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Dodgers hold 2-0 lead over Brewers as starting rotation makes history<\/p>\n
USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale breaks down the Dodgers dominant rotation that has help stake the team to a 2-0 lead over the Brewers in the NLCS.<\/p>\n
Sports Pulse<\/p>\n
Just how much impact can one 6-foot, 245-pound slugger have on a playoff series?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re about to find out now that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has checked into the American League Championship Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vladdy was an equal-opportunity destroyer in Game 3<\/a>: Nearly drilling a hole through the left field fence with a key double, eluding the leaping grasp of center fielder Julio Rodriguez with a tack-on home run, and splitting the gap in right center field for what could\u2019ve been a triple and a playoff cycle.<\/p>\n Vladdy was a soothsayer, pulling aside No. 9 hitter Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez before the game and telling the light-hitting shortstop, \u201cYou\u2019re going to go yard today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI told him, try to pull the ball,\u201d Guerrero said in a Fox Sports postgame interview of the conversation with Gim\u00e9nez that preceded his game-tying, two-run homer. \u201cHe listened to me, and thank God he goes yard today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0And Vladdy, perhaps most important, verified his status as a postseason monster.<\/p>\n He entered the game 0-for-7 in this ALCS and the Blue Jays 0-for-2, facing a must-win against Mariners right-hander George Kirby.<\/p>\n Four Guerrero hits \u2013 just a triple shy of the cycle – and a 13-4 throttling of Seattle later, they exit in far better shape.<\/p>\n Guerrero is now 13-for-28 (.464) with four home runs, 10 RBIs and just one strikeout in this postseason. And the Blue Jays are now trailing just 2-1 in this ALCS, thanks to one swing and one superstar.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, man,\u201d Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Gim\u00e9nez\u2019s two-run, game-tying blast in the third inning, \u201cthat was a big swing from Andr\u00e9s.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, it reversed so much:<\/p>\n The score, as the Mariners once again jumped the Blue Jays on a Julio Rodriguez two-run homer for a 2-0 lead and a 3-0 ALCS lead in sight.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays\u2019 offensive doldrums, as they came in with no extra-base hits and just eight hits in 61 at-bats in Games 1 and 2.<\/p>\n The vibes, to say the least.<\/p>\n Suddenly, Toronto could not be contained, as Gim\u00e9nez\u2019s blast started a five-run eruption, the rally re-started when Guerrero seared a 105-mph liner into the left field wall, a wild pitch and a Daulton Varsho two-run double eventually providing a 5-2 lead.<\/p>\n Amazingly, it all started with Gim\u00e9nez simply wanting to move Ernie Clement to third base with a grounder to the right side. He got a little more of Kirby\u2019s fastball than that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know,\u201d Gim\u00e9nez told reporters in Seattle, with a laugh, \u201cI’m okay with what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n We won\u2019t know for another one, two, four games if that swing flipped this ALCS. But in the Toronto dugout, it certainly did.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to trust everyone in that lineup and when you tie the game like that, I mean, everything changed in that dugout,\u201d Guerrero told a postgame news conference.<\/p>\n The flogging was on. Guerrero, George Springer, Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger joined Gim\u00e9nez in donning the deep blue La Gente del Barrio<\/a> sports coat to celebrate their home runs.<\/p>\n Shane Bieber locked in, inspired by the fact his \u201cpick me up\u201d plea after giving up Rodriguez\u2019s home run was heeded, five-fold. And now the curiosity of Max Scherzer, 41-year-old, pitching to square the series is upon us.<\/p>\n Who knows what the old boy will have, but Schneider will sleep much better tonight knowing that there was an awakening at T-Mobile Park.<\/p>\n For a team, and its catalyst.<\/p>\n