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The story of Sunday's 1-0 Dodgers victory over the Reds was Yasiel Puig and his first career walk-off home run. Just in case you missed it, here is a video and GIF of the final pitch of the game per MLB.com.
Now for some more Puig-related links:
- For some terrific photos of the celebration, and from the game itself, check out Dodgers photographer Jon SooHoo's blog.
- In case you missed the bat flip, Chad Moriyama has your GIF-related needs covered.
- The only Dodger since 1916 (the earliest that Baseball-Reference.com has daily box scores) with more home runs in his first 48 career games than the 10 by Yasiel Puig is David Ross, who hit 11 in his first 49 games in 2003-2004.
- Before Puig, the last Dodger to hit a walk-off home run to break a scoreless tie in the 11th inning or later was Carl Furillo on May 2, 1955, per MLB Stat of the Day.
- The Dodgers set a new franchise record on Sunday with 20 strikeouts while batting. "Even though three of those 20 strikeouts were mine, I kept giving it everything I had," Puig said, per Lance Pugmire of the LA Times. "We adjusted inning by inning, and the result was the result. My team won."
- "Each player does what he can when he gets to the plate," said Puig about his slide into home plate, per Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA. "Some people jump, some people slide, some people run. I had a previous teammate on my Cuban team that jumped and when he landed he hurt his ankle, so I decided to slide."
- "Just when you think you've seen it all in this game, you see something new," said Chris Capuano, per Mark Saxon of ESPN LA.
- Brandon League has pitched 6⅔ scoreless innings in four appearances since the All-Star break and got the win on Sunday after Puig's home run. "We're finding a way to win," League said, per Austin Laymance of MLB.com. "It doesn't matter what happens. We have a feeling before the game starts that we're going to win. We've got a good thing going."
- Puig's bat flip and slide into home plate has produced some negative reactions. Matt Snyder at CBS Sports briefly examined both sides of the argument and rightly concluded, "He's an excited 22-year-old kid playing a game."
Now, on to other non-Puig Dodgers news:
- Don Mattingly, who was seemingly on his way out in May, seems destined to get National League Manager of the Year votes now, writes Mike Petriello at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness.
- Clayton Kershaw's curve ball is to die for, writes Michael Hllywa at Baseball Analytics. Among the notes are that opponents are hitting .061/.061/.061 against Kershaw's deuce this season.
- Before the season the Dodgers were one of five National League teams to add a second hitting coach, along with the Cubs, Phillies, Pirates and Reds. Of those teams, all but the Phillies have seen an increase in runs scored per game in 2013 over 2012, per Anna McDonald of ESPN.
- With Wednesday's 1 p.m. PT trade deadline looming, MLB Network will have 17 hours of coverage of baseball's wheeling and dealing. Steve Lepore at SB Nation has an inside look at the process.