It’s safe to say that Friday night’s gut-wrenching loss to the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals was… well… gut-wrenching for Dodger fans. Not only did the Dodgers have the proverbial ‘best pitcher on the planet’ going for them, but the Dodgers smoking hot bats staked Clayton Kershaw to a 6-1 lead. But then the unthinkable happened. The Cardinals offense, led by third baseman Matt Carpenter, scored six runs off of Kershaw in the seventh inning (plus two more at the hands of rookie reliever Pedro Baez) to give the Cardinals a devastating come-from-behind 10-9 win over the Dodgers. It was the second time in as many postseason games that the Cardinals (led by Matt Carpenter) not only beat the best the Dodgers have, but did so handily, leaving Dodger fans in a state of disbelief and concerned that no lead is safe against the Cards.

In Game-2 of the best-of-five Division Series on Saturday evening Dodgers co-ace Zack Greinke pitched a gem, allowing no runs on two hits while walking two and striking out seven through seven innings. It was exactly what the Dodgers (and their fans) needed to restore some much-needed confidence. The problem, of course, was that ‘no lead is safe’ thing, with the Dodgers leading by a scant 2-0 margin.

Zack Greinke was absolutely brilliant on Saturday night allowing no runs and only two hits through seven innings.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Sure enough, as soon as Dodgers manager Don Mattingly pulled Greinke prior to the eighth inning opting to go with left-hander J.P. Howell to face a heavy left-handed Cardinals line-up, Howell promptly gave up a leadoff single to left-handed hitting pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras followed immediately by an absolute monster home run by (you guessed it) left-handed hitting Matt Carpenter.

In four pitches J.P. Howell had wiped out Zack Greinke’s outstanding 103-pitch / two-hit shutout, leaving Dodger fans once again feeling devastated and extremely anxious. Howell faced one more batter, left-handed hitting center fielder Jon Jay, who singled deep in the hole to short and J.P. Howell was done. In nine total pitches Howell failed to retire even one of the left-handed hitters he had been called upon to face, while blowing a save and denying Greinke a well deserved win. In his last six appearances, Howell has allowed seven earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched for an unthinkable ERA of 19.69. He has also given up three home runs during those six games. By every indication, J.P. Howell is either concealing an injury or he has simply run out of gas.

Just when Dodger fans began having nightmare visions of yet another postseason meltdown, two things happened that would affect the outcome of the game. First – Brandon League, who replaced Howell with no outs and a runner on first base, got the extremely dangerous Matt Holliday to hit a combacker. Although League briefly bobbled the ball allowing Jay to take second base, he was able to get Holliday at first base. Second – After an intentional walk to Cardinals slugger Matt Adams to set up a double play, League did just that by getting Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta to ground into a huge 6-4-3 double play on an absolutely brilliant defensive play by back-up shortstop Miguel Rojas (Hanley Ramirez does not make that play) and the Dodgers escape the inning without further damage.

But hands down the biggest moment of the night came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Matt Kemp saved the day (and perhaps the Dodgers entire postseason) with a towering home run into the left field corner to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

“And Kemp unloads. A high fly ball to deep left field… she is gone!” – Vin Scully

As Kemp was rounding third, television cameras zoomed in on the Dodgers dugout and it was clear that there was no one, absolutely no one happier than J.P Howell.

J.P. Howell gives praise for Matt Kemp letting him off the hook.
(Video capture courtesy of MLB Network)

As he has done so many times in the past, Dodgers closer Kenley came in and retired the Cardinals in order in the bottom of the ninth to secure the Dodgers 3-2 win and even the Division Series at one game apiece.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen strikes out Cardinals right fielder Randal Grichuk to end the game.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But it was Matt Kemp’s exciting home run in the bottom of the eighth inning that Dodger fans will always remember – especially if the Dodgers go on to win the World Series.

Thanks Matt!