'Just a pitching clinic': Jack Flaherty gem vs. Mets has Dodgers sitting pretty in NLCS

LOS ANGELES — Jack Flaherty grew up in Los Angeles. He pitched at Dodger Stadium in high school, and dreamed one day of being a Dodger.

Still, even in his wildest dreams, he never quite envisioned a night like this.

Flaherty, in one of the finest pitching performances in Dodgers postseason history, gave up just two hits in seven shutout innings, leading the Dodgers to a 9-0 rout Sunday night over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium.

“It was,’’ said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, “just a pitching clinic.’’

Flaherty’s performance resulted in the Dodgers’ third consecutive shutout this postseason, a feat only previously achieved by the 1966 Baltimore Orioles and 1905 New York Giants. The Dodgers have now pitched 33 consecutive shutout innings, tied with those 1966 Orioles for the longest postseason shutout streak. (Baltimore did that against the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series.)

“What these guys have done is nothing short of incredible,’’ Dodgers center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “I’ve been on teams with great pitching staffs, but to do it consecutively and shutting down power offenses, I’ve never seen anything like it.

“I guess, in the postseason, none of us have.’’

The Dodgers don’t have Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, or Dave McNally, or four 20-game winners on the same staff as those pitching-rich Orioles of old.

The Dodgers don’t even have four healthy starters, to tell you the truth.

Yet, ever since Game 3 of the National League Division Series, when they gave up six runs in the second inning against the San Diego Padres, the pitching staff has been virtually unhittable.

They are yielding a .127 batting average since that inning, retiring 27 consecutive batters at one point. The Mets managed just three singles Sunday, with their top five hitters of Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Starling Marte going 0-for-17 with seven strikeouts.

The Dodgers have been so methodical shutting down the opposition that rookie Ben Casparius, who came into the game in the ninth inning, had no idea the Dodgers were just one inning away from tying an all-time record.

"I didn’t know that until I got into the clubhouse,’’ Casparius said, reaching into his locker, and showing the authenticated baseball. “I got to hold onto this one.’’

The Dodgers have now used 11 different pitchers during the streak with Casparius making his postseason debut for the record-tying inning.

“That’s something that we’re super prideful of,’’ Casparius said. “We’re not openly talking about how dominant we’ve been in the pen because there’s a new game, a new situation, but it’s super special.’’

But really, this night meant more to Flaherty than anyone wearing a Dodgers uniform.

Flaherty grew up in L.A. and had longtime friends from Sherman Oaks Little League and Harvard-Westlake High School in the stands. With his mom sitting behind home plate, he pitched the game of his life at Dodger Stadium.

It was his finest performance at Dodger Stadium since pitching a six-hit shutout as a junior in Harvard-Westlake’s championship game.

“Man, those were the days,’’ Flaherty said, “those are the best days we had. I still have my buddies I played with, saw a couple of them there in the stands. Just real cool. It lets you know that you never know how long those kids that you play with, are going to continue to be your friends.

“I've been lucky enough to stay friends with a bunch of them for a long time, some of my closest friends. Those guys are family.’’

When Flaherty walked off the field after the seventh inning after 98 pitches, with the sellout crowd of 53,503 sensing he had thrown his last pitch, he was greeted by a thunderous standing ovation while his teammates mobbed him in the dugout.

He couldn’t help but break into a wide, expansive grin, looking back towards his mom, who was fighting off tears.

“You can’t really put it all into words,’’ Flaherty said. “But being able to be here, and have some family in the stands, and saw some family out there when I was warming up, it kind of just lets you relax a little bit.

“At least, that’s the way it was for me tonight.

“It was hard not to smile.’’

Flaherty, who was gift-wrapped to the Dodgers by the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, and nearly became a Yankee until they balked at his physical, now is part of Dodgers’ postseason pitching lore. He used to come to Dodger Stadium and watch his heroes, and now here he is, teammates with his idol, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw.

“Regardless of what people want to say about what his postseason numbers are,’’ Flaherty said, “he's had a hell of a lot of good ones. And he's been an absolute stud for the entirety of his career.

“Getting a hug from him afterwards, and him letting me know it was a really good job, is special. Things that you can't make up….

“He takes the ball and wants the ball every time out. You watch him and you get to be around him, and you watch the way he works, and the way he goes about his business, and is even just more special. That guy's second to none.’’

Flaherty’s heroics enables the Dodgers to go with a bullpen game in Game 2 on Monday, Roberts said, saving starter Walker Buehler for Game 3 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Game 4.

Considering the way the Dodgers manhandled the Mets, with the most lopsided Game 1 shutout victory since the Chicago Cubs in 1984, who knows if they even have to plan past four games.

“It’s just about playing our game,’’ said Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who’s playing on a severely sprained ankle that requires 4½ hours of treatment each day. He still produced two hits, drove in a run and scored a run.

“It’s not about letting off the gas for us. It’s about applying pressure," Freeman said.

The Dodgers learned the hard way in 2021 when they won a grueling five-game NL Division Series over the San Francisco Giants. Just when they thought they’d roll over Atlanta in the NLCS, they got beat in six games and watched Atlanta have a World Series parade while they stayed home.

“We learned a lot from that,’’ Dodgers All-Star right fielder Mookie Betts said. “We beat a really good team, and then thinking we’d reset, we’d get back into the flow. It didn’t work out that way.

“So, it was a great learning experience from all of us.

“We know this isn’t over.’’

It just felt like it.

Follow Bob Nightengale on X: @BNightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers sitting pretty in NLCS vs. Mets after Jack Flaherty Game 1 gem