WASHINGTON >> Dave Roberts and the Dodgers take this tour de force to Chicago now. All casinos should be on high alert.
The first-year manager played the following inside straight in Game 5 of the Division Series:
• He used left-hander Rich Hill as a starter with three days’ rest;
• He hooked him after 13 hitters and used Joe Blanton, normally his seventh or eighth inning reliever, in the third;
• He threw 20-year-old Julio Urias into his first postseason with the Dodgers trailing Washington 1-0 in the fifth;
• With the Dodgers tied 1-1 on the strength of Joc Pederson’s home run, he pulled playoff veteran Chase Utley for pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz in the seventh;
• He called on closer Kenley Jansen in the seventh inning, with nobody out and the tying run on first;
• And, he brought in ace Clayton Kershaw to get the final two outs in the ninth inning to seal the victory.