As recently as the winter of 2013-14, Justin Turner was out of baseball. For the second time.

A seventh-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Reds in 2006, out of Lakewood Mayfair High School, Turner had not demonstrated he could hit successfully at the major-league level. At best it looked as if he might be a banjo-hitting utility man handy to have around to plug a hole anywhere in the infield — which was pretty much all he did for the New York Mets during the 2013 season.

So they waived him, as the Baltimore Orioles had done earlier in his career. And for two months Turner, 29, did not have a team and faced the real possibility his big-league career was over, without his leaving much of an impression.

Until the Dodgers signed him as a free agent, and called him up to the big club in May.

It has been onward and upward for Turner ever since, to the point that the waived utility infielder of four years ago is now commonly referred to as the “heart and soul” of the Dodgers — a tired expression, usually overstated, but we know what people are getting at.

Rather like Kirk Gibson was described, back in 1988.

You may recall Gibson hit a memorable home run in the postseason that year.

Tonight, Turner hit one that will not be replayed millions of times in years to come, but his homer also won a game, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, at Dodger Stadium, 29 years to the day of Gibson’s big hit, to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.

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A relative brought us a copy of the New York Times. Like every other U.S. newspaper, The Gray Lady ain’t what she used to be. A downsized format, far fewer pages … well, you know the drill.

But some of the basics are still there. A stripped down news and commentary package. A weather map. A quote of the day.

And one puzzle has survived, although in altered form.

To repeat what is in the headline and, well, in the photo, see if you can deduce an answer from this clue:

“Nine letters: Shrunken newspaper feature”.

The answer?

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This is where the general Southern California-oriented blogger writes about the Los Angeles Dodgers, what with the club opening the National League Championship Series at home tomorrow versus the Chicago Cubs.

I’ve been thinking about this for a few days, and I’ve got only one contribution to make to the discussion:

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It’s time for a list. A lot of information and opinions banging around out there about the U.S. loss at Trinidad and Tobago, and subsequent failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Let’s see if we can pick out a few of the most interesting notions — and maybe introduce a few new ones.

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China is the world’s most populous nation, with 1.38 billion people.

India is second, at 1.28 billion.

The U.S. is third, at 325 million.

Indonesia is fourth, at 260 million.

Further down the list, Pakistan is No. 6 with 203 million and Bangladesh is No. 8 with 158 million.

Q: And what do those six countries have in common, when it comes to soccer?

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OK, we can stop whining.

A couple of hours of cursing and gnashing of teeth is understandable, but after that … time to move on.

Weird things happened tonight and the U.S. national team is out of the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

A 2-1 defeat at Trinidad & Tobago; Honduras and Panama winning over nothing-to-play-for Mexico and Costa Rica. A goal that banged off the bar and then the head of the Mexico keeper. Some referee’s decisions that could have gone other ways (the “ghost goal” by Panama) and changed things. Convulsions in the Concacaf standings, and the Yanks are fifth in the hexagonal — and done.

It is embarrassing, sure, to sit out Russia 2018, when your population and GNP are several orders of magnitude greater than those of your regional opponents. But it takes only 11 to play. Weird things happen, remember?

Just about everyone goes through this.

England, “masters of the game”, failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. Argentina was left out in 1970 but won the whole thing in 1978; France missed out on USA 1994 but was champion four years later.

The Netherlands and Cameroon made six of the past seven but went down in flames this time around.

You want real trouble? Check out the USMNT prior to the start of the U.S.’s seven-straight run, now ended:

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That’s what you say when the ball gets away and rolls into another court, in tennis or basketball. “A little help, please?” A request, not a demand.

Which is what the U.S. national soccer team is asking of Mexico and Costa Rica.

“A little help, please?”

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As the ultimate international sport, one might expect soccer would offer all sorts of odd and interesting connections.

This guy played for that guy, and later became coach of this team that I covered …

It really is rather amazing, in a sort of “three degrees of separation” way. And I have noticed a few more of them today as more Russia 2018 World Cup berths are confirmed.

Including a guy who may be The First Man of Slovenian Soccer  …

And the man who coached Egypt to its first World Cup finals berth since 1990.

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I have come around on Yasiel Puig.

Not because he has turned into the greatest player in baseball, because he has not. Not because he had a great 2017 season, because he did not. Not because he is a fundamentally sound ballplayer, because he is not.

Why, then?

Because he is a fun player to watch. Almost like a big kid (a really big kid; 6-2, 255) set loose in the schoolyard, having a great time running around and doing goofy stuff — from which he derives great pleasure and for which he means no harm.

Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers enjoy watching their 26-year-old Cuban outfielder: No one gets a noisier reception when the lineups are announced or when he comes up to bat.

And either the stodgiest among us have developed a fondness for his theatrical charms, or we have become inured to his flakier stuff because he has been doing it in L.A. since 2013. The bat-licking, the tongue-wagging, the little dances, the gestures toward the crowd or his teammates — or all of the above.

Tonight, he again brought more-tangible benefits to the game as the Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-5 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National League Championship Series.

To wit: Three singles and two runs driven in.

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Some of us remember 1988 like it was yesterday.

OK, not yesterday as much as it was like last week. Last month. Last century. Some of it is getting downright hazy. Gibson’s home run, sure, and Orel Hershiser’s two starts … and who else played on that team? Steve Sax, maybe?

Also, some significant fraction of Los Angeles Dodgers fans have no memory of the club’s five-game World Series victory over the Oakland Athletics in ’88 … because it happened 29 years ago and they were not yet alive to enjoy it.

Here we go again. The Dodgers in the playoffs for the ninth time since 2004 and in the previous eight they not only did not win the World Series, they also did not play in it.

Fans are forgiven for not blocking out early November for a victory parade through downtown Los Angeles. They have lots of hope but not a lot of faith in their team, even the 2017 edition that won an Los Angeles Dodgers’ record 104 games. Because they also remember that 1-16 stretch of awful in August and September.

There are other issues, as well.

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