The visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium was drenched in puddles of alcohol Thursday night. Already uncomfortably small, the room was uncomfortably dank after the New York Mets beat the Dodgers 3-2 in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
The irony of losing a do-or-die game is that the losing clubhouse always smells much, much better. The air was clear, and the silence inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse muffled none of the second guesses coming from the outside. There were many of those.
There was also the undeniable truth that Daniel Murphy stuck it to one of the game’s best pitchers in the clinching game, just as he had done all series.