it fair, and created enough bat speed to hit the ball out of the ballpark. It's scary how good this guy is."

More: Full NLDS coverage Game 3 at 5:07 p.m. PT 'No concerns' about Ryu Fernando first pitch No OF for Ethier yet

Ramirez in his last 16 starts, dating back to Sept. 4, is hitting .407 (24-for-59) with six home runs, six doubles and 14 runs batted in.

"Hanley is a different animal really," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "Most of the time you don't look at shortstop as the kind of offensive player he is, a middle-of-the-order hitter with power."

Despite playing only 86 games this season, Ramirez is second among major league shortstops in Wins Above Replacement, using either the Baseball-Reference or FanGraphs versions. In first place in the B-R version is Simmons (he's fourth in FanGraphs), who is a wizard with the glove, constantly making highlight-reel plays.

"The one that really stands out was that double play, with first and third, one out," Gonzalez said. "We've seen those balls get thrown into center field, but Avi gave him a pretty good through and he turned it."

Gonzalez referred to the double play in the seventh inning of Game 2, started by a great stab on the mound by Avilan, who had great awareness to try to get a double play on the speedy Carl Crawford. The twin killing was successful for Atlanta, thanks to the lightning-quick hands of Simmons on the turn at second base.

"He's just a special guy defensively. Here's a guy who somebody asked me 'What's the best play you've seen him make?' and my patent answer is the next one, because you just never know," Gonzalez said. "He has a knack, a clock, a court awareness for the game or whatever you want to call it."

Simmons hit 17 home runs in his first full season this year, but also hit .248 with a .296 on-base percentage. He is 2-for-5 (.400) with a game-tying RBI double to the opposite field in the second inning of Game 2 against Zack Greinke. But the bulk of his value lies in his defense, which Mattingly praised.

"You always talking about being solid up the middle," Mattingly said. "Their guy is young, some of the plays he makes are tremendous. Some of the plays he makes are off the charts. But looking at our guy, I think he's off the charts from the standpoint of what he does offensively. I don't care what position he's playing. He's got to be one of the top guys out there."

Ricky Nolasco scheduled for Game 4 start for Dodgers ... 'right now'

By Eric Stephen

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly continued on Saturday to assert that Ricky Nolasco would start Game 4 of the NLDS, even if the Dodgers trail in the series, rather than use ace Clayton Kershaw on short rest. But given the tone of the answer Mattingly gave himself an out should he decide to change his mind.

"We haven't really thought about that," Mattingly said on Saturday. "Well, I shouldn't say we haven't thought about it because you're always going to have to think about everything."

More: Full NLDS coverage Game 3 at 5:07 p.m. PT 'No concerns' about Ryu Fernando first pitch No OF for Ethier yet

A win in Game 3 on Sunday would lessen the need in Game 4 to use Kershaw, who has never in his career started on three days rest. Mattingly generally conveys a positive message, so perhaps he is simply refusing to publicly divulge the thought of losing Game 3.

"Right now we're scheduled with Ricky and that's the way we're going to go," Mattingly said. "Obviously you're going to go through every scenario but we're looking at Ricky in Game 4."

Nolasco was arguably the best in-season pitching acquisition in baseball in 2013, and was 8-3 with a 3.52 ERA after the Dodgers acquired him from the Marlins on July 6. But in his last three starts he allowed 19 runs in 12 innings and hit three batters, the latter matching his total in his other 12 starts with Los Angeles.

The unique schedule of a five-game series with two travel days allows the Dodgers, if they so choose, to use Kershaw on short rest in Game 4 then follow up with Zack Greinke in Game 5 on a full four days rest. It would be an intriguing option for the Dodgers if they need to win two straight games, to use their two best pitchers back to back.

"If the opportunity presented itself, I'm definitely not opposed to it," Kershaw said on Wednesday.

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was more concrete on Saturday, reiterating that no matter what, Freddy Garcia will start for Atlanta in Game 4.

As for the Dodgers on Monday, well Sunday night will go a long way in determining that.

Fernando Valenzuela to throw out first pitch before Game 3

By Eric Stephen

The Dodgers legend will throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium for a third consecutive year.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will have one left-hander start Game 3 of their NLDS against the Braves in Hyun-jin Ryu, but he won't be the first southpaw to take the mound at Dodger Stadium. Fernando Valenzuela will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Sunday night's playoff battle, the team announced on Saturday.

Valenzuela, in his 11th season broadcasting Dodgers games in Spanish, won both the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards in 1981, leading the Dodgers to their fifth World Series win. Valenzuela was a six-time All-Star and won 141 games in his 11 years as a Dodger.

Game 3 pregame

Dodger Stadium and parking lot gates will open Sunday at 2 p.m. PT. Members of the Armed Forces and first responders will be on the field to unfurl a giant flag prior to the national anthem. American Idol season 11 runner-up Jessica Sanchez will sing the national anthem and rapper Kendrick Lamar will say "It's time for Dodger baseball" before the game. First pitch is at 5:07 p.m. PT

In addition to his Cy Young Award in 1981, he finished in the top five in voting three other times: second in 1986, third in 1982 and fourth in 1985.

The Dodgers' official policy is to only retire uniform numbers of Hall of Fame players (outside of Jim Gilliam, who spent three decades as a player and coach with the organization and was owner Walter O'Malley's favorite player), but Valenzuela's number 34 hasn't been issued to another player since his release in 1991. Valenzuela's number 34 is essentially retired, just unofficially so.

In recent years, Valenzuela threw out a ceremonial first pitch on his bobblehead day on Aug. 21, 2012, and also did so on opening day 2011.

Ryu, the actual Game 3 starter, finished his first season in MLB at 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 30 starts, the lowest ERA by a Dodgers rookie left-handed starter since Valenzuela's 2.48 mark in 1981.

Hyun-jin Ryu is starting Game 3, 'no concerns' about bullpen session

By Eric Stephen

LOS ANGELES -- The bullpen session heard around the world turned about to be nothing much more than routine, and Hyun-jin Ryu remains scheduled and ready to start Game 3 of the NLDS for the Dodgers against the Braves.

"We have no concerns about him," manager Don Mattingly said before Saturday's workout at Dodger Stadium. "He's starting tomorrow."

Ryu threw a bullpen session on Friday in Atlanta, which was newsworthy for two reasons. For one, Ryu as a practice didn't throw bullpen sessions between starts except on a few occasions, keeping the routine that made him a seven-time All-Star in Korea.

More: Full NLDS coverage Game 3 at 5:07 p.m. PT

Ryu explained, through interpreter Martin Kim, that he always throws a bullpen sessions when he has at least six days between starts. Ryu last pitched on Sunday, so his Game 3 start will be on six days rest.

"Typically when I rest longer than normal I always squeeze in a bullpen session in there, just to make sure my body is responding the way I want it to," Ryu said. "I feel really good right now. My goal is to try to get my body ready and try to take the lead in the series."

With six or more days rest this season, Ryu is 3-2 with a 3.65 ERA in seven starts.

"When he gets longer he's going to throw a little bit," Mattingly said. "It's nothing we're concerned about."

The other concern was that Ryu's bullpen session was under the watchful eye of Mattingly, director of medical services Stan Conte, and team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Ryu was asked if there was any reason he wouldn't start on Sunday night.

"No," he said. "I will be starting tomorrow."

Mattingly downplayed the bullpen session even further.

"Stan's pretty much always watching him, and I think Neal just loves being in the bullpen down there. In Atlanta, it's such a nice bullpen, it's cool there," Mattingly joked.

1988 Dodgers: NLCS Game 2 vs. Mets

By CraigMinami

The Mets entered Game 2 with the pitching advantage over the Dodgers that night. While Hershiser was clearly the Dodger ace that season, it was arguable that David Cone was the best pitcher on the Mets that season. Cone was 20-3, pitched 231.1 innings and had a 2.22 ERA. The Dodgers would send out Tim Belcher, 12-6 with 2.91 ERA in 179.2 IP.

One thing that no one knew was that David Cone was also an aspiring sports writer. Sam McManis of LA TImes had the story:

If, as the pointed prose appearing under Cone's name had read, Hershiser was "lucky" to pitch 8 shutout innings in the opener and Howell had the curveball of a high school pitcher, what could you say about Cone on this night?

Well, plenty, if you're the Dodgers.

Mickey Hatcher, a surprise starter at first base and one of the Dodgers' main contributors, called Cone's column "bush" before the game and said the Dodgers would not dignify what they believed was a blatant lack of respect.

"Some of the guys out there were bringing it up every inning," Hatcher said. "But when I was out there playing, I didn't think about it. My brain can't handle thinking of two things."

Cone said afterward that he meant his comments, dictated to a ghost writer, facetiously.

Said Met catcher Gary Carter: "It always seems like when you say something, it comes back to haunt you. I'm sure David regrets what he said a little bit. . . . I'm sure he learned a lesson tonight."

Carter, asked if the Dodgers really could use such a column as motivation, said: "Oh absolutely. I'm sure they used it that way. After the way they lost last night, they could have fallen flat. But they didn't."

Tim Belcher kept the Mets off the scoreboard in the top of the first, with one out, Mickey Hatcher walked and then with 2 outs, he was balked to second, Mike Marshall hit a fly ball that fell between SS Howard Johnson and LF Kevin McReynolds, scoring Hatcher.

In the bottom of the second, with two outs and Jeff Hamilton on first, Tim Belcher singled, Steve Sax singled in Hamilton, Mickey Hatcher then doubled down the left field line that drove both Belcher and Sax. After an intentional walk to Kirk Gibson, Mike Marshall closed the scoring with a single driving in Hatcher.

Cone was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the third and the Mets never seriously challenged the Dodgers. Keith Hernandez hit a two-run home run in the 4th.

The Dodgers would add another run and then the Mets would score a run in the top of the 9th and then the Mets loaded the bases with two outs. But this time, Game 1 hero, Gary Carter, flew out to make the final score 6-3 and give the game to the Dodgers and even the series 1-1.

Up next

Dodgers head to New York to play three games at Shea Stadium with John Tudor to face Ron Darling in Game 3.

Game 2 particulars

Home Run: Keith Hernandez (1)

WP - Tim Belcher (1-0): 8.1 innings, 3 runs, 5 hits, 3 walks and 10 strikeouts

LP - David Cone (0-1): 2 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Save - Alejandro Pena (1): 2/3 inning, 1 walk

CBS LA

Rookie Ryu Ready For His Postseason Debut With Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Dodgers are about to find out if their $36 million investment in Hyun-Jin Ryu pays off in the postseason.

The 26-year-old rookie pitcher from South Korea will start Sunday night in the Dodgers’ first home playoff game since 2009. Los Angeles is looking to take control of the best-of-five National League division series after splitting the first two games in Atlanta.

The Braves are turning to their own rookie, 22-year-old Julio Teheran.

Ryu isn’t a typical rookie, having brought a wealth of experience from his native country when he signed with the Dodgers last winter. Teheran more accurately fits the description, with just four major league starts under his belt before this season.

Both the left-handed Ryu and right-handed Teheran went 14-8 during the regular season.

Teheran will be facing the Dodgers for the first time. Ryu made two regular-season starts against the Braves, both no-decisions. He gave up one run in 7 2-3 innings the last time he faced Atlanta on June 7.

Ryu threw a bullpen session Friday in Atlanta, something he rarely did during the regular season. He hasn’t pitched since Sept. 29.

“Typically when I rest longer than normal, I always squeeze in a bullpen just to make sure that my body is responding the way I want it to,” he said Saturday through a translator.

Ryu drew an audience for the session that included manager Don Mattingly, and Stan Conte and Dr. Neal ElAttrache of the team’s medical staff. But Mattingly said there were no concerns about Ryu’s health .

“He’s been pitching big all year long,” Mattingly said.

The Dodgers signed Ryu to a six-year deal, making him the first player to go from the Korean Baseball Organization to the major leagues. They landed him after bidding $25.7 million to win exclusive negotiating rights with him. Besides his seven seasons in the KBO, he pitched in the 2009 World Baseball Classic at Dodger Stadium as a reliever.

Ryu has the support of ace Clayton Kershaw, who pitched the Dodgers to a 6-1 victory in the series opener.

“We don’t consider him a rookie,” Kershaw said. “The way he carries himself every day, we’re really not worried about composure or the adrenaline getting to him, or anything like that. He has such a great feel for his four pitches.”

Like Mattingly, Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez won’t approach Teheran any differently just because he’s making his postseason debut.

“I wouldn’t even bring it up or anything,” Gonzalez said. “He’s going to go out and he’s going to compete like he always has. If he gets his fastball command and throws the secondary pitches, he’s going to be OK.”

USA TODAY

Tommy Lasorda wants you to know he has bled Dodger blue for 63 seasons

Craig Sager tried to cut ten years off his tenure.

By Ted Berg

During the Dodgers’ NLDS matchup with the Braves on Friday, TBS reporter and human fashion mishap Craig Sager interviewed Dodgers icon Tommy Lasorda. Sager noted Lasorda’s 53 years with the organization, but Lasorda swiftly and sternly corrected him: It’s 63 years.

Lasorda was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Phillies before the 1945 season, but was drafted away from them by the Brooklyn Dodgers in November, 1948. He spent several years in the Dodgers’ farm system and pitched 13 innings for the big club across the 1954 and 1955 seasons, then spent 1956 in the Athletics and Yankees organizations before returning to Brooklyn in May of 1957.

He’s been affiliated with the Dodgers every season since, pitching in Triple-A until 1960, scouting from 1961 to 1965, then working as a minor league manager from 1966 to 1972. In 1973, he became the Major League team’s third-base coach under fellow Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, then took over as the team’s manager when Alston retired in 1976.

He piloted the club until 1996, when he retired from managing and took a front-office position with the club. He now works as a special advisor and team ambassador.

Before you check: Vin Scully has spent 64 seasons behind the microphone for the Dodgers, one more than Lasorda has been involved with the club. But Scully made his debut as a Brooklyn broadcaster in 1950, a year after Lasorda’s first in the organization.

That means the Dodgers retain the services of two guys who’ve been around the team since the dawn of rock and roll, which is… totally crazy. They’ve been at it since before most of the current Dodgers’ parents were born.

LAIST

Game 3 Features a Rookie Duel Between the Dodgers and Braves

By: Jimmy Bramlett

After the Dodgers split the first two games in Atlanta, both teams come to Los Angeles for Game 3 of the NL Divisional Series featuring rookie pitchers.

"We're pumped to come back home," Adrian Gonzalez siad. "We're in a good spot."

The spot will see Ryu Hyun-Jin start for the Dodgers and Julio Teheran start for the Braves. Neither manager said they would put on kid gloves on either pitcher.

"He's been pitching big all year long," Don Mattingly said about Ryu. "Every time we've had a big game and a big situation for him it seemed like a lot of tension, he's pitched well."

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez is taking the same approach with Teheran. "He's going to go out, and he's going to compete like he always has," he said. "If he gets his fastball command and throws the secondary pitches, he's going to be okay."

Concerning news about Ryu emerged from Atlanta when he was observed tossing a bullpen session under the watchful eyes of Mattingly, Dr. Neal ElAttrache and medical department guru Stan Conte. Considering Ryu with a few exceptions never tossed a bullpen session and was seen wearing an arm sleeve, the chatter got started.

"Typically when I rest longer than normal, I always squeeze in a bullpen in there just to make sure my body is responding the way I want it to," Ryu said. So nothing to worry about? "Actually I feel good now."

When asked, Mattingly said that Conte normally watches Ryu carefully so it was nothing out of the ordinary. Of Dr. ElAttrache, "I think Neal just loves being in the bullpen down there in Atlanta. It's nice. It's cool there."

From what I can surmise, they're trying to say that Ryu is good to go for tomorrow night's Game 3, and that all of this hubbub was much ado about nothing. Let's just remember how this team's record on talking about injuries is and as always take it with a huge grain of salt.

For Hanley Ramirez after 1,095 games and 4,790 plate appearances spread out over nine seasons, he has finally made it into the postseason. After hitting an RBI double in Game 1 to go 1-for-5, he came back in Game 2 with two doubles and a two-run homer.

"I keep everything the same," Ramirez said. "Nothing really emotional or anything like that. We're still playing the same game. You've just got to get the little things done."

