From a plastic bag on the chair in front of his locker, Yoshinobu Yamamoto removed the jersey he wore Sunday on Uniqlo Field.
Carefully spreading the uniform on the backrest of a nearby sofa, Yamamoto used a silver marker to inscribe on the article of clothing his signature, as well as the date.
This was a gift for his longtime trainer Osamu Yada and his wife.
“Their 40th anniversary,” said Yamamoto, who also presented Yada with a game ball and lineup card.
Yamamoto failed to deliver a signature performance in the Dodgers’ 9-1 win over the Phillies, but he didn’t look or sound as if he was bothered.
His season was unfolding as his mentor said it would, and the team was starting to play the way it was built to.
With their victory in the rubber match of the three-game series, the Dodgers won their fifth consecutive series.
Their lead in the National League West, which was at 1 ½ games just a week ago, was now at 5 ½ games. Their advantage figures to increase in the coming weeks, as the Dodgers spent the weekend addressing the one potential shortcoming that could have threatened their continued dominance.
Regardless of how much longer Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow remain sidelined, their starting pitching won’t implode.
Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki answered important questions that were being asked about them — Wrobleski about whether his All-Star-caliber form was sustainable and Sasaki about whether he even belonged in the major leagues.
As for Yamamoto, he demonstrated that his early-season, early-inning problems are behind him, the World Series hero striking out 10 batters over 5 ⅓ scoreless innings.
Yamamoto described himself as “close” after being tagged for five runs by the Giants a couple of weeks ago, and he was right, posting a 0.93 ERA in his three starts since then.
“It’s getting better and better,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.
Command problems resulted in him running up his pitch count, but he was encouraged by the increased velocity of his fastball, which averaged 96.7 mph.
That was a mile up from his season average.
“In my bullpen session two days ago, I was throwing harder than I thought,” he said. “Today, too.”
In other words, the velocity came easy to him, an indication he was rounding into midseason form.
The extra zip was useful in the most critical juncture of the game. A double by Justin Crawford in the fifth inning placed runners on second and third base for the Phillies, for whom Kyle Schwarber was due up.
Yamamoto struck out Schwarber with a 97.5 mph fastball. He followed that up by striking out Trea Turner, this time with a 95.9 mph sinker.
Elevated fastball velocity was a theme throughout the weekend, with Wrobleski and Sasaki also throwing harder than usual.
A contact pitcher who was punished recently for his inability to miss bats, Wrobleski showed up in the series opener Friday night with a fastball that touched 97 mph.
Throwing a fastball that averaged a season-best 94.9 mph, Wrobleski held the Phillies to a run over seven innings. He struck out a career-high nine batters.
“It’s just kind of felt like a little bit of a missing piece,” Wrobleski said of the fastball. “It just honestly gives me more confidence to kind of go out there and attack even more.”
For Sasaki, his fastball was what once made him the world’s best pitching prospect. But starting in his final season in Japan, in 2023, he couldn’t throw it as hard or as accurately. The problem persisted into this season, forcing Sasaki to rely more on offspeed pitches.
On Saturday, in the 10th start of his second major-league season, Sasaki rediscovered his fastball — and by doing so might have rediscovered himself.
Sasaki touched 100 mph twice, the first time he reached triple digits as a starter in the major leagues since his first game with the Dodgers, which was played in his home country of Japan last year.
Sasaki was able to use his fastball as his primary weapon, as its average velocity was 98.5 mph — 1.5 mph faster than his season average. Of the 38 fastballs he threw, 14 were 99 mph or faster.
“This was the game in which I was able to pitch most like me,” Sasaki said in Japanese.
Taking two of three games from a team they played in the NL Division Series last year was important.
But even more so were the performances of Wrobleski and Sasaki.
At the least, the rotation should be able to survive the absences of Glasnow and Snell. At best, it could even thrive.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
