Dodgers Beat Giants! What An Opening Act

Did you miss last night’s game? If you did, you missed an atypical game, but man, it was very typical for the Dodgers vs. Giants. If you were there at Chavez Ravine, listened on the radio, followed along on Twitter, or watched on TV, you witnessed one for the ages.

Early in the game a couple of folks on Twitter noted something different, as there were no beach balls or waves bouncing around in the stands. Little did they know, by the time this game was over, they would see EVERYTHING.

This game had an epic inning count and running time. It had Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier home runs, and a  Cy Young winner pinch hitting.

This game had Giants – more than one – getting hit by Dodgers pitching. It had a Joc Pederson hit. The Dodgers even won an instant replay challenge.

We saw the bullpen give up the goose and blow the game – and we saw them pitch strong and hold off the Giants long enough for the offense to come through and win it all.

The calendar changed months!

We saw bananas in the dugout, and we witnessed the glorious vision of jumping, elated Dodgers celebrating victory, while dejected Giants silently gathered their gear and held their heads low.

At one point, TV showed the face of a young lady who was either in a cotton candy coma, or she just couldn’t handle another inning on those plastic Dodger Stadium seats.  If you missed her, don’t worry. I’m betting she’s now gone viral as the latest meme-face.

All of the extra innings must have made me delirious as well, because I swear – in the 13th – I saw Adrian Gonzalez go right up to the stands chasing a foul ball, and return to his position taking a swig of ice from a blue dixie cup that I figured he grabbed from a seat long abandoned since the 11th inning.

Of course, this game had frustrating, ridiculous Don Mattingly moves – like pinch hitting for one of the hottest bats in his line up – when his bat still smelled like home run burnt wood!

I’ll have to admit Mattingly also showed some decent managerial mettle as he tried to manufacture runs with bunts and used multiple stolen bases as offensive weapons. He also managed his lineup in a way that apparently outlasted the Giants, as both teams used about 99.9 percent of available personnel in that 14-inning marathon.

Finally, after all of that, the game gave us tie-breaking, walk-off dramatics, as Adrian Gonzalez sent a bases-loaded, no doubt about it, line drive to deep left field.

Any other time, that hit would have cleared the bases – but in a wacky game like this one, only one run counted. That was enough to beat the Giants and increase the Dodgers’ first place lead to 4 1/2 games.

In addition to all of that, Vin Scully called every minute, and he didn’t miss a beat.

What a first act, indeed.