What a night at Dodger Stadium. A wonderful seventh inning sent everyone at Dodger Stadium home happy, as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 6-1 in the opening game of a three-game series.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Aaron Miles danced down the third base line enough to induce a game-tying balk by Esmil Rogers, then Justin Sellers shook off two earlier strikeouts to deliver a two-run single to give Ted Lilly a much-deserved lead.
James Loney followed with a two-run home run off Matt Reynolds to break the game open, giving the Dodgers a 5-1 lead. Also, as Rob Neyer pointed out on Baseball Nation, Loney has hit a whopping five of his seven home runs this season against Colorado.
But the capper was Matt Kemp crushing a Reynolds pitch past the spot where Jose Canseco hit the camera in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. It was the 30th home run for Kemp, giving him exclusive access to the 30/30 club.
But as fun as the game was, the best news came from the Vin Scully Press Box, when Scully himself announced during the broadcast that he would return for another season.
The only thing about the night which seemed askew was that no announcement was made of Scully's return at Dodger Stadium. But that didn't take away from a great night at Chavez Ravine.
WP - Ted Lilly (8-13): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts
LP - Esmil Rogers (6-3): 6 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts