The 4 + 1 Game Revisited

Seeing as how the Dodgers and Padres are squaring off for a three game series at Petco this week (Padres 1, Dodgers 0), here's a little something I wrote before I started this blog about last year's ridiculous 4 homer, bottom of the ninth come back against the Pads. It was a Monday night no Dodger fan will forget and it's always good to reflect. And I am being lazy. Anyway, enjoy.

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If I was watching this game as a seven year old, I would have been pleading for four home runs in a row. No singles rally. No patient at bats. No bases on balls. Just four straight homeruns from the next four guys coming to the plate. You see, an impatient child, with his team down 9-5 in the bottom of the ninth, wants that feeling of despair to end instantly. And you know what, you can say the same at age 25, with the difference being a lack of hope. At 25, fantastic thoughts like back-to-back-to-back-to-back bottom of the ninth homeruns to tie are preempted by a realistic outlook honed by years of watching baseball and a healthy disbelief in things like Santa Claus. That's why when something like that happens, you scream, you jump on the couch, and anyone watching you will, for one moment, see you become seven years old again.

Four straight bombs. Kent, Drew, Martin, Anderson. The 'stache, the deadman, the rook, and...who? And then to follow all of that with a monster walk-off from Nomar Garciaparra. A guy whose vintage season has been marred by a recent slump. A guy who comes to the plate with "Lowrider" blaring on the Dodger Stadium PA system. A guy who is obviously the emotional leader of this team as evidenced by his chilling homerun trot which, to me, was like a mix of Kirk Gibson and Charlie running home with the golden ticket. I will never (for)get this game.

The prevailing thought that I had toward the end of the game was man, I'm going to miss having all these veterans on my team. Watching Kenny Lofton make acrobatic plays at the centerfield wall in crunch time and then draw a huge (GINORMOUS!) walk in the bottom of the tenth prompting Vin Scully to yelp, "The Dodgers have a rabbit on as the tying run!" Then seeing Nomar do his little shimmy before stepping to the plate interspersed with shots of Jeff Kent taking on-deck swings. I'm starting to realize how much luck and genius went into making the Dodgers who they are today. Bringing in crafty veterans to usher in the long awaited prospects has defined the make up of this team and has instilled the never die atmosphere that can only be created by players with something to prove. For the rookies, they must prove that they do in fact belong. For the veterans, it's to prove that they still belong. It's the same kind of tension, just from opposite ends. And the result is a team devoid of a "true" superstar and more of a team because of it.

Some other thoughts:
- The fricken Padres. The unremarkable, khaki sporting bunch who become the toughest 27 outs in baseball when they play the Dodgers. I could not believe they had the sack to put up a run in the top of the 10th after the four run barrage by the Dods. They just do not die.

- Had Sammy Saito not given up that last run in the top of the 9th (the run that made the score 9-5 and no longer a save opportunity), the Dodgers would have been facing Trevor Hoffman to start the bottom and who knows how that may have turned out (Hoffman at the start of the game had 55 saves in 57 save opportunites for his career against the Dodgers, coverting his last 24 in a row). But as it happened, when the Padres took that four run lead, Hoffman gave way to Adkins who promptly gave up the first two of the four bombs, leaving Hoffman, sorta warmed up/sorta tight, to come in with the momentum clearly swinging toward the Dodgers way and the crowd on its feet. Two pitches later, it was tied. But hey, that's what happens when you try to get cute; you get fucked.

- I told you Saito is the man. Even when he screws up, he ends up helping.

- Dodger fans should consider themselves blessed to have Vin Scully. Not only did he drop several GEMS throughout the night--

It has been a Friday night and Saturday night combined emotionally, but now it's starting to feel like Monday.

-- but at the glorious end, in true Vin Scully fashion, he let the raw footage do all the talking. We saw the team huddle at homeplate as a screaming Nomar came stomping home with the winning run. We saw the crowd going Bedlam. We saw the Padres walk dejectedly from the field. We heard the din of the fans and the faint yet unmistakable intro to Randy Newman's ubiquitous "I Love L.A." And even though he had never seen a game like that before in his storied career, he knew anything he said could not improve the natural sounds and images of being at the ball park. So he left it at that. That's why he is the master. But he did chime on one more time before signing off. He said--

I forgot to tell you. The Dodgers are in first place.

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Tonight: Wolf (7-3) v. Maddux (4-3), 7 PM @ Petco