Sean Reader Revisited

I remember Duncan getting Peavy all fired up when he said something to him at the end of an inning. I wish I could bottle up the feeling I had at that game. It was incredible.

Friend I came with worked in the bond industry so he had to get up at 330am the next day. As we were going to the parking lot we heard the begging 2 HRs of Kent and Drew, but figured it was too little too late.

I know most of you don’t care about baseball, but this one I could not resist. This is a long one, folks, but it goes into detail because…. well, I know I like to speak in hyperbole, but in the cold light of morning, last night’s Dodgers-Padres game still looks like the greatest game I’ve ever seen.

It’s impossible to divorce games from context. Gibson’s homer in the 1988 World Series is still the most important (read: best) game in Dodgers history. The two recent Important Red Sox games — Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (“Grady leaves Pedro in”) and Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS (“Dave Roberts steals second; Papi flips his helmet in the 12th”) are way up there in my memory for what they meant in terms of the postseason, and because of that, I think the moments are “greater.” (That is, even though the Red Sox lost that Game 7 in 2003, I won’t soon forget that game. That game is an integral part of Red Sox history.)

Still, as a game this one was better than any of those… and while it wasn’t the postseason, this one had some context to it, too. The Dodgers had just ceded first to the San Diego Padres in a very well-pitched game on Sunday. Last night, it was to be a battle of aces: the Dodgers’ Brad Penny — their winningest pitcher and the man who started this year’s All-Star Game — would face Jake Peavy, the Padres’ best pitcher and a man who’s owned the Dodgers since 2003. First place was on the line — a Dodgers win would put them a half-game over the Padres; a Dodgers loss would put them one-and-a-half back of San Diego (and just one game ahead of Philadelphia for the wild card).

Listening on the radio as I drove home, I heard Penny come in to start. He was good, getting Roberts to ground out and striking out Giles. Then the wheels came off the bus, and by the time the dust settled, the Dodgers were down 4-0 with Peavy yet to throw a pitch.

Jake Peavy. The ace. The man who has not lost to the Dodgers since 2003. “This game is over,” I said, and called Seamus to tell him as much. He agreed.

I came home and spent a few minutes talking to my lovely and patient bride. I told her the news about the game, and we shared our frustrations. I said I didn’t need to watch the game… and then recanted. Even if they lost, I wanted to see the thing. Patiently, Tiffany accepted this.

By the time I tuned in, the Dodgers had earned one run. (There was some discussion of Peavy looking angry or unsettled, but I didn’t hear or see what it was.) The Dodgers got their second the next inning, when Marlon Anderson — a journeyman outfielder, never very good — hit a home run. Two more in the third and the game was tied.

I pause here to emphasize how impossible I thought this was at the time. The Dodgers had spotted Jake Peavy four runs and had come back to tie. I did not foresee that happening and I was not alone. I had witnessed the first bizarre, impossible event of the night.

As the game progressed, each team got their chances. (In fact, in the entire game, no side went 1-2-3 at any time; there were constantly runners on base.) In the top of the sixth, Penny out, Tomko in for the Dodgers; he gives up a booming double, but gets out of it to preserve the 4-4 tie.

Then the fateful bottom of the sixth. Anderson gets on with a single and Betemit walks. Oscar Robles comes in to sacrifice, but the Padres pitcher, Embree, fielded and tried to get the lead runner at third; his throw pulled the third baseman off the bag and everyone was safe. Bases loaded, nobody out. Pitching change: Cla Meredith comes in for the Padres and shuts it down… Furcal grounds to second base, Anderson out at home; Lofton grounds into double play, inning over.

The momentum, if you believe in such things, shifted to the Padres, and they took advantage. Against the Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton in the 8th, the Padres scored twice, making it 6-4. Once again, the game looked over, but in the bottom of the 8th, against Scott Linebrink, the Dodgers would get their chances, too. Anderson opened with a triple and Betemit singled him home. After Olmedo Saenz struck out and Furcal flew out, with Julio Lugo running for Betemit, Kenny Lofton lifted a double to shallow right and it was second and third with two out and Nomar Garciaparra up. In a very disappointing, edge-of-your-seat at bat, Linebrink got the better of Garciaparra, striking him out. Threat over; the score is 6-5, Padres lead.

In comes Takashi Saito to pitch for the Dodgers. Saito, a 36-year-old rookie, came over from the Japanese leagues this year and has been absolutely lights-out. He entered the game with a 1.93 ERA (for you non-baseball fans, that’s very, very good)…. but he would not have the magic tonight. He pitched terribly, and after a very long half-inning, the Dodgers found themselves facing their second four-run deficit of the night.

With a four-run lead to work with, the Padres decided to let their best reliever, Trevor Hoffman, rest, and brought in a man named John Adkins. The first guy he faced was Jeff Kent.

Before we go into what happened next, some context. The Dodgers entered the game as the worst power-hitting team in the National League: number 16 out of 16 in home runs. They are famous for their lack of power, which makes this even more astounding:

Kent sends Adkins’s 1-ball-no-strike pitch over the wall for a home run. 9-6 Padres.

Now Adkins faces J.D. Drew. Drew works the count to 2-and-1 before sending the pitch a-way-back and gone. 9-7 Padres.

Bruce Bochy, the manager of the Padres has seen enough, and calls for Hoffman to pitch.

For you non-fans, Trevor Hoffman has a legitimate claim to the title of best relief pitcher in baseball history. The save is an odd stat and we can argue about its meaning, but it means something if you have more of them than anybody else, which, by the end of this season, Hoffman will have (The record is 478; Hoffman entered last night with 475).

In short, he is a very, very, very good pitcher who is very, very good at his job. He had a two-run lead and three outs to get with the Dodgers’ number six hitter due up.

That number six hitter, catcher Russell Martin, swung at the first pitch Hoffman gave him. High fly ball to left field and gone. 9-8 Padres.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,” says Vin Scully, who was at his best throughout the evening.

Now Marlon Anderson comes to the plate. Anderson was already at that point enjoying the game of his life. Really, he’s not that good; the Dodgers got him off waivers for a minor leaguer who’ll probably not amount to much. At this point in the game, Anderson was 4-for-4 with a home run, a triple, and two singles.

Hoffman delivered his first pitch and Anderson hit it to right… just over the wall. 9-9 tie. Anderson goes 5-for-5. His game is what I love about baseball; yaneverknow what’s going to happen. For a player like Anderson to have this kind of performance in a game like this is not only unpredictable but the kind of thing you bet against… and still, it happens.

Let us pause again: four back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. It was just the fourth time in major league history that’s happened, and the way it occurred — a bottom of the ninth comeback, down by four — is incredible. It’s the kind of stuff dream are made of. It’s the kind of stuff worthy of writing impossibly long game recaps about.

Hoffman then got out of the inning and we go to the 10th. With few arms left in the bullpen, the Dodgers turn to journeyman pitcher Aaron Sele, who does not pitch well, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Things looked bleak indeed for Dodgers fans.

…but in the bottom of the 10th, the Padres faced the same problem and called upon Rudy Seanez, who last enjoyed a good season sometime in the mid-90s. Kenny Lofton — the man who killed the sixth inning rally — led off and walked, breathing life into the team once more. Up comes Nomar Garciaparra, my favorite player.

Garciaparra has had his moments this year, mostly in the first half. He had two game-winning singles on consecutive nights against the Brewers in May, and a few nights later, hit a game-winning grand slam against the Astros. His first half was so good, he was an All-Star selection, but his second half has been terrible. He’s been mired in a terrible slump and plagued by injuries. Though he’s my favorite player, it’s been alternately thrilling and disappointing to watch him this season.

For nine innings, he was no great shakes with the bat (though he had hit a double, nothing had come of it); let’s not forget that he had had the chance in the 8th to be a hero, he struck out.

Now it is the 10th. The Dodgers are down by one and there’s a man on first. Nomar works the count to 3-and-1 and then gets his pitch.

Whack — like something out of the first half of the year, it sails way back into the left field bleachers. The Dodgers take their first lead of the night as everybody goes home; the Dodgers win, 11-10.

This game had absolutely everything: the important contextual matchup; the two aces facing off; the constancy of men on base; the unlikely player having the game of his life; two four-run comebacks, including the history-making comeback in the ninth; and my favorite player coming through to win it in extra innings.

After waxing enthusiastic about the game, Scully closes by saying, “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. The Dodgers are in first place!”

What a game. Marlon Anderson’s picture is on the front page of the Los Angeles Times today — not the sports section, but page A1 above the fold.

We have two extra tickets for tonight, if anyone is interested.

so I had the Padres’ feed, with Mark Vasgersian and Mark Grant. After Saito gave up those runs in the ninth, I turned off my living room TV, went to take a Carlos Ruiz, and retired to the bedroom to my computer to browse the internet. I got a text from a friend saying “I can’t believe this” and I figured he was talking about the game, so I turned on my TV to see Marlon Anderson flying around the bases, cementing his place as the greatest Dodger of all-time.

I missed all four home runs in the ninth, but I’ll be damned if I was going to turn off the game going forward! Even when San Diego scored in the 10th, I didn’t feel as deflated, probably because the Dodgers were already on borrowed time anyway. Anything more was gravy, and boy did Nomar deliver some delicious gravy.

The game was so great, but my girlfriend—→wife jumping up and down when Nomar hit that ball was the best part of it. She was not really a baseball/Dodger fan before 2005 season.

Was on a business trip in the east coast. This all happened after midnight and I didn’t have a TV feed to watch anyway.