The bottom of the seventh inning was an interesting one for Mattingly and the Dodgers. With the Braves leading 2-1 two outs and first base open, left-hand hitter Jose Constanza was on the on-deck circle. Right-handed pitcher Chris Withrow was pitching, and Mattingly decided to bring in the lefty Paco Rodriguez.

Fredi Gonzalez countered by sending in Reed Johnson to pinch hit with the lefty leadoff hitter Jason Heyward. Heyward was batting .264 against lefty pitchers this season as opposed to .250 against righties.

The decision: Mattingly decided to intentionally walk Johnson to get to Heyward.

So even if you didn't know the statistic I gave above, no matter if, when going by the book, your book is outdated, you never ever ever ever ever have a relief pitcher intentionally walk the first batter he faces. It's worse than the thoughtless sacrifice bunt. It makes it harder for them to throw a strike.

Well what do you know? Rodriguez fell behind Heyward 2-0, threw a strike then gave up a single to Heyward that plated two runs. Braves lead 4-1.

Sayeth Mattingly: "I think the situation in the game last night, no matter which way I go, it could be questioned. If I leave Withrow in to pitch and give up a hit there, I'm going to question myself and I'm going to be like why didn't I use Paco? So it's one of those things that if move works, if the match-up works, it's good. If it doesn't, it's bad. So there is really nothing other than it not going the way I want it, that I would change."

DODGERSCRIBE.COM

NLDS Game 3: Braves RH Julio Teheran (14-8, 3.20) vs Dodgers LH Hyun-jin Ryu (14-8, 3.00)

The Pitchuation: It will be a battle of pitchers making their playoff debuts as the Dodgers send South Korean Hyun-jin Ryu to the mound to face Colombian Julio Teheran for Game 3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Ryu has pitched well at Chavez Ravine in his rookie season, going 7-4 with a 2.32 ERA and 1.18 WHIP while striking out 7.3 per nine. He pitched twice against the Braves this season and accounted

himself very well. Despite having two no-decisions, he boasted a 2.13 ERA and a slightly high 1.34 WHIP while striking out 7.8 Atlanta batters per nine. Ryu allowed Atlanta a .242 average, but he did not allow a homer in 12 2/3 innings against the top power-hitting club in the N.L. The Dodgers were 19-11 when Ryu took the mound in 2013. Teheran, on the other hand, is not a known quantity to the Blue Crew. They have never faced him in any of his 37 career appearances in the major leagues. Here is some of what we know about his career numbers: On the road, Teheran is 7-5 with a 3.38 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 6.1 strikeouts per nine. His second-half numbers are better than his first-half numbers. In the second half, he is 8-3 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Batters have hit just .217 against him since the All-Star break, a period in which he has struck out 8.8 batters per nine. The Braves were 20-10 this season in his starts.

Braves versus Ryu: The numbers of individual hitters against Ryu aren’t necessarily applicable due to the small sample size, but here they are: Freddie Freeman (.750 with a double, an RBI and two walks in four ABs) and Andrelton Simmons (.286 in seven ABs) are the only Braves with multiple hits against Ryu. Jason Heyward (.143 with a double and three Ks in seven ABs), Justin Upton (.167 with an RBI in six ABs), Chris Johnson (.167 with a strikeout in six ABs) and B.J. Upton (.200 in five ABs) have gotten at least a hit while Evan Gattis and Brian McCann are hitless in a combined five ABs against the Dodgers lefty.

Dodgers versus Teheran: Only one Dodger position player has ever faced the Braves righty. Michael Young went 0-for-3 against him when he was still with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rest vs. Rust: Ryu, who last pitched on Sept. 29, will be pitching on six days’ rest. Extra rest is nothing new for Ryu, who was pushed longer than the normal four-day rest in 16 or his 30 starts during the regular season. He started on six days’ rest twice during the regular season. Each time, it was as a result of a rainout, and consequently, each outing was the first game of a doubleheader, one in Baltimore on April 20 and the other in the Bronx on June 19. Ryu didn’t fare well on either day, pitching a combined 12 innings with a 6.00 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP and allowing batters a combined .277 average in 47 at-bats while striking out 10. This, of course, was against lineups that included designated hitters. It bares noting that one of Ryu’s best performances of the season came against the Braves at Dodger Stadium on nine days’ rest, when he gave up one run on six hits and one walk over 7 2/3 innings while striking out six batters in a 2-1 Dodgers victory (he did not figure in the decision that night). Teheran pitched three times this season on six days’ rest. He won all three outings, posting a 2.65 ERA and .88 WHIP While striking out 10.6 per nine and holding batters to a .230 average in 61 ABs.

Some stuff from workout day

In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t there. So these tidbits are just rehashed from what others were tweeting.

First and most importantly, Hyun-Jin Ryu is fine and still scheduled to start Game 3. Dodgers are claiming only reason he threw a rare pen was because of so much time between starts. They’re also claiming Stan Conte always watches pens and Dr. Neal ElAttrache was just there hanging out for no particular reason.

Don Mattingly says he’ll be very surprised if Andre Ethier can play defensively in this series.

And the Dodgers are having only a light workout today, no batting practice.

Following up on Mattingly speculation, and some other off-day items

In 2010, Reed Johnson was a fourth or fifth outfielder — off the top of my head, I can’t remember which — for the Dodgers, and his hitting coach was Don Mattingly. Three years later, there suddenly is all manner of speculation out there about Mattingly’s immediate future should the Dodgers fail to win this

National League Division Series, and Johnson, now a fourth or fifth outfielder for the Atlanta Braves, just might have unwittingly become a central figure in that story during the seventh inning last night, when Mattingly made the rather bizarre choice to intentionally walk him with first base open and pitch to Jason Heyward with the bases loaded.

By now, you all know how that turned out, and while I don’t wish to keep beating a dead horse here, it is worth mentioning that Mattingly, whose status for next season still hasn’t been resolved, may have put himself squarely in the line of the front office’s fire with the way he managed Game 2.

Here is USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, speculating on Mattingly’s job security. Here is the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke, speculating on Mattingly’s job security.

In a perfect world, it would seem unthinkable that a manager could get fired after guiding his team into the playoffs. But there is precedent for it. Just ask Grady Little, the former Dodgers manager who was fired by the Boston Red Sox after leaving Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series just long enough to cough up a three-run lead to the New York Yankees in the late innings. Just ask Davey Johnson, who was fired by both the Cincinnati Reds (1995) and the Baltimore Orioles (1997) immediately after leading each of those teams to the LCS — although in his case, neither of those firings had anything to do with postseason game management.

The point is, it COULD happen because it HAS happened. My gut feeling, though, is that it WON’T happen — and that it probably SHOULDN’T happen. It bears mentioning, however, that when my plane landed this morning and I turned my phone back on, I had a waiting text message from a buddy who is a devoted Dodgers fan, who lent a new perspective to last night’s seventh inning.

“You PRAY for Reed Johnson to come up in a big spot.”

Keep in mind, he was saying that as a Dodgers fan, not a Braves fan.

On a completely different subject, I have been meaning to mention this to you all week and just keep forgetting, but just so you know — the media isn’t allowed in the clubhouse before postseason games. AFTER games, it’s just like any other game, when we are allowed in to interview players, except there are a lot more of us than usual. But before the games, we are barred, and it makes complete sense. These are important games, and the players need their alone time to focus, relax and go through their usual individual routines, without the usual distractions of a bunch of reporters in the room with them.

So anyway, that is why there hasn’t been a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff this week. Mattingly mentioned something in the interview room the other day about how the players are really enjoying the fact we’re not in there before games. He didn’t say it in a gloating sort of way, just a matter-of-fact way, and we all understood.

Finally, the Dodgers ARE working out this afternoon, even though Mattingly briefly considered canceling it. We should know with absolute certainty in the next couple of hours that Hyun-Jin Ryu will pitch Game 3 as scheduled, but at this point, I see no reason to think he won’t. Kudos to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com for being the only person to notice this and report it, and it makes me wonder if all that speculation about whether the increased workload of Ryu’s first season in the U.S. might be taking some toll on him physically.

For now, though, I fully expect Ryu to take the ball tomorrow night.