Instant Classic!

If the Dodgers win the NL West this year, history will be pointing to today's game as the turning point! (Go click on the link and scroll down to the scoring summary.)

The Dodgers, playing the first place Padres (who are .5 games ahead of them after having won 2 of 3 games in the series thus far) allowed four runs in the top of the first and I thought we were in deep trouble because Jake Peavy, a very good pitcher, was pitching for the Padres. The Dodgers scored 1 run in the first, 1 run in the second, and 2 runs in the third to tie the game. We had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 6th inning but couldn't score. We then allowed 2 runs in the 8th but answered with 1 in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-5 Padres entering the 9th. In the top of the 9th, we allowed three runs (even after a valiant play by Kenny Lofton to jump up and pull back a would-be homerun so that it was only a double) and everything seemed lost.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Padres brought in Jon Adkins because it wasn't a save situation. With nobody out, Jeff Kent hit a solo homerun. (I say without any expectation it would happen something along the lines of "All we need now are three more of those.") The next batter, J.D. Drew, also hits a homerun. (With some more excitement, I root for "two more of those!") However, all still seemed lost. The Padres brought in Trevor Hoffman, who currently ranks 2nd all-time in saves and is going to Cooperstown when his career is over. The next batter, Russell Martin, hits a homerun on the first pitch. (My "One more of those!!!!!" was extremely excited at this point.) Then, Marlon Anderson comes up and also hits a homerun on the first pitch! The score was now tied 9-9! Wow! Suddenly, everything seemed possible. We could win this game! We could get back into first place! Despite our recent poor play, we could get to the playoffs and miracles could happen---just like in 1988, the best baseball season ever!

OK, let's put the Dodgers' 9th inning in perspective. This is only the 4th time in Major League history that a team has had four consecutive batters hit homeruns! The other three times all occurred in the 1960s.

Of course, we still had to win the game. We didn't get any more runs in the 9th, so it was on to extra innings. We allowed a run in the 10th, so we were down 10-9 entering the 10th. Kenny Lofton made it to first base safely on a walk on a 3-2 count. Nomar came up next and on the 3-1 pitch, he hit a walk-off homerun to give us the 11-10 win! Awesome, awesome, awesome! First place, we are back!!!!!

Have any of you ever seen me grin ear-to-ear? I don't do that very often, but I did it tonight! And I'm still smiling very broadly now!