LOS ANGELES — We will see Sunday night if the Dodgers have Donnie Baseball’s back.
The Dodgers cannot afford to lose this series to the Braves, if they do, there’s a chance Don Mattingly will lose his job.
Mattingly’s bosses, and he has plenty of them, have not addressed the manager’s future because they are waiting to see if Mattingly can lead the Dodgers to postseason success.
Just getting here isn’t enough for the Dodgers.
It was a terrible night for Mattingly and his players in the 4-3 loss to the Braves on Friday night at Turner Field that evened the NLDS at 1-1. The Dodgers must rebound Sunday night with lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu on the Dodger Stadium mound against the Braves’ Julio Teheran, a young pitcher who has been offered guidance by the great Pedro Martinez.
Mattingly’s problems in Game 2 started with a series of pitching moves that eventually led to an intentional walk of the light-hitting Reed Johnson to pitch to Jason Heyward in the seventh to set up a lefty on lefty situation vs. Paco Rodriguez. Heyward, one of the big guns of the Braves was fired up for that at-bat and ripped a two-out, two-run, bases-loaded single to put the Braves on top, 4-1.
In the eighth, Hanley Ramirez lofted a two-run home run to make it a one-run game.
Asked about that seventh-inning situation Saturday at Dodger Stadium, Mattingly seemed a little perturbed at the second guessing.
“Well, I don’t feel like going through the game again,” he said. “I’m looking at Game 3. But I think the situation in the game Friday night, no matter which way I go, it could be questioned.’’
Freddie Freeman said the move fired up Heyward.
“Jason has all the confidence in the world, he is the one guy we wanted up there,’’ Freeman said. “It was a beautiful hit. Walk him to get to Jason, it worked out for us and hopefully that can carry over to Sunday.’’
Carl Crawford, meanwhile, in the bottom of the seventh, hit into a double play with runners on first and third with one out to give the Braves momentum. It was a night of big plays for the Braves.
The win enabled the Braves to breathe. “Getting that first one out of the way is big,’’ Freeman said.
The Dodgers must win this series or the ownership group that is breaking the bank might choose not to keep Mattingly around as manager. Mattingly never has been to the World Series, and if the Dodgers don’t put up an impressive showing this October, he might never get that chance.
His Dodgers need to bounce back in a big way and Mattingly said is confident in his “rookie’’ left-hander from South Korea.
“He’s been pitching big all year,” Mattingly said. “Every time we’ve had a big game and a big situation for him it seemed like a lot of tension, he’s pitched well. He’s not really a rookie. He’s pitched a lot of big games. He’s not a first-year professional.’’
Dodger Stadium should be a wild scene Sunday night. This team led the majors in both home and road attendance.
“[I’m] looking for it to be hopefully energetic and electric,’’ Mattingly said. “It seems like the fans this year have been excited about our club. They seem to like our guys. I think Dodger fans in general have always been really supportive of our club, but I think there’s been a little bit of a different energy this year. The fans seem to have kind of connected with our players. So we’re just looking forward to it being a good atmosphere and us to go out and perform and do our thing.’’
The Dodgers need to do their thing, and Donnie Baseball has to make decisions that pay off in a win.