Tuesday, September 19, 2006 |
Dodgers Draw A Winning Hand, All Jacks: Dodgers 11, Padres 10
I'm for the obvious: the four homer game. Sure, the Dodgers had seven by the time Nomar crossed the plate for the last time that night, but four back-to-back-to-back-to-back? I was shocked to learn it had been done three times before, all within a four-year span:
- The Milwaukee Braves did it against the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh inning of a game they lost 10-8 on June 8, 1961.
- The Indians clobbered the Angels 9-5 on July 31, 1963, getting their four off Paul Foytack in the top of the sixth, making him the only pitcher in all these games to surrender all four home runs by himself.
- In the top of the eleventh inning on a May 2, 1964 away game at Kansas City, the Twins pounded the A's for four homers, Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew hitting the last.
Outside of its late heroics, the game really seemed to me to be a microcosm of the Dodgers' entire season, and for most of it, a summary of this series against San Diego. The Padres took an early four-run lead against the inconsistent Brad Penny — just like they did in Saturday's 11-3 debacle. The defense left a lot to be desired: Mike Piazza's RBI double to center and Mike Cameron's triple to right both should have been fieldable balls, but it appeared that Kenny Lofton and J.D. Drew took bad routes to the ball and/or got late starts that ended up costing the team bases and runs.
Offensively, the Dodgers squandered chances with men in scoring position in the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth innings, the sixth inning having the bases loaded with one out. Significantly, in the first, Nomar grounded into a double play following consecutive singles by Furcal and Lofton with no outs. (Update: it appears that the ESPN play-by-play and also MLB.com Gameday fail to credit Oscar Robles with a single or the Padres defense with an error, so I'm somewhat lost as to the scoring, but he ended up on first, so the Dodgers actually had the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth. One fantastic job by Meredith to keep the Dodgers down in that frame.)
(Update 2: looks like I'm just showing off my ignorance of the rules. Safe at first on a fielder's choice is the correct scoring as per 10.09(b), weird as it sounds to me. Thanks to CapDodger for pointing this out.)
The Padres started things off by staking staff ace Jake Peavy to a solid four-run lead in the first, all on a two-out rally that, like the rest of the game, had a string of improbable events, including a Russell Branyan walk, a feat he would repeat twice in the game's proceedings. To give you a flavor of how unlikely this is, he strikes out about twice as often as he walks (28 BB vs 79 K). It turned out to be important because Mike Cameron cashed in Mike Piazza, on second thanks to a double, and Branyan on an RBI triple. Geoff Blum's single sent Cameron home, and by the time Penny finally left the mound by getting Josh Barfield to fly out, Dodger fans were left wondering just how many more runs Penny would allow before the night was over.
Yet the Dodgers somehow managed to tie the game up by the end of the third, scratching out single runs in the first and second innings on a Jeff Kent double and a Marlon Anderson solo homer, and in the third, a Rafael Furcal homer and consecutive two-out doubles by Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew.
And that's where things stood through the end of the seventh. Oh, the Padres loaded the bases with two out again in the top of the fifth, but Penny mercifully escaped by getting Mike Cameron to fly out. But the Pads broke through in the eighth against Jonathan Broxton, who came out to the strains of "Johnny B. Goode". He wasn't, giving up a pair of runs on a Josh Barfield double that narrowly missed leaving the park. It didn't, thanks to the first good play made by Kenny Lofton in center all night; he'd been misjudging flies the whole game, and the Dodgers paid the price. Saito looked to give up still more when he uncorked a wild pitch that moved Todd Walker to third with two out, but he managed to get Brian Giles out on a flyball to right.
But there was one problem in this scoring for the Padres: manager Bruce Bochy had spent his thunderbolt, Cla Meredith, calling in Todd Walker to pinch hit for him. That particular move worked (Walker smacked an RBI single to center), but it opened the door to the lesser lights of the San Diego bullpen coming into the game, in particular, Scott Linebrink in the eighth. Linebrink has been good for the Padres, great last year, but this year not so much; people forget that he had been a journeyman prior to his 2003 pickup by the Padres, and this year looked a lot more like his 2003 with Houston than most of his career with San Diego. That is, he gave up a leadoff triple to Marlon Anderson and an RBI single to Wilson Betemit, and came damn close to coughing up the lead when Kenny Lofton's double chased pinch runner Julio Lugo to third. But Nomar Garciaparra came up the goat for the second time in the game by striking out to end the inning.
And then Saito wore the horns. Loading the bases with one out, Saito uncorked a wild pitch and gave up a sac fly and an RBI single to give the Padres a 9-5 lead. With Trevor Hoffman warming up in the bullpen, it looked insurmountable, and so our hosts for the game — who, by the way, paid for our loge-level tickets and a trip to the Stadium Club buffet besides — decided to call it a night.
I should have told them about my record with Other People's Tickets. Aside from the magic tickets, I've also seen the Angels advance while (technically or actually) on tickets paid for by other people. And while I've lost count of the wins, I'm now something like 9-1 on games paid for by others.
