Thursday, September 21, 2006

Gibby Rides Again

I'm still trying to process the amazing Dodgers-Padres game from late Monday night. The lead in the N.L. West was on the line. In short, the Dodgers were down 9-5 in the bottom of the ninth, after a wild back-and-forth game. Many of the famously casual L.A. fans had already left. But then the magic happened: the Dodgers hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. Four consecutive home runs on seven pitches to tie the game! Only three times in baseball history had a team hit four home runs in a row in an inning, and never to tie a game in the end of the ninth. What made it even more amazing, if it's possible, is that the last two of the four were hit of super-closer Trevor Hoffman, who had converted something like 55 of 57 career save opportunities against the Dodgers.

The Padres somehow managed to scrape out a run in the top of the tenth, but there was no way this game was going to end with a Dodgers loss after two four-run comebacks, the latter being the unprecedented ninth inning. And sure enough, Nomar Garciaparra, with a bum leg and all, hit a two-run game-winning home run to give L.A. an 11-10 victory. I remember seeing Kirk Gibson's stunning home run off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. (I was in a hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.) I didn't see this game, but I can't imagine how it could have been much less awesome. A perfect game has its own kind of magic, but it builds for a whole game. This was just one of those anything-can-happen, never over till it's over things that's simply unexplainable, and has a good argument as the best regular season game ever.

I have some links for you. Here and here are some good L.A. Times stories, including one with lots of player interviews as they walk through the game's end, moment by moment. Here and here are some good ones from ESPN, and here is a great ESPN story with lots of interviews of Dodger Stadium regulars about where they were during the game. The coolest detail: the Dodgers have a strict no re-entry policy (you even have to sign out to smoke!), but when fans came back from the parking lot upon hearing the comeback in the making, the team let them back in because they knew it was something special. (That reminds me to ask Kyle to tell his story about getting ejected from a Georgia football game and coming back in. Thanks, Kyle!)

The stories are very good, but the video is worth seeing to experience the absolute bedlam taking place among the remaining fans. Here are the video clips set to Charley Steiner's crazy radio call (worth hearing). And it's nice to hear Vin Scully -- who's seen it all, or at least now he has -- react in awe at what he's calling for the tv broadcast. So, here is a shortened version with just the highlights. And here (part 1 and part 2) are fuller replays that gives more context and really shows how sudden this all was. Here and here are some wild crowd reaction videos. They were flipping out. (Caution: a few curse words.) And here, for the heck of it, is a video of the highlights set to Randy Newman's "I Love L.A."

Finally, for comparison, here is the only video I could quickly find of Gibson's homer. Annoyingly, it's set to some tune, so mute the video and listen to Jack Buck's famous radio call here. In Buck's words, "I don't believe what I just saw!" I think it applies equally well to Monday's game.