Packed house last night at the Ravine. Yankees fans everywhere, including right in front of us! One of them, a teenager, booed Mookie Betts when he was announced. But, as I reminