Each game of the National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves has had a life of its own, so unlike the one before it that neither team has created momentum even after mounting the most dramatic of comebacks or producing the most powerful of hitting sprees.
It defies reason that the Dodgers, who were pushed to the brink of playoff elimination after they were held to four hits by a parade of relievers in Game 4 and lost spirited third baseman Justin Turner to a hamstring injury, pounded out 17 hits in a season-saving 11-2 romp in Game 5 on Thursday against ace starter Max Fried.