Borrowing a simian from the Angels, that is a streak you don't mess with.
If the Padres knew what was about to hit them, they would have started walking toward the buses awaiting them just past the centerfield wall. Coincidentally, Jon Adkins' second and third pitches ended up not too far from those buses, powered by swings by Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew.
It was a Sign.
The crowd, thinned by defections to the parking lot, roared back into life. The defectors in their cars hit the brakes and turned on their radios.
Cue Trevor Hoffman. Trevor Time hasn't been happy time for the Dodgers, yet coming into the game on short notice, he didn't have time for his usual warmup preparations. So, Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson blasted still another pair off him, a historic comeback to tie it up.
It was another Sign.
And still it was not enough. Andre Ethier, slumping, popped to short. Julio Lugo and Rafael Furcal flied out to the deep parts of the park, getting everyone's heart racing again for no good reason.
And in the tenth, Aaron Sele spotted the Padres a single run, but this time, the Dodgers were facing Rudy Seanez.
Kenny Lofton walked, dropping his bat with the most cocksure look on his face I've seen all year.
Up came the gimpy Nomar; on a 3-1 count, Nomar swung for the fences, and the ages.
He didn't miss.
What was left of the crowd was hoarse, jubilant, exhilarated, high fiving each other until their palms hurt. Randy Newman came on and a bunch of us stayed just to cheer the highlights on Diamondvision.
As for the Padres — this has to rank as one of their most debilitating bullpen meltdowns in memory. They end the day with a game and a half lead over Philadelphia in the Wild Card.
And as for the Dodgers, for now, they're in first. By one half game.
Mirabile dictu.
Trevor Hoffman has a sore shoulder that Bruce Bochy is nursing; maybe that has something to do with last night's dingers.
Labels: dodgers, padres, recaps
or how about penny getting out of the fifth? that was intense as well.
god, what a game.
: 9/19/2006 09:54:00 AMFrom 10.09(b):
Score a sacrifice bunt when, before two are out, the fielders handle a bunted ball without error in an unsuccessful attempt to put out a preceding runner advancing one base.
: 9/19/2006 10:38:00 AMThanks for the Retrosheet links to the Braves, Indians, and Twins back-to-back-to-back-to-back four home run occasions. I could name the teams that had accomplished it but not the years (other than Cleveland 1963).
Yes, I was in the loge section last night. This was one for the ages, a game we will be talking about 30 years from now. Nomar hit the walk-off home run, but my nomination for player of the game is Marlon Anderson. Anderson had 2 home runs and a triple while going 5-for-5. It was Marlon's 2nd home run of the game that was the 4th homer in a row in the bottom of the 9th inning. That brought the house down and made this game rarer than a perfect game. There are 17 perfectos but only four back-to-back-to-back-to-back home run games. I really have to wonder about the one-third (18,000) of the fans who left early and did not see the bottom of the 9th inning. What for we doing this? First place was on the line.
When Russell Martin hit the third of those four home runs I thought back to August 31st, 1980 Expos @ Dodgers doubleheader nightcap. In that game Ron Cey, Rick Monday, and Joe Ferguson hit three consecutive home runs, all on 3-2 pitches. When Expo manager Dick Williams removed the victimized pitcher David Palmer he did a double switch. Catcher John Tamargo left at the same time. Williams message was "don't call for 3-2 pitches right down the pike."
More kudos for Marlon Anderson: in the 4th inning Anderson fouled a ball towards me which I smothered in the aisle. That reduced my foul ball on the fly average to the Mendoza/Uecker .200 line (2-for-10). This morning my 6-year-old son Roger woke up with that foul ball under his pillow. I told Roger to thank Marlon Anderson for the ball.
I went to the greatest San Diego Padres victory. In Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS Steve Garvey had a walk-off home run off of Lee Smith, the all-time saves leader at 478. Now I can say I have been to the greatest Padres defeat. Ironically it was Trevor Hoffman (second on the all-time list with 475 saves) who gave up the 3rd and 4th of the consecutive home runs last night.
Where in "The Book" does it say you cannot bring your closer in if it is not a save situation? Who should get the blame for Trevor Hoffman NOT starting the bottom of the 9th inning with a 9-5 lead? Is it Padre manager Bruce Bochy, Hoffman's agent, or Trevor himself? In a game of this magnitude Hoffman should have been in the game at the beginning of the inning.
Yes, I know. About eight years ago Red Sox closer Tom Gordon had a long streak (28?) of consecutive saves. The Red Sox were playing in Atlanta and had a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Gordon started the inning. Because it was not a save situation Gordon did not have his game face on. The Braves rallied and won the game 7-6. Gordon did NOT get a blown save because it was not a save situation. Does not that make the blown save statistic a bit dubious? I know, that is an exception, a rarity. That game and last night were emphatic proofs of Yogi Berra's old adage "it is never over until it is over."
: 9/19/2006 11:53:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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