If there was one truth about the first-round playoff series between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, it was this: They would play some close games.
Forget Game 1. Game 2 was more like it.
The Braves' 4-3 win Friday night at Turner Field evened the National League Division Series at one game each, although the Dodgers can still close it out at home next week. But they'll have to make better use of their opportunities.
Here are three takeaways from the second game:
1. Missed chances
Getting leadoff hitters on base can be critical to winning games, and the Dodgers did that. In fact, they put the leadoff man on five times.
The problem is, they brought him home only once. That was in the eighth inning when Mark Ellis drew a leadoff walk from David Carpenter and Hanley Ramirez followed with a home run.
The other four times yielded nothing. On two occasions, the Dodgers hit into double plays. On another, the runner never advanced beyond first base. And on the other, Skip Schumaker was stranded at third.
Teams can't let those opportunities get away. The Dodgers did.
2. Bad strategy?
Certainly, the Dodgers will look back at the seventh inning as the turning point. That's when a 2-1 Braves lead became 4-1.
The critical move came when Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought in left-hander Paco Rodriguez with runners at second and third and two outs. Mattingly could have chosen to let Rodriguez face pinch-hitter Reed Johnson, who batted .244 this season but hit .291 against lefties.
But with the left-handed-hitting Jason Heyward on deck, Mattingly went by the book – a lefty-lefty matchup that favored Rodriguez, who held left-handers to a .131 average during the season.
Rodriguez intentionally walked Johnson, loading the bases and giving the Dodgers a force out at any base. But the move failed when Heyward, who was 0 for 3 at the time and hadn't gotten the ball out of the infield, followed with a single up the middle that scored two runs.
Room for a second guess? Possibly, but going by the numbers, it seemed like the correct call. And sometimes correct calls don't work.
3. Starting strong
Pitching remains important in the postseason, and that's why the Dodgers must still be favored in the best-of-five series.
Friday's starter, Zack Greinke, was solid if unspectacular, giving up four hits and two runs in six innings and not walking a batter. Combined with Clayton Kershaw, who won Thursday's series opener 6-1, Dodgers starters have allowed just three earned runs in 13 innings, a 2.08 ERA.
The key is giving the starters a lead to work with. The Dodgers did that for Greinke, but he surrendered single runs in the second and fourth to fall behind.
When the Braves can hand a lead to their bullpen late in the game, they are difficult to beat. In the regular season, they won 72 of 78 games when leading after six innings.
The Dodgers will have Korean-born left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu on the mound for Game 3 on Sunday. He'll face Julio Teheran, who was 14-8 this season but had a 4.17 ERA in his last six starts, although he pitched at least six innings in each of them.
Ryu was 14-8 but pitched well at Dodger Stadium: 7-4 with a 2.32 ERA.
He's thrown in some big international games in his career, but this will be the biggest. If he comes through, the Dodgers could still wrap up the series Monday night.
