Dodgers NLCS: Roberts Calls Mookie Betts’ Catch a ‘Momentum Shifter’
No matter where Mookie Betts is on the field, he’s going to make a difference for the Dodgers. In the teams Game 5 win over the Braves, this time it was out in rightfield on defense. Mookie made a shoestring catch that could have potentially been the biggest play of the game and helped lock down the crucial win.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts talked about the play after the game with the media. In his eyes, it was one of the plays of the game, and likey the one that turned the tide of the entire game.
We’ve had a lot of great plays this year but if you’re talking about momentum shifts, that’s the play of the year for me. The probability of catching that baseball, where Joe [Kelly] is at, the game score, potentially having to go to Treinen right there. So to get that double play right there to make the play and to get the call on the replay, for me that was the play of the game.
The play that Doc is talking about came in the bottom of the 3rd inning. With Joe Kelly struggling to find the strike zone, Dansby Swanson blooped one into short rightfield. Mookie Betts flew in to make a shoestring grab before gunning the ball home. Marcel Ozuna tagged up on the play, but replay later revealed that he had left early. So what could have been a terrible inning for the Dodgers turned out to be a relatively uneventful one instead.
There are a lot of things about that play that changed the momentum of the game. The Braves had two guys on base with just one out, and that hit falling in could have completely changed the outcome of the game. That play also keeps the Dodgers from having to go to Blake Treinen an inning early. He came in during the 4th and was able to go two perfect innings after that.
Sometimes it just takes one play to shift the momentum of a series. If the Dodgers come back to win this series, we might one day look back at this play as the turning of the tide.
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Clearly was the momentum changer. Of course, it helped that Ozuna got ahead of himself, 3-0 is an emotionally bigger hole than 2-0.
Mookie’s steal of second was also significantly noteworthy in my opinion. Turner’s hit was an easy double play had he still been on first. Staying alive in the run down to then give Turner the opportunity to reach second is another example of a complete ball player. Smith never would have at the at bat which gave him the opportunity to hit the go ahead homer