LOS ANGELES — A rally cry kept rising with verve and belief in the Dodgers’ dugout midway through Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. “Single ‘em to death! Single ‘em to death!”
The Dodgers? The team that led the league in homers? The team that hit more home runs than any team in franchise history? The team that had won 16 games all year without a homer? The team that left a condo building worth of people on base in Game 4 by swinging for the fences? Those Dodgers?
It sounded heretic, like Dustin Johnson pulling out an iron to lay up on a reachable par five, or Lebron on a breakaway choosing a demure layup off the glass.