Bill Plaschke: Dodgers dig deep and unearth the will to survive another day

LOS ANGELES—A dozen outs from the end of their season, pushed by a raucous Halloween crowd and fueled by their own desperation, the Dodgers dug deep.
They trailed by one run. They had one hit. They were leaning on a tattered bullpen. The night was cooling. The sky was spitting. Winter was coming.
But then, in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series against the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, it happened, the wondrous realization of a nightly cry that brought back summer.
It was time for Dodger baseball.
BOX SCORE:  DODGERS 3, ASTROS 1
They rallied. They were relentless. They mounted a sixth-inning push against Astros ace Justin Verlander that included two line drives, a fly ball, and a bounced pitch that hit a savvy veteran on the foot. The bullpen worked out of three consecutive chilling jams with exhausted arms throwing twisting pitches. The fans roared with each throw, each swing, each push into the Astros psyche.
By the time the digging was finished, the Dodgers had unearthed what are the two most wondrous words in the language of Los Angeles.
Game 7.
Yes, there will be a final and deciding game in this classic World Series, the first in the 56-season history of Dodger Stadium, the biggest baseball game in the history of this city.
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Seven months and 176 games are not going to be enough to decide this Dodger season. It will come down to one more night, Wednesday at Chavez Ravine at 5:20 p.m., one game for the World Series championship after the Dodgers' 3-1 victory over the Astros on Tuesday tied this seven-game series at three games apiece.

"You talk about Game 7 so much that it becomes a cliche, but the idea that it's now a real thing?" said pitcher Brandon McCarthy. "Surreal."
It is so monumental, it renders even the most frequent of baseball chatter useless. Just listen to infielder Charlie Culberson.
"Well, it's win now or go home," he stated, pausing, raising his eyebrows. "Wait a minute. I guess we go home either way."
The Dodgers will start the veteran Yu Darvish, acquired from Texas last summer just for moments like this. The Astros will start Lance McCullers Jr., a 24-year-old kid who the Astros surely hope is too young to realize the enormousness of the situation.