October 14th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Over the past two days, the Dodgers have spent exactly seven hours and 34 minutes on the field at Globe Life Field in Arlington TX for the 2020 National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. Of that 7:34, the Dodgers have actually played for about 10 minutes.
Those 10 minutes finally came with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game-2 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday evening. Up to that point, the team that finished the COVID-19-shortened 60-game 2020 regular season with an MLB-best 43-17 record had scored a grand total of five runs on eight hits.
It was – and continues to be – embarrassing, and the Braves rightfully deserve to be up two-games-to-none in the series.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the Dodgers offense actually came to life during those 10 minutes, even though they ended up losing the game.
It’s probably safe to say that many (most) Dodger fans had already thrown in the towel, with their beloved team down 8-3 and having collected only six hits heading into that final frame. But as we have come to know – and expect – from the 2020 Dodgers, they always seem to do their best work (very) late in their games.
(Photo credit – Tony Gutierrez)
Sure enough, with one out and the bases empty, Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts lined a single (go figure) to left field off of Braves right-hander Josh Tomlin. One pitch later, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager roped a double (go figure) down the right-field line to score Betts, making it an 8-4 ballgame and giving the Dodgers a (very) slight pulse.
After Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner struck out swinging and with the Dodgers now down to their final out, horrendously-struggling Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy, who was down to his – and the Dodgers – final strike, crushed Tomlin’s 87-mph cutter, which landed mid-way up the first deck of Globe Life Field for a monster two-run home run (Muncy’s first of the postseason), to make it 8-6, giving the Dodgers a now very discernible pulse.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)
Dodgers catcher Will Smith then reached on a throwing error by Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies to make that pulse even stronger and bringing 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger to the plate representing the tying run … no, really.
Unfortunately, Belli needed to hit a home run to tie the game but only tripled, to make it 8-7 and bringing ever-clutch Dodgers left-fielder AJ Pollock to the plate representing the winning run.
Pollock was not clutch. Instead, he grounded out to Braves third baseman Austin Riley to end the game, stranding Bellinger 90 feet away from a tie.
Flat-lined.
“It’s been a battle for us the past two games, and we’ve got to make the adjustments,” said Seager after the heartbreaking Game-2 loss. “This team’s got a lot of fight; we’ve done it all year.
“We were one swing, one anything, away from tying that ballgame,” he added.
Although those 10 minutes were very exciting, the painful bottom line is the Dodgers lost – again – and head into Game-3 on Wednesday afternoon (as the visiting team) with their backs firmly against the wall.
Then again, these are the 2020 Dodgers we’re talking about here.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
That was probably almost one of the greatest comebacks in post season history. Almost but not quite. Now it’s, just about, do or die baseball from here on in.
Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve…
all past tense.
If any team can win four of five, it’s the Dodgers. They need to play more than 10 minutes to do so however, and Doc has to keep his head in the game at all times, especially when dealing with his pitching staff. Pitchers have all Winter to heal up so screw the pitch counts and, by all means, “go with the ones that brung ya,” Doc!