The Last Game

Last night was another fine night out for someone who has had difficulty in the past leaving the solitude of his bedroom. Now, for the last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers had struggled mightily to win a game. This is most unfortunate, as winning a single game would have clinched the division, granting them home field advantage through the first two rounds. It also would give them a first round matchup against St. Louis instead of Philadelphia, but there is relatively little significance in that. It would perhaps mean something if the rules of Major League Baseball allowed them to play the wild card winner when that team comes from their own division. Really, though, playing Colorado in the first round would be as much a challenge as the other teams.


As for the game last night itself:

My friend and I came just as they were opening the gates 90 minutes prior to game time. One can talk, eat and watch the visiting team take batting practice. The Dodgers take batting practice first, and are finished before most of the gates open. The outfield gate opens half an hour before that, but even then you only can see the Dodgers leaving the field. Anyway, there we were at our seats. It was Star Wars Night, but very little was made of that fact. I was sincerely disappointed myself. The pregame ceremonies were about as tolerable as they can be in spite of the five or so first pitches.

With the game underway, there was considerable anxiety about the home team's ability to get the job done. There seemed to be few sunny optimists, with many employing negative attitudes to steel themselves for another defeat. As it went on, the game did provide some encouragement, but not an embarrassing amount. Young pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched a pristine game, but was supported only by excellent defense and not any runs.

There were two apparent exits. We all thought where I was sitting that Dodgers catcher Russell Martin had been ejected, with Brad Ausmus being the replacement for the balance of the game. That did not seem to in fact be the case, and no explanation was made. Evidently, Martin never actually left the game, and any notion that Ausmus entered in was not correct.

What was sure was that Rockies star pitcher Jorge De La Rosa had to leave the game due to injury, and it no doubt had a real impact on the outcome of the game. Most of the Colorado bullpen was serviceable, but Mr. Franklin Morales gave up five runs in the wonderful seventh inning. From there, the pressure was off, and much of the talk was about which relievers would get to finish out the victory that night as well as the first round of the playoffs.

Again, it was a fun night. We had a win, friends, chips, peanuts, burritos and soda. On the way out, we got a calendar (which starts this month). Each month features different orphans looking for foster families. We might have bought NL West champion merchandise, but didn't. It's likely that I've seen my last Dodgers game until next season, but we'll see. At the stadium or at home, it should be a good time.