Dodgers shortstop Furcal picks up where he left off
LOS ANGELES - The ball left Rafael Furcal's bat quick and smooth - the way he started the 2008 season - and kept rising until it dropped into the leftfield pavilion. The Dodgers shortstop's home run leading off the second inning gave Los Angeles a five-run lead and pretty much ended what was to become a 7-2 victory over the Phillies in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
Oh, sure, there were hitters to be plunked and chests to be puffed up and/or beaten upon, but the game never seemed much in doubt after that, Furcal having personally seen to much of that.
YONG KIM / Staff photographer
Rafael Furcal, scoring in Dodgers' five-run first inning, trotted home in the second with a home run.
In the first inning, it was Furcal who used a foot to block Chase Utley off second when Utley appeared to have stolen the base with two outs and Ryan Howard at the plate. Utley was out, the inning ended and Howard would lead off the next inning with a bases-empty double.
In the Dodgers' half of the first, it was Furcal who lined a single into right and eventually scored on Manny Ramirez' single, beginning what would become a five-run inning.
When the Phillies answered with a run in the top of the second, it was Furcal's home run that seemed to seal matters.
Furcal's own future seemed sealed a long time ago, this season. He started 2008 in an absolute fury. Through the first 32 games, he hit .366, second in the league, with a league-leading 49 hits and 34 runs. He was good and he played with passion, something that the Dodgers have been sorely lacking in the last decade or so. He was Manny before Manny and, having come over from Atlanta in 2006, represented the anti-Andruw (Jones). It was as if he could do nothing wrong.
His back was another matter.
Furcal was diagnosed with a disc problem in his lower back. He initially was put on the 30-day disabled list but a rehab assignment went disastrously and he played in just one game before being placed on the 60-day DL. The thinking then was that Furcal and the Dodgers' season was over.
But, luckily for the Dodgers, there was a Manny in their future as well as an NL West title that really didn't require many hits or runs - or wins, for that matter - to claim.
For Furcal, he went about the business of rehab, always believing he'd make it back.
"For me, I never lose any confidence that I'd get back," he said. "I don't put anyting negative in my mind. I know if I work hard that the doctors would do their part. I knew I'd get back."
Of course, "back" was just the last week of the regular season. Manager Joe Torre had said then he thought he might use Furcal in spot service. Furcal started, and finished, three games.
Furcal felt fine and continued to do so as the Dodgers swept the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs. It was like it was April all over again and he could do nothing wrong. And then, in the sixth inning of Game 1, Furcal's throwing error of what seemed to be a routine ground ball off Shane Victorino's bat put Victorino at second ahead of Chase Utley's game-tying two-run homer. Pat Burrell would soon follow with a home run of his own and the Phillies were on their way to a win.
After another Phillies win in Game 2, Furcal knew the Dodgers would have to start quickly once they got home.
"I just try to get on base and make as much happen as I can," he said. "We don't want to be embarrassed when we don't score runs. I just wanted to get it going on base."
He did. So did the Dodgers. Oh, there was a moment in seventh inning when the Phillies seemed to have one last chance. They put runners on first and third with two out. Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs hit a shot up the middle. Furcal quickly moved to his left, fielded the ball and, quick and smooth, delivered it to first base, ending the inning, and essentially the game. Again.
"It was good for us," he said. "We needed this. I'm just glad I could be here. Thank God. Thank Joe." *
