6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

The question remaining before the house is whether Greg Maddux will enter the Hall of Fame on its first unanimous ballot. It's not likely, of course, as the standing membership of the BBWAA contains not a few idjits, some of whom actively profess that they would never vote for someone on the first ballot because Babe Ruth wasn't voted in unanimously. But maybe they need to be subjected to more games like this one. Maddux surrendered no more than one legitimate and two infield singles through the first five innings; he collected a pair of 1-X-3 double plays; he made two 1-3 groundout plays (in the second against Royce Clayton and in the sixth against Aaron Harang), and got an assist on Scott Hatteberg's groundout in the fourth.

But perhaps Maddux's best play was the last out of the seventh: with men on second and third and two out, Nomar caught what should have been a lineout to first, end of inning. Only, not, as the ball squirted out of his glove. Nomar recovered the bobble, and fired a bullet to Maddux, already running to first — and beat out Javier Valentin by about a half step for a heartracing conclusion to the inning. In all, Maddux was involved in an eye-popping eleven of the 21 outs made in the seven innings he pitched.

At the plate, Maddux drove in the first and third runs of the game, the first one on a solid RBI single that got him to second on the throw. Then in the fourth, he drove in what would have been the winning run (had it not been for an RBI single by Todd Hollandsworth surrendered by Jonathan Broxton) on a suicide squeeze. In short, it was a simply masterful appearance by Maddux, who captured his 330th career win, surrendering only two runs, one on an anomalous solo shot to Jason LaRue, and another in the seventh on a leadoff double by Encarnacion followed by an RBI single from Scott Hatteberg.

I should add that the other Dodgers did have a little to do with the victory, lest I make it sound like Greg Maddux took the field sans any player other than Nomar. Greg Maddux turned golden Andre Ethier's second inning walk. In the fourth, Russ Martin drove in Nomar Garciaparra on an RBI single that turned into a scoring play from first when Jason LaRue couldn't cleanly field the throw from Aaron Freel; the ESPN play-by-play charged Freel with a throwing error, but it really should have been given to LaRue, as the ball was straight at the catcher. In the fifth, J.D. Drew's RBI triple plated Julio Lugo, and might have plated him as well save for a brilliant 8-4-2 play to nail Drew at the plate by a good amount.

And then there was the simply astonishing eighth inning, featuring three homers. Wilson Betemit's, off Scott Schoeneweis, chased that left-hander; Matt Belisle then came in to get the next out, Russ Martin on a flyout to center, but Olmedo Saenz pinch-hit a solo homer, and Rafael Furcal ripped one, too, chasing Belisle, forcing the Reds to bring in Rheal Cormier for the last two outs of the inning.

It was a heckuva game. Together with last night, I'm 2-0 on Other People's Tickets on the year.

ESPN Box • Recap

---

I should note, incidentally, that Jon's followup post about the recent Steve Henson piece in the Times regarding the hideous lines at Dodger Stadium got me wondering what the deal was before I came to the park the last couple of times, but it really didn't sink in until I decided I wanted to get an ice cream sandwich in the third inning. Going downstairs to the Reserved level concessions was a huge eye-opener; here's a few comments.

• One of the concessions (the extremest stand on the third base side, where we sat for the game) was actually shut down despite lines elsewhere going from the register to the railing opposite! This is clearly wrong, and would seem to contradict the "as many concession windows are open as possible" principle.
• Some of the DT commenters suggested getting rid of the Panda Express and Carl's Jr. concessions as a way to improve matters, but this strikes me as a step backwards, for two reasons: first, I like having the diversity in the food (and often do purchase from these), and second, they are providing a positive example of how to make these concessions work. Some have pointed out that back in the golden era of grilled Dodger Dogs on every level, the stadium concessions were operated in exactly the same way as the Carl's and Panda are now, i.e., grab and go.
• When we arrived — before the game actually started — the lines were quite manageable. This points to perhaps a problem that, yes, dammit, the Dodgers do have a problem with their fans all arriving in the third. Get there early.
• kngoworld, who claims to be a Levy employee, suggests (see comment #102) buying from one of the aisle vendors. That would be cool, except none of them had the ice cream sandwiches I wanted, and after the fifth, they were nonexistant in my part of the Reserved section.

And at last: to make up for our quick exit last night, it took us over an hour to get home, and half an hour of that to get out of the park and to the freeway. Geesh.