Mark Loretta - A career summed up in one at bat
by Phil Gurnee on Oct 9, 2009 8:52 AM PDT
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PrintSome don't like this part of baseball but it is one of my favorite parts. The guy on the end of the bench who can be a difference maker at any time in any game. In football the 40th man usually just sits, in basketball the 12th man rarely if ever can make an impact. But in baseball the bench can always play a role, and often does in every game. The guys on the bench range from the old veteran who used to start and no longer has the game, the veteran who never started but has known his role was utility from the day he made the big leagues, and sometimes the young prospect who has not quite reached his time. The Dodgers bench is not very strong and has not had much of a positive impact since the all-star game but it only takes one game to change a perception.
Mark Loretta got the game winning hit but it was more then Mark Loretta in the 9th inning. Juan Pierre ran for James Loney and scored the tying run in what would have been a very close play if it was not Juan Pierre running. Belliard for all intensive purposes intents and purposes is a bench player at this stage of his career but due to a hot hand is starting in place of Orlando Hudson. He delivered the key hit to bring in Juan Pierre with the tying run. And finally Mark Loretta with his bloopner (1/2 bloop/1/2 line drive) in just the right spot to win the game.
Probably nothing is harder then staging a two out comeback with no one on base but the Dodgers managed to do that thanks to luck (Holliday), patience (Casey Blake), skill (Belliard), more patience (Martin), and finally more luck (Loretta). Only one ball was hit hard and that was by Belliard. The two walks by Blake and Martin were almost as important as Franklin used up his whole repertoire on Blake giving Belliard plenty of time to see everything he had to throw. It was truly a team victory.
And how about Mark Loretta the punching bag of every commentator on True Blue for months? What a moment for him, as he said in his post game interview he never had a bigger hit in his career and Mark has had a hell of a career. He had the misfortune of coming up in 1995 two years after the Robin Yount era and didn't see a post season roster until 2005 while with the Padres. Over the last 16 years he has accumulated almost 6,000 plate appearances and yet will now be forever remembered for one appearance on Oct 8th, 2009. Loretta was signed by the Dodgers to smack left hand pitchers around and handle some infield chores for Blake/Hudson/Loney but after a great start he became a huge drag on the team, failing time after time from June on. Many of us felt he should not even be on the post game roster. And when you construct a team based on statistics I'm sure we were right.
But Joe Torre went with his gut, took the experienced Loretta over DeWitt and the Dodgers have a new hero in town. It was a typical Mark Loretta at bat, soft line drive to left center field, no power, just a single, basically his whole career in a nutshell. What a way to cap a career. This is the kind of game that is going to stay with us forever, because the win was so improbable, it makes it ever so sweet.
Savor it, most fans will never ever have this feeling, these games don't happen very often in the postseason. Don't look toward tomorrow until tomorrow. Just let the good vibes flow around you for 24 hours.
Congratulations to all the Dodger fans who got to see this in person. It was amazing at home, I can't even fathom how it would have felt to be at the stadium.
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Awesome post
In basketball it would be like Mbenga burying a 3 with time expiring to win the game.
One correction: Belliard for all intensive purposes is a bench player at this stage of his career but due to a hot hand is starting in place of Orlando Hudson.
The phrase is actually “intents and purposes” (this is a common error but drives me nuts) and also Belli is the Hot Horse!
After scratching my head, I think I finally figured out why Loretta was included on the post-season roster,
his ability to be able to be the back-up back-up catcher.
What a way to end a career! Ataboy Loretta! I knew there was a reason for you to be on the roster! You have done more now than we can ever possibly of asked of you or had any right expecting. Veteran at-bat, clutch hitter, you name the cliche, you made it happen. You have enshrined your place in Dodger’s lore right next to Steve Finley. Awesome job.
Awesome win!!
Seeing that the Tigers had their Aubrey Huff come up with nothing for them, I am happy to see Loretta get that hit last night.
BTW, can I join in, in this wonderful series? Kick these Cardinals butts. Any Tiger fan would love to see the Cardinals eliminated immediately!!
Tammy
Welcome aboard. You’ll find a few of your fellow Tiger fans have also joined up.
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 9:19 AM PDT up reply actions
Amazing how many Tiger
fans are rooting against the Cardinals. Didn’t 1968 appease you:)
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Seeing the ball put in play
I was certain it was going to drop for the game winning hit. Then I saw the Cardinals were playing at Pierre/Eckstein depth and got nervous that an amazing defensive play would happen and force extra innings. Once I saw the ball was going to drop I jumped out of my chair and pulled a Tiger Woods fist pump.
All of these emotions took place in the roughly 3 seconds from Loretta making contact to the ball dropping.
Just unreal. Glad I made it home and was able to experience those feelings.
That’s kinda how I was feeling too. The moment the ball left the bat, the hustle by Loney out of the box and the reaction of the crowd led me to think it was going to drop. Then when the camera switched and I could see Holliday zeroing in on the ball I thought it was over. And then to see if hit the ground… I was in euphoric shock.
You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.
I actually heard
the Dodgers being talking about this morning at work.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I didn’t :(
There was no sports talk at the office today, meaning there was no important preseason basketball game yesterday.
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 9:57 AM PDT up reply actions
The difference is
that everyone knows I’m a huge Dodger fan so they all came by to congratulate me. Plus I work with cool people.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
My boss sent me a text like 3 minutes after Loretta’s single dropped. I thought that was cool.
by Eric Stephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:05 AM PDT up reply actions
That's awesome.
I doubt I’ll be hearing anything baseball related on Monday, should the Dodgers win the series, from my co-worker.
She is a diehard Cardinals fan.
“E: dnt drnk 2 much..need u in ofc early”
by KellyStephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:45 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Ya, I doubt people around me really know how much of a Dodger fan I am. People notice when I stay late because I will be going to the Dodger game that night, but that’s about it. I think people realize that I am a big sports fan in general (and everybody probably knows I am a Clipper fan since they find that so unbelievably odd) but I doubt they even consider that I watch every Dodger game. Oh well, thanks again for providing this outlet!
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 10:08 AM PDT up reply actions
Make Sure Your Team Gets Your Hitters on the Plane to St. Louis.
You don’t want to look like the Cards have.
Anyone buy the white towels were a major distraction for Holliday?
Aces are for teams without the best bullpen in baseball.
They were a distraction after the game when he had to use those towels to soothe his junk.
by Eric Stephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:16 AM PDT up reply actions
No
I’ve made that exact same blunder. He ran straight in hard, head was bobbing and he misread the trajectory. The best thing about the drop wasn’t just the drop but the fact he bounced away and he fell down which allowed Loney to take 2nd base. If Loney is not on 2nd base, who knows how Franklin would have pitched Blake.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Not really
it was a tougher play then people are making it out to be. The line drive was dropping on him and he just didn’t execute. It wasn’t a Bill Buckner type blunder.
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions
Did you notice how deep he was for Loney
That seemed very deep for LF for Loney. He goes LF alot but never with power at Dodger Stadium.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I don't.
I kept rewatching Matt Buckner’s attempt. I noticed he moved his gloved hand twice, unsure of how he should catch the ball. I think he had a read on it but was slow with his reaction.
Yup, he never seemed to know how he was going to catch it
the backhand or the palm up. He knew the ball was coming right at him but I think he felt it was going to be much lower by the time he got there.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
NFW. Didn’t bother Kemp on the sinking liner, and even Manny “Gold Glove” Ramirez caught a sinking liner. And they weren’t sitting on those towels during either of those plays.
by KellyStephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
NLCS Ticket Pre-sale On
Too rich for my blood, I’m going to save my pennies for the World Series
Code: NLCS2
Thanks for the reminder
got tickets for games 3 and 4.
Plenty of the expensive seats available. 600.00 baseline seats available, I said no thanks and went for my preferred Loge which seems to be on the sections that has seats available.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Thanks…my bro’s coming into town and i just picked up 4 in the reserve.
Great story on tickets: a guy at work went to the game, buying tix in the top deck via StubHub. In the 3rd inning a guy from StubHub came up and told them they got an upgrade. He saw inning 3 on from row 5 on the field level, 8 rows up. That’s right, the yellow seats, about 30 feet from Tommy and McCourt. He paid $15 for his tix up top. He said the guy next to him paid $480 for his.
Is that sweet or what?
by KellyStephen on Oct 9, 2009 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions
Did you by chance get the NLCS Game 2 tickets via StubHub? :)
by Eric Stephen on Oct 9, 2009 11:19 AM PDT up reply actions
Nope..i went right to the source
Stupid me
by KellyStephen on Oct 9, 2009 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions
Huh. Was that a StubHub promo, or what? That’s really odd (but, cool).
For the last weekday day game, I went with some work friends, bought my usual top deck seats. One of them got a call from a friend of his, whose law firm had seat on the field, right behind home plate. But, he only had three seats, so all five of us couldn’t go. I elected to stay in the top deck. I love it up there.
by TopDeckTrueBlue on Oct 9, 2009 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions
For two games we saw Ludwick
catch all our line drives to RF, then we get sun hit to RF, and then Loney, and then the soft Loretta game winner. I said it evened out.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
At least Loretta hit it harder than Luis Gonzalez :)
by Eric Stephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions
Loretta really came through yesterday but the Thome Watch continues.
Aces are for teams without the best bullpen in baseball.
Be patient my friend. His moment will come, and it will be awesome.
Also, SSS, but Thome’s playoff OBP is .500 :)
by Eric Stephen on Oct 9, 2009 10:24 AM PDT up reply actions
If Thome can't run
does he still get the DH gig in the World Series?
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I was thinking its gotta be him
or Juan playing in the field and manny dh’ing
William Doolittle at your service, a.k.a. will do.
but i dont want to look that far down the road yet
William Doolittle at your service, a.k.a. will do.
How strange it would be to see Juan
take the DH spot after pinch running for Thome, or could they switch Manny and put Juan in LF?
DH specialist Juan Pierre?
I guess they have Bellie/Odog for backup DH too if Thome gets on base in a clutch situation too.
To counter act the Shaq preseason Laker giddies
the Staples Blake Griffin era starts tonight.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I’m excited.
Lisa Dillman is reporting he’ll get about 18-24 minutes tonight. Also, not sure if you noticed, but Telfair is back practicing so that’s a good thing. As I’ve realized, if Baron gets injured (and his history suggest he will miss at least some time) there is no PG depth behind him.
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
I've got an extra ticket tonight.
if you want it. I can’t email it, we will have to meet at the game.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Thanks Phil for the invite. Unfortunately I can’t make it work tonight. Hopefully we can do it another time.
by Michael White on Oct 9, 2009 10:55 AM PDT up reply actions
Wow, good thing this thing doesn't go too far into BBall season
this could be more divisive than politics assuming the Clips show up this year.
A surreal happy moment
There’s only been a handful of these moments I’ve experienced (i.e.- Kobe’s game winner against Phoenix, 4 + 1 game, etc) and they will never get old. It’s truly genuine for any sports fan, it’s remarkable. Treasure these games just the way Phil says, you only get to watch only a handful and other teams don’t even get to watch any for their own team.
I’m still feeling victory nirvana.
Holliday was quoted as losing the ball in the lights not the towels. Were the lights even on in the 9th inning? If so, they probably hadn’t taken effect yet. I wonder at what time it is standard to turn on the lights. I went for a walk after the game and it was still bright outside. Of course I live on the south pole. :)
vr, Xei
Yes, they turned them on as I was headed home from work
which was like the 7th inning.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
by Phil Gurnee on Oct 9, 2009 10:52 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
yes the lights were on
they were not taking much effect on the field but if you looked right at them they are pretty bright, even at 6:00 pm in October. Although like other posters said it looked to me like he just could not figure out which way to hold his glove
by MammothDodger on Oct 9, 2009 11:25 AM PDT up reply actions
Xeifrank nails game two
Not sure if anyone noticed that Xeifrank’s simulator had 3 – 2 as the number one likely outcome.
http://www.truebluela.com/2009/10/7/1076058/cardinals-vs-dodgers-game-2
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Amazing
Shit truly does happen in small samples. Hahaha.
Like Chris Carpenter getting tooled, Jeff Weaver winning, and Mark Loretta getting hits. :o
Odd timing for you to admit Belliard is a bench player. :P
Just because I think he's a bench player
does not mean I think he’s a shitty player. He’s got excellent skills when used correctly over 300 at bats given his age.
I never meant
he’s shitty like Loretta.
I consider players with non-starter skills shitty.
It’s a difference in semantics, basically. :o
by Chad Moriyama on Oct 10, 2009 6:09 AM PDT up reply actions
During the 2 out rally in the 9th
I was just thinking, anyone can get a hit at least once in every 5 at bats, so why can’t we get a couple big ones right now?
Shortly after that Belliard tied the game, and 2 batters later Loretta won it for us :)
I would like to apologize for any bad things I’ve ever said about Mark Loretta, that man came up as big as any Dodgers (not named Gibson) ever has for us.
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