To say that Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal has struggled thus far through the 2016 postseason is both an understatement and being very kind; he has been absolutely lost at the plate. In fact, until his second at-bat in Tuesday night’s NLCS Game-3 home opener at Dodger Stadium, the soon-to-be 28-year-old La Habana, Cuba native was 2-for-21 (.095) with no extra base hits and only one RBI. He had also struck out eight times, most of them looking.

Like I said … lost.

But with one swing of the bat in what was arguably the best Dodgers at-bat through their first eight postseason games thus far, Grandal found it.

After falling behind 0-2 in the count with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning and the Dodgers nursing a precarious 1-0 lead, Grandal worked the count full on seven pitches before launching the eighth pitch – a Jake Arrieta 93-MPH fastball – 404 feet over the fence in right-center field for a huge two-run home run to make it a 3-0 ballgame.

“I’ve said it before: if I go 0-for-4 and I shut down a team [defensively], I’m sleeping tight that night,” Grandal told reporters after the game. “So no matter what would have happened tonight, if we came out with the same outcome and I wouldn’t have gotten a hit, I would still be happy just because we’re executing the plan, and that plan is built by a lot of guys here who put a lot of effort into a game plan.”

Although there have been many great moments thus far in the 2016 postseason for the Dodgers, Grandal’s two-run home run in Game-3 of the NLCS was among the biggest.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Grandal picked up his third RBI of the night on a ground out to Cubs shortstop Javier Baez in the bottom of the eighth inning with Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson scoring from third base. Pederson had doubled with one out in the inning and easily stole third base off of Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery and catcher Wilson Contreras. It was the third stolen base of the night for the Dodgers, with right fielder Josh Reddick having stolen second and third base in the Dodgers two-run fourth inning.

As expected, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts never had doubts about his number one catcher, even during his recent struggles at the plate.

“Yasmani has been victim of trying maybe a little bit too hard,” Roberts said. “When you’ve got two strikes, he just wanted to try to see the baseball [and] shorten up. And a lot of times when hitters shorten up and see the ball, you still maintain your bat speed. So he’s a strong young man, and he put a good swing on it.”

It would be criminal not to mention the brilliant outing by Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill, who pitched the Dodgers to their second consecutive shutout over the so-called “best team in baseball.” Hill allowed no runs and only two hits while striking out six and walking two in his six strong innings of work.

“It’s the biggest game of my career,” Hill told reporters. “It’s all about staying in the moment and executing when you’re in that moment, and that’s all you can think about. And that’s all you can control is that pitch. In the second inning, walk a few guys, it’s over with, can’t control it, and you move on. You execute the next pitch, and you execute the pitch after that. And you continue to execute until the ball gets taken out of your hand.”

Hill calls his stellar outing in Game-3 of the 2016 “The biggest game of my career.”
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As he so often does, whenever Hill makes a bad pitch (or thinks he’s being squeezed by the home plate umpire) he often wears his emotions on his sleeve which many perceive as a weakness; but it’s clear that his teammate certainly do not.

“When he doesn’t throw a pitch that he likes, doesn’t execute it the way he wants to, he gets fired up out there,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said of Hill. “And when he’s getting fired up, we love it. We all get a little laugh out of it, but that’s what makes him such a great pitcher.”

Cubs manager Joe Maddon is both confused and concerned with his team after seeing them shut out in consecutive games.

“We are not hitting the ball hard like we normally do,” Maddon said after Tuesday’s 6-0 pounding by the Dodgers. “I felt last year their pitchers beat us. This year, I have felt we have had our chances.”

Maddon might want to rethink this a bit. Through the first three Championship Series games, Dodgers pitchers have limited the Cubs to eight earned runs and only 15 hits in their combined 26.0 innings of work. This figures out to a batting average against of .161 and an ERA of 2.77.

Twenty-year-old Dodgers left-handed rookie phenom Julio Urias will take the mound in Game-4 of the best-of-seven series later this evening. In doing so, he will become the youngest pitcher in MLB history to start a postseason game. The Cubs will counter with 37-year-old veteran right-hander John Lackey. Urias was five years old when Lackey made his MLB debut on June 24, 2002.