Back In LA Warmth, Dodgers Hope To Get Hot In World Series Game 3
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers will find a much warmer reception, literally and figuratively, when the World Series shifts back to Dodger Stadium Friday in downtown Los Angeles, where the forecast high during first pitch will be a comfortable 80 degrees.
The Dodgers are down two games to the Boston Red Sox in a World Series matchup for the ages, putting both the storied franchises and their historic ballparks in the national spotlight.
Fenway Park, at 106 the oldest big league ballpark, is crammed onto 9 acres in downtown Boston, the 37-foot-high Green Monster in left field a target for hitters and a terror for pitchers.
Dodger Stadium, a modern ballpark when opened in 1962 but now the third-oldest, sits atop 300 acres of land in Chavez Ravine near downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by tiered parking lots with palm trees beyond the fences and the San Gabriel Mountains shimmering in the distance.
While Fenway is urban tumult, Dodger Stadium symbolizes the sunny Californian way of life. But expect a pumped-up crowd for Game 3 on Friday, especially after Vin Scully's recorded call of "It's Time for Dodger Baseball!"
"It's going to be warmer, and hopefully our bats get hot, too," Cody Bellinger said .
Used to the balmy breezes at home and usually hospitable weather in the NL West, Los Angeles hadn't started a game this year in a temperature below 58. Facing a 53-degree chill at the beginning of the opener, the Dodgers lost 8-4. It was just 46 in the first inning for Game 2, and the Dodgers' bats were cold again — their last 16 hitters retired in order.
When Los Angeles opened the Series at home last year, it was 103 degrees. Tonight, rookie Walker Buehler starts against Rick Porcello in an attempt to spark a turnaround. With a right-hander on the mound for Boston, the Dodgers are likely to regain some of their power. Their top four home run hitters were benched in Boston: left-handed-batting Bellinger, Max Muncy and Joc Pederson along with switch-hitting Yasmani Grandal.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
