The final ball off of the bat of Gavin Lux could just about sum up the entire night for the Dodgers in Game 3. It looked great off of the bat, but the ball died out and fell well short of going out and tying up the game.
That’s how things went for the Dodgers all night with the wind whipping the flags around Chavez Ravine. Balls that might have gone out on any other night died out at the warning track or fell well short. Even with the Los Angeles pitching staff holding the Giants to 1 run, it was not enough.
After the game, the players and coaches were all asked about the gusty conditions they were playing under. But Dodgers’ first baseman Albert Pujols was not about to blame the loss on weather. Instead, Pujols chose to accept that they needed to work around it.
That’s something that you cannot control. It’s part of the game. You can’t think it was cold. You can’t think (about) the wind. Hey — it is what it is. So you can’t blame it on the wind because we lost the game tonight. It’s just part of the game, Mother Nature, and you have to respect that.
The Dodgers did not work around it. Despite collecting 5 hits throughout the game, Los Angeles could not scratch across a run off of the Giants’ pitching staff. They also had 2 balls hit in the final 3 innings that had an expected batting average over .870, one from Mookie Betts and the other was Lux’s.
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So yes, the wind was a factor in the game. But the Dodgers cannot use that as an excuse for losing a 1-run ballgame. Onward and upward. They play Game 4 tonight in Los Angeles and need to come out and make a statement early.
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