First Hand Account of Game 2

Author:  Published Date: October 13, 2023 Comments: Leave a Comment on First Hand Account of Game 2 0 1017

By Mike Salas

It was a beautiful day in Southern California when we arrived at Dodgers Stadium and as we walked through the parking lot the crowd was buzzing.

The fans were talking with excitement as we got in line to enter Blue Heaven for Game 2, but they were also expressing some frustrations from Kershaw’s start back in game 1. 

Rally flags were handed out and the crowd was going crazy.

As we made our way to our seats, my wife and I stopped and got some Dodger dogs and, of course, an adult beverage while we took in the moment.

The Arizona players are on the field completing their prep work and after a few minutes JD Martinez makes his way on to the field.  The crowd starts cheering and that’s when the pitchers gate opens and Bobby Miller makes his entrance. The crowd starts cheering and chanting “Bobby, Bobby” the same way you hear the chants of “Freddie”.

It was a bit surprising to see only a handful of Dodgers players on the field, because, in past regular season games, most of the starting lineup would be out there warming up as well. 

As the first pitch is thrown, the crowd is excited and expecting a historical outing by Bobby Miller.

But as Miller starts to struggle I can hear conversations of “No, please don’t let this be a repeat of Kershaw”.

You could see that Arizona had a game plan for Miller which was to come into the box slow, and to go in and out of the box before getting ready for their at bat. You could also see Miller getting a bit frustrated and out of routine.

Unfortunately, the Diamond Backs scored 3 runs and Millers day was done after 2 innings.

On a personal note, I could see that he was adjusting and I wanted to see what he could do if they left him in, but, that wasn’t in the plans.  Instead, we got to watch him shake his head and hand the ball to Dave as he realized he was being relieved by Brusdar Graterol. 

The Dodgers relievers come in and hold Arizona to no runs for the next few innings, and when JD Martinez comes to bat and hits a homerun to the right center bleachers, the crowd is going crazy. 

We all get the feeling this is going to be the start, and we thought we were going to see the Dodgers we are used to seeing produce runs.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen.

Reality starts to set in as the Dodgers batters are struggling to get hits. I could see Freddie Freeman trying so hard to get something going, unlike seeing him in the past when he would let things come to him.

The other MVP candidate for the Dodgers, Mookie Betts, is still taking hacks at the first pitch and popping up for easy outs. Mookie does have one good at bat, but it leads to another pop up as well.

There are two things that surprised me about the Dodgers MVP candidate. First, he hit a dribbler to the pitcher and barely jogged out of the box, and when the pitcher mis handled the ball he started to run faster and almost got thrown out.

If Mookie would have put in some effort, he would have reached easily.

The other was watching him joke and laugh with base runners when the Dodgers were losing and struggling to score runs. 

But, back to the game, game 2 of the NLDS.

The crowd starts chanting to replace Jason Heyward with Kike Hernandez because we are looking for that Kike spark that Dodgers fans are used to seeing.

And…. Kike doesn’t disappoint. 

Chris Taylor comes in as well and his at bat is silent, so the Dodgers are done for the moment, but leave the rally with a little more hope.

Let’s back up a minute though.

While there is still a lot of story to tell, let me address one thing I forgot to mention.

When Brusdar was done with his last inning pitched, he walked off the mound fired up and got the fans going. Brusdar clapped and yelled “LETS GO!!” and the crowd immediately got going off of his energy.

Unfortunately that energy was short lived.  

The Dodgers finally get something going, score a second run and have the bases loaded. A rally has started and the crowd is on their feet. Rally flags are waving and the stadium is louder than previous regular season games we have attended, and you can feel the ground shaking with everyone stomping and jumping.

But, when Freddie Freeman strikes out, you can then feel and see the crowd as they deflate with the reality that the rally just ended.

It was like a needle popped a balloon and all the air was gone.

After that, Arizona hits another home run and go up 4-2. The crowd is disappointed, you can see the frustration, sadness on Dodger fans faces, then the mass exodus of the crowd starts.

Although that night was disappointing, while driving home and reflecting back on the 2023 season, I came to the conclusion that I am happy with the Dodgers performance.

During Spring Training, I called for the prospects to get playing time and my hope was that this was the year the Dodgers were going to find good young talent and build a future around them. For the most part that happened, so I guess you could call it a successful rebuilding year, because Dave Roberts and the boys got hot, went on a run, and, once again, won the National League West.  

All in all, everything considered, in this Dodgers fans prospective, 2023 was a successful year and the future for our team looks bright. 

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Mike Salas

Author: casey.porter

I have been a teacher and coach at Guthrie Public Schools for almost 30 years. I taught Special Education for the first 18 years of my teaching career and have taught US History and AP US for the last 10. I have been a coach at the High School level for 30 years and have been a Head Coach in multiple sports, most recently being Baseball at Guthrie High School. I love baseball and I love the Dodgers, and being located in Oklahoma, I have the chance to go to several Drillers and OKC games each year and love covering the Minor League teams.
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