Dodgers beat the Ghosts and the Padres in NLDS

LOS ANGELES – A winner-take-all game – be it Game 7 or, in this case, Game 5 – can be worth the wait.

It was certainly something for Dodger fans on Friday night.

All those frayed nerves after being pushed to the brink of elimination by the San Diego Padres after Game 3 of the National League Division Series?

All that pent-up fear after the NLDS' back-to-back exits over the past two years?

All this doubt that Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Friday's starter, was the right man to throw an elimination game, especially against a Padres team that had hit him hard earlier in the season in South Korea and again in the first game of this series?

Fuhgeddaboutit, as they would say in New York. Which, by the way, represents the next hurdle for the Dodgers. The search continues, the Amazin' Mets – that description is as true this season as it has been in years – will be at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night for the start of the NL Championship Series… and Dodger fans, you have all day Saturday to rest and relax Take a few deep breaths before the obsession continues.

The Padres were finally swept aside on Friday night, and all the excitement and noise from earlier in the series dissipated in a 2-0 victory that included solo home runs from Kiké and Teoscar Hernández and, last but not least, a masterful five innings from Yamamoto . the kind of pitching Andrew Friedman and his front office envisioned when they agreed to a 12-year, $325 million deal to bring the Japanese right-hander to the United States.

The doubts that Yamamoto could withstand the pressure in the elimination game quickly faded on Friday evening. With his four-seater he reached about 97-98 mph, a few ticks above his average speed. He allowed two goals, only allowed one man in scoring position, showed no nerves and (presumably) didn't throw any shots.

“What he did tonight, that’s him,” Kiké Hernández said. “And we're not surprised at all. Game 1 didn't go his way, but that's the beauty of baseball; You can do it the next day. In this case it was five or six days later. He did his thing.”

Five innings was probably two more than Dodger supporters were hoping for, and perhaps three or four more than expected, and it set up the likely method the Dodgers will have to operate throughout October if they want to deliver the parade , which she and her team have fans never received the 2020 World Series title again.

This is a bullpen superior to the bullpens that Dodger fans have railed against in years past, and it was a parade of relief pitchers who capped this series with a scoreless streak of 24 innings. After a six-run second inning in Tuesday night's 6-5 Game 3 win that brought the Dodgers to the brink, San Diego not only never scored again, but only put runners on the scoreboard in six of those 24 innings , including 15 against the Dodgers' highly effective relievers.

So this should be the playbook for a team whose original starting pitching plan has been severely compromised by injuries: Get what you can out of the starter, then hand it over to a bullpen with multiple leverage arms and multiple looks (including one verified flamethrower). Michael Kopech, whose last pitch in the eighth inning was a 102-mile-per-hour four-seater that was in – or perhaps even above – the zone that Jake Cronenworth waved in vain for strike three.

Given this scenario, there was a frightening moment on Friday evening. Alex Vesia made it to the finals in game seven by defeating Jackson Merrill. He came out to warm up for the eighth and then, accompanied by an athletic trainer, left the mound, walked to the dugout and then to the clubhouse. Manager Dave Roberts later said Vesia described it as a cramp but that he would undergo further evaluation.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s not some kind of intercostal or oblique situation,” Roberts said. “I hope it’s just a cramp.”

If it's more serious, that could be a problem, as Vesia and Anthony Banda were the only left-handed relievers on the roster this series and would likely be targeted at critical spots by Mets' left-handed hitters Brandon Nimmo and Jesse Winker. The only other left-handed hitters currently on the Dodgers' 40-man roster are rookies Justin Wrobleski and Zach Logue … as well as Clayton Kershaw, who was ruled out by injury before the start of the postseason.

But there is a day to sort that out, just as there is a day for the Dodgers to sober up after the traditionally raucous clubhouse celebration. While the players sprayed champagne, family members milled around the field and their children ran around in what has become LA's coolest playground. Meanwhile, a few thousand fans remained in their pitch-level seats, enjoying the scene too much to leave.

After the last two Octobers you would stay too.