Chapter 11: 2009, Just like 2008 but worse
The Dodgers run afoul of the Phillies in the NLCS for the second straight year, but news off the field portends a very troubled time
The Dodgers didn’t make major changes after the 2008 season. Orlando Hudson was brought in to play second base. Clayton Kershaw became a regular member of the rotation and showed that he had a lot of promise and maybe he should stay.
Manny Ramirez was back for a full season, but he didn’t play one as he was suspended for 50 games midseason for testing positive for a banned substance. This changed Ramirez from being a fan favorite to being a fan favorite that people had to have misgivings about, but would soon forget because we like dingers.
Juan Pierre filled in most of the time and left and was actually not that bad by Juan Pierre standards. He had little power and fielded poorly. But he got on base at a decent rate for him and he was above replacement level. And he became a media favorite because he was so much nicer than that drug cheat Manny Ramirez.
The Dodgers led the division most of the year and appeared to be cruising toward a win by sizeable margin, but slumped down the stretch while the Rockies, under former Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, played very well. The Rockies had a chance to tie the Dodgers with one game left, but the Dodgers clinched the division with a 5-0 win.
After winning Game 1 of the Division Series by a 5-3 margin, Game 2 would turn out to be the Dodgers finest moment of the postseason, even though it had a heavy element of farce.
The game matched up two budding aces: 21-year old Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers and 28-year old Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals. The game started at 3:07 on a beautiful October 8 afternoon.
The Cardinals scored first on a Matt Holliday homer in the second. Andre Ethier homered in the fourth to tie the game up.
The game stayed tied until the seventh. Mark DeRosa led off with a single and Colby Rasmus followed with an RBI double and then was thrown out going for third.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs for Matt Kemp, who ground out to first. And this was how Wainwright’s day ended.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa brought in Trever Miller to start the ninth because he wanted the platoon edge on Ethier. It worked as Ethier popped out.
In came, Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin who had saved 38 games in the regular season. He retired his first batter, Ramirez, on a fly out to center. James Loney followed and he hit a sinking liner to left that Holliday had trouble reading in the dying light of the day. The ball hit Holliday in an area that appeared to have other balls. Loney, hustling out of the box, made it to second. Pierre ran for Loney.
Casey Blake followed a worked a nine pitch walk off of Franklin, putting the winning run on base. Portly second baseman Ronnie Belliard (acquired late in the year to replace the slumping Hudson) then dropped a single into center, scoring Pierre with Blake holding at second. Catcher Russell Martin drew a four pitch walk to load the bases.
With the pitcher’s spot up, Joe Torre had two pinch hitters left: veteran infield Mark Loretta or backup catcher Brad Ausmus. Loretta got the call.
Loretta had a solid big league career and at 37 years old was likely at the end of the line. If he didn’t get a hit here, he would have gone in to play first for the Dodgers. But Loretta got a single and the Dodgers won 3-2.
When this game was over, I walked out of the stadium and hunted for my car. Then I stood and watched the happy crowd go by.
And then I wept.
I wasn’t weeping for joy. This game was played on my mother’s birthday. Mom was a St. Louis native. She had passed away 16 years before this game took place. But all I could think of at this time is that I wanted to talk to her about what I had just seen.
I waited a few minutes, got things back together and then drove home.
The Dodgers won the series in Game 3 and had another rematch against the Phillies.
Before the NLCS started, Frank and Jamie McCourt announced that they were divorcing. This would be the last amicable statement the two ever issued again. The dire financial status of the team would be unveiled during the divorce and subsequent bankruptcy proceedings. It was simultaneously horrible and hilarious. The team eventually ended up being sold in 2012 to the Guggenheim Partners, an amazingly wealthy group of investors. Frank McCourt still owned a share of the parking lot revenue and would eventually own a French soccer team, Marseille. Jamie McCourt became an ambassador under President Donald Trump.1
The Phillies beat the Dodgers in five games again. The Phillies had a devastating walkoff win in Game 4. The Narrative stated that the Dodgers did not have the right kind of players to win big games. The players usually picked out for being less than suitable tended to be Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, and Manny Ramirez. The Dodgers didn’t have winning players like Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Carlos Ruiz, all of whom would later join the Dodgers. And not win a World Series with them either.
She originally was going to be Ambassador to Belgium, but got upgraded to France and was also a candidate to become Ambassador the United Nations. And you thought January 6 was the big crime.
Brussels is a great city but I would agree, being Ambassador to France is an upgrade.