Caught it on sportcenter in my hotel room the next morning.

Me and my cousin Kevin were watching the game and I just about gave up when we were down four runs in the 9th. I went upstairs to my room really depressed and saying “Fuck the Padres” as I headed to my room. Moments later, my cousin pretty much screamed my name telling me we hit two straight home runs, I ran back for the Martin at bat, boom. Then the magician, boom.

After the Padres scored in the 10th, I wished them death. Nomar gave me something close to it and I was a mad man with joy

And just a few weeks later, our joy, which was a beachball around the bleachers, would be popped by the sharp implement we call Rich Donnelly.

Two outs at home on the same play. I still haven’t forgiven you, Donnelly! BOOOOO!!

David Brown of Yahoo’s Big League Stew interviewed Vin Scully recently. Full text here, and audio here.

after the Padres went up early and missed the rest of the game.

Anyone have a great recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Bread?

I know…random

Did you see there is gonna be one about Fernando?

Counting [last night’s] game, the Dodgers are 436 for 1893 since the All-Star Game. That is a .230 batting average. The 1988 Dodgers batted .232 after the break and batted .202 in Sept/Oct.

My dad made me go finish chores, I assume he thought it was over. One thing he doesnt do is make me and my brother do chores/errands if a good game is on. My brother still jokes about it.

The guy woke up me to watch the end of the Nomo-NoNo, pretty sure I was not happy about it considering my bed time was 8 back then.

I just made an appointment to Donate Blood!

Teams scores 30 runs in a game
Umpire blows perfect game on final out

I’ll do a quick roundup of that game for me. Iive in Vegas and still make it out to 6-10 games a year. That Monday I so happened to talk my 3 friends into going to the game with me. We drove down really early Monday morning and hung out at universal city walk. We tried to get tickets at the dodgers store but they were sold out. So we went to dodger stadium at about 4 to scalp tickets, got them, then chilled at the park drinking some brews.
 We had shitty seats but I didn’t care. There were actually a lot of padres fans near us. I’m a diehard dodgers fan, one of my friends is a bandwagon dodger fan, the other is a Yankees fan, and my fourth buddy is actually second cousins with Andre Ethier, so he was going for the dodgers, but was unhappy cause Ethier was benched for Anderson.
  So it was a good game through the first 6 innings or so with some offense and was tied up feeling good. Fast forward to the top of the ninth and the padres “blew” it open. All the padres fan were shit talking. I’ll never forget a dodger fan leaving early (shocking I know) and the guys next to me saying “where you guys going the game isn’t over”. The dumb guy said and I quote “padres up 4 with Hoffman in the pen, yeah it’s over”. The fact a dodger fan said that pissed me off. I wish I could rub it in his face to this day.
 So middle of the ninth and my friends wanted to leave. I gave them every excuse i could think of to stay. 1. I always stay through the whole game no matter what. 2. We drove all the way down here what’s another few min.? 3. What if Ethier is able to pinch hit, atleast we’ll be able to see him. Those reasons were enough to stay.
Homerun one- crowd was excited but still down. Only half of the crowd left probably stood up and cheered.
Homerun 2- Drew hit a bomb so that got the crowd into into it and I was getting excited. During the pitching change I remember being able to see people trying to come back in from our seats.
Homerun 3- me and my friends going crazy. Even the Yankees fan. We are all jumping up and down. Crowd was same.
Homerun 4- I had to change my pants. Not literally but I was screaming crying everything it was crazy. I still love Marlon Anderson. The place erupted.
After the padres scored in the tenth I didn’t care. I knew the Dodgers would win if Lofton could get on base. After the walk, I knew Nomar could atleast get a hit. I think he only had one hit to that point and had a good AB. I remember when he hit that ball just jumping and screaming and then it got blurry from there. I remember everyone in the stadium going crazy running up and down the aisles. I looked for some padres fan to return the shit talking but they were few and far between. Walking to the car I was screaming, high fiveing people, waving my fleece blanket, going nuts. I imagine it’s the same feeling I’ll get when I see my boys in blue win a world series. (I was only 3 in 1988.)
Of course I was gloating to my friends, saying good thing we stayed. They were all excited (even though Ethier flew out in the 9th). We drove back to Vegas after the game and I was passed out like a baby in the backseat, exhausted from all the screaming.
Whenever I watch that game on tv, I still get that feeling in my stomach and hearing Vin get excited like that too makes my eyes get a little watery. I was also at the playoff game last year when Loretta hit the walkoff and don’t get me wrong that was awesome and that was the freaking playoffs, but the 4+1 game will still always be superior, well atleast until I get to see the Dodgers win it all.

http://www.truebluela.com/2010/9/16/1692561/will-the-dodgers-bring-back-ted

just crazy stuff. you cant script that. too bad I didnt have cable.