Inside The Cage: MLB Post Game - Dodgers-Cardinals NLCS Game 2 Review

Yasiel Puig covers his eyes in the dugout during the seventh inning (David J. Phillip/AP)

There seems to be a recurring theme for the Los Angeles Dodgers, so far in the NLCS, and it's not a good one. They had six chances to score one run. Six chances they had, were squandered. One of those chances had left ace Clayton Kershaw, stranded on third.

The Dodgers struck out 10 times today, with five of those strikeouts coming with runners left in scoring position. Yes, there will be talk of Dodgers manager Don Mattingly removing Kershaw in the 7th in favor of pinch hitting veteran, Michael Young, and why he didn't use power hitting OF, Scott Van Slyke.

I found myself asking why he just didn't let Kershaw bat for himself. Yes, I know he's a pitcher and it would have been a lefty/lefty matchup against a pitcher, but Clayton is no ordinary hitting pitcher. In hindsight, it was a baseball move, and I was caught up in the moment of questioning Mattingly's decision, only for the simple reason that Mattingly does not seem to get it when it comes to making strategic, baseball-managing decisions.

In my opinion, he jus doesn't get it, period. I've come to the conclusion that most of the fans are feeling the same way and one thing is for sure: Dodger fans will continue to question any and all of Mattingly's decision because the fans do not trust him, anymore.

Regardless of whether the Dodgers win, or even make it to the World Series, there will always be a distrust between him and the majority of the fan base. It's like staying married to you wife or husband after they've cheated on you and you keep telling yourself, "it's for the children."

However, he is not the one that is standing in the batter's box or misreading fly balls. I am not trying to make it seem as if this loss was entirely his fault, but was a loss that was, just as it was yesterday, a complete team loss. The inability to hit with runners in scoring position is the number one reason; not a managerial error, not a blown call-- it was not anything but sleeping bats that will just not wake up when they need to.

Rookie sensation Michael Wacha had himself another sensational postseason outing, throwing 6 and two-third innings of 5-hit, 8-strikeout, lights-out baseball.

Overall, it was a game of good, old fashion pitching, and nothing else; seriously, nothing else. I mean, honestly, we would probably have some more free baseball today if Dodgers catcher AJ Ellis had not let a fastball get by him, which would have been called a strike.

The series at hand has actually been more than any one side can bargain for with stellar pitching performances all around, especially in Saturday's game. In fact, only difference between the two teams is one capitalizing when they've been given the chance, and the other wasting theirs away.

The biggest threat of the day belonged to the Dodgers; Kershaw led off the top of the 6th inning with a single. OF Carl Crawford followed with an infield single of his own, but with the errand throw of Cardinal second baseman, Matt Carpenter, both runners advanced ninety feet. Runners on second and third with no one out and the heart of the lineup coming up sounds like a surefire chance at, the very least, tying the game up, right?

Well, in the wonderful game of baseball, there is no such thing as "surefire." Soft-hitting second baseman, Mark Ellis, weakly popped up to Matt Carpenter for the first out. Here comes, as the legendary broadcaster Vin Scully would say, the butter and egg man, Adrian Gonzalez, up to the plate-- intentional walk.

Okay, so now, you're a hot-shot rookie playing in the NLCS for the very first time with the bases loaded trying to protect a one-run lead in the top of the 6th; what do you do? Why, strike out another hot-shot rookie and a clutch veteran to get yourself out of, up to that moment, the biggest jam of your professional life, that's what.

And that, right there, sums it up perfectly the direction in which these two teams are heading as they both try to advance to the biggest stage of their respective sport.

Will the Cardinals be able to keep up the amazing pitching, great defense and clutch hitting? Will the Dodgers be able to wake themselves up and remember how they beat another high-caliber team as they did, the Atlanta Braves? I guess we'll find out Monday, October 14th in Los Angeles, California.

First pitch is at 5PM PST. Make sure to tune in, it's probably going to be another heart-stopper, maybe.