MLB 2014 NLDS: Cardinals rally, advance to NLCS

But, as Heyman put it, “Molina makes $15 million so it shouldn’t be a problem paying.”

Prior to Tuesday’s win-or-go-home NLDS game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Don Mattingly sat down his controversial center fielder Yasiel Puig. Puig is controversial in that he’s (a) very, very talented, but (b) sometimes makes mistakes of overenthusiasm or under-thinking. He’s also slumping -- kind of. Puig is hitting .250/.357/.417 in three games, albeit with an unsightly streak of seven consecutive strikeouts at one point. He broke that streak with a sixth-inning triple on Monday, then whiffed again in the eighth. Still, while the optics are not pretty, this is hardly Gil Hodges’ 0-for-21 in the 1952 World Series or Dave Winfield’s 1-for-22 in the 1981 Series, a performance that later inspired George Steinbrenner to call him “Mr. May.”

Andre Ethier, a left-handed hitter who has hit a robust .285/.359/.462 in his career but cooled to .249/.322/.370 and isn’t the defensive player Puig is, will start against Cardinals’ right-hander Shelby Miller. In his pregame presser, Mattingly had his meme all picked out:

Clayton Kershaw, genetic freak and carbon-based wonder, was shelled on Friday. In the seventh inning, with a 6-2 lead, Kershaw allowed five singles and a double -- none of them cheap -- and he left the game with the Dodgers trailing by one. Harold Reynolds claimed loudly and confidently on Fox Sports 1 that the Cardinals were stealing signs. Danny Graves claims to have figured out exactly how Kershaw was tipping his pitches.

Before Kershaw’s season-saving or season-ending start on Tuesday, let’s look at another possibility. Maybe he was just bad?

The Dodgers will attempt to force a Game 5 and avoid elimination on Tuesday against the Cardinals by sending Clayton Kershaw to the mound and tweaking their lineup. Yasiel Puig will sit in what might be the final game of 2014 for Los Angeles, in favor of Andre Ethier, who will bat sixth and play center.

Carl Crawford is now in the two spot, but Ethier is the real question mark here. His range in center is the worst of the realistic options the Dodgers have, and while Puig’s second half was nowhere as good as his first, he rebounded in September to post a .284/.376/.432 line and has three hits -- including a triple -- in 12 postseason at-bats. Ethier, on the other hand, is coming off of his worst season in the majors and did not have a strong end to the season.

The St. Louis Cardinals outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers in a crucial 3-1 victory Monday night, and the two teams will do battle again Tuesday at Busch Stadium in NLDS Game 4. St. Louis will be hoping to wrap up the series and secure its fourth straight trip to the NLCS, while Los Angeles and ace Clayton Kershaw need a win to force a decisive Game 5.

Game time: 5:07 p.m. ET

Five of the last six National League Championship Series have featured the Cardinals or Dodgers. The Cardinals won the pennant last year; the Dodgers won the financial pennant this year. These are supposed to be heavyweights, division winners, a pair of titans stuffed into the cruel steel cage of a best-of-five series. The Cardinals won, 3-1, but it was also a night of questions for both teams, some with answers.

What Game 3 of the National League Division Series was, then, was a display of the shortcomings or potential problems that both teams were hoping would fix themselves. Normal teams lucky and talented enough to get into the playoffs usually have flaws. The Cardinals (a ruptured dam of player development) and the Dodgers (stacks of hundreds having a tribble orgy) aren’t supposed to have flaws. And yet they do. Or they might. They don’t know for sure, though they have suspicions.

Both pitchers will face similar lineups to what each club went with in the first two games of the series:

For the Dodgers, the lineup is exactly the same as the one manager Don Mattingly wrote down for each of the first two contests.

The Dodgers are not messing around with the Cardinals in their National League Division Series, as they’ve shuffled things around to get Clayton Kershaw the start in Game 4 on short rest. Kershaw started Game 1 and allowed eight runs after a rare meltdown in the seventh inning, but even the best have off-nights on occasion.

Dan Haren was originally expected to get the Game 4 nod, with Kershaw in line for a potential Game 5, but the Dodgers aren’t going to play wait-and-see with their ace. The thing that’s unknown at this point is whether Game 4 on Tuesday is going to be one in which the Dodgers are attempting to clinch, or if they’ll be fighting to stay alive for a Game 5. Game 3 is Monday, and the Kershaw news came out prior to that contest’s results, so there is no clear explanation given other than the obvious one where Kershaw is the best pitcher.

Greinke, who pitched well last year against the Cardinals in the NLCS, is excited about the chance to get a measure of revenge against the team that has pushed his teams out of the playoffs the only two times he’s made it. As he told reporters regarding his history against the Redbirds, “It’s the playoffs, so there’s plenty of motivation. But the Cardinals have knocked me out both of the times in the playoffs, so it’s not any more motivation, but it’s kind of tough losing to the same team twice.”

St. Louis will be using Lance Lynn to try to make it a charming third time for the Cardinals over the Dodgers and Greinke. He’ll be hoping to build on what’s been his best regular season, including a 2.74 ERA nearly a full run lower than his previous career best. As he explained to reporters, he believes that strong starts in the postseason would be the next step in the progression of his career.

Everyone wants Marichal-Spahn. Everyone expects Smoltz-Morris. Everyone demands the perfect pitcher’s duel, an unyielding ace-off between two of the best pitchers alive. Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw faced off in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, which made visions of sugar plums and dueling no-hitters dance in our heads. It had a great chance of being one of those classic games.

It was not one of those classic games.

Kershaw came out dealing, striking out eight batters in six innings before the Redbirds pulled four straight hits seemingly out of nowhere to start off the top of the seventh. He would add two more K’s, but was unable to get out of the inning -- Kershaw’s deliberate attempts to punch out Carpenter were met with a bases-clearing double off the right field wall following a dozen-pitch at-bat.

The Dodgers are up 6-1 on the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLDS and noted Dodgers fan Larry King is ... well ... he’s at the game!

A Google image search for “Larry King dodgers” reveals he is about as happy as he gets at Chavez Ravine.

There were no actual punches thrown, but it’s clear emotions are running high. Who knows if Wainwright’s pitch was intentional. Regardless, the results didn’t help the Cardinals. Puig would score, and later add an RBI single and score again in the bottom of the fourth.

Be careful, Hyun-jin Ryu. That man has bees in his pants.

Both teams are somewhat pitching-impaired after their first couple of starters, so the longer this series goes the less predictable it will be.

Wow, your memory really is impaired. Erskine would be a good choice if he wasn’t 87 years old. What remains to be seen is if he’d be a better choice than Kershaw on short rest. The latter might be what happens if the series hits Game 4. Kershaw (or, as he is more accurately referred to in the scientific literature, “Superman”) will pitch Game 1 and Greinke will take the ball in Game 2. Lefty Hyun-jin Ryu has been suffering from shoulder inflammation (this after strained buttocks put him on the disabled list in mid-August), but made it through a simulated game on Wednesday and will get a chance to start Game 3.