See more of our coverage in your search results.
ATLANTA – This was never about redemption.
Or so Andy Pages said.
“I don’t even think of what happened last year,” Pages said in Spanish. “What happened, happened.”
The way Pages viewed it, his miserable offensive performance on the Dodgers’ World Series run last year wasn’t something for which he had to make up.
The experience, Pages said, made him the player he is now.
The player he is now drove in the runs that sank the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night and sent the Dodgers on their way to a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their National League Division Series.
“Tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Andy picked us up huge with a big hit.”
The best-of-five series over, Pages walked around the visiting clubhouse at Truist Field in a commemorative gray shirt that was soaked with cheap sparkling wine and beer. A pair of goggles covered his forehead.
“Special,” he said. “Special.”
The journey here started a year ago, when Pages batted just .078 in the postseason. By Game 5 of the World Series, he was on the bench.
But Pages said he considers that World Series to be a wonderful memory, and not just because he made a game-saving catch in Game 7 as a defensive replacement.
“Because we won,” he said.
And rather than sulk over not starting the last three games of the World Series, Pages decided to use his failures to guide his training.
To be the kind of player who could be trusted in big games, Pages figured, he had to become a more selective hitter.
Improving his eye by stepping in against an artificial pitching machine called a Trajekt Arc, Pages made his first All-Star team this year.
A broken hand in late August nearly derailed his season, but Pages did what he could to remain sharp. Before he was able to swing a bat again, Pages was stepping in against the Trajekt Arc again.
Pages returned for the final week of the regular season and batted .333, which is why what happened next was shocking.
In the first two games of the NLDS, Pages was a combined 0-for-7. What was worse than the numbers was how he looked. He looked lost. He looked desperate.
Pages’ ABS challenge privileges were revoked after a particularly unwise effort to turn a called strike into a ball.
At this point, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged he was concerned.
However, Roberts said, “This is one of those things where I’m gonna continue to give Andy leash. I believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we’re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.”
Pages rewarded Roberts with a two-hit performance in the Dodgers’ Game 3 win.
In Game 4, Pages stepped into the batter’s box with the game on the line.
Seventh inning. Two outs. Bases loaded. Game tied, 1-1. Fireballer Ryan Suarez on the mound.
Pages worked a full count.
Suarez threw him a 99.7-mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and Pages banged it up the middle.
Two runs scored, and the Dodgers were suddenly ahead, 3-1.
“I was waiting for that moment,” Pages said. “I prepared a long time for that moment, and thanks to God I was able to get the result.”
He prepared for the moment. He dreamed of the moment.
But he didn’t try to visualize it.
“I think that when you think too much about something, it doesn’t happen,” he said. “You have to let things happen.”
Did he ever.
Redemption, evolution, call it whatever you want.
Pages finally had his October moment in the batter’s box.
