Sometimes it's good to be lucky, or maybe you should say that when it rains it pours. After all, the Dodgers have been on a hot streak of late, and when that occurs good things often happen.
With the game locked into a one-run game in the 7th inning, Andre Ethier hit a weak chopper to the pitcher. This should have ended the inning and a potential big inning - the bases where loaded at the time. Instead, Nick Vincent tossed a floater that sailed over the head of the first baseman. The bases cleared and gave the Dodgers an insurmountable four run lead. You can watch it here.
Right now, everything seems to be going our way, and we can only hope it continues. BTW, the Dodgers "Magic Number" is now 19.
On another note, Brett Anderson was great, but had to exit the game in the middle of the 6th inning due to a leg cramp. Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA:
Gatorade... Electrolytes... It's got what Anderson needs."I felt it a little bit in the Norris at-bat, then on the one pitch Myers it cramped up. You wake up in the middle of the night or when you're stretching you get a calf cramp, usually it goes away. But this was the longest one I ever had. It balled up and wouldn't go away," Anderson said, per the SportsNet LA television broadcast. "I was trying to get through six so we could start fresh in the seventh, but the cramp wouldn't go away."I'm going to be fine going forward. I just need to drink more water, Gatorade, electrolytes."
The photo above of Turner scoring in the 7th inning via @Dodgers on twitter. Below are more links to check out:
- Via Joel Sherman at the NY Post, "Clayton Kershaw’s true competition isn’t from this century." Kershaw really is out of this world.
“Twenty or 30 years from now, the next generation will think of Kershaw the we talk about Koufax, Seaver, [Nolan] Ryan,” said Dan O’Dowd, who as general manager of the Rockies from 2008-14 saw Kershaw’s first seven seasons up close in the NL West. “You are dealing with consistency of performance, an overwhelming competitive fire, a great passion for the game, a great teammate, a great ambassador for the game. The only thing that can derail him from being one of the greatest of all time is injury.”
- Things have certainly turned around. Via AJ Cassavell at MLB.com, "Hatcher handling high-pressure situations."
"He's throwing a couple different breaking balls now," Mattingly said. "He's taking the slider where he threw it hard all the time, and he's got a slower one now, which gives him a little change of pace."
- Via AJ Cassavell at MLB.com, "Ellis finds stroke at precisely the right time."
"Early in the year it was a little bit of a struggle, the lack of playing time," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said of Ellis. "As he got accustomed to that and kind of accepted it, it seems like he's kind of taken off."
- Via AJ Cassavell at MLB.com, "Wood shows mettle in best outing for Dodgers."
"As a starter, that's what you pride yourself on -- going deep into ballgames, giving guys the best chance to win," said Wood. "[I was] able to show them that's who I could be tonight."
Bill Plunkett at the OC Register adds more:
“Donnie (Mattingly) and I talked,” Wood said. “I told him, ‘I’ve been a horse in Atlanta.’ I said, ‘If you just have that faith in me, more times than not, hopefully I’ll be able to reward you.’
“Fortunately enough, I was able to do it tonight. I hope it continues to be that way.”
- I found this interesting. This UC Berkeley psychologist wonders, "Do High Fives Help Sports Teams Win?" Watch a bit about what he says in the below video.
Video Link:
* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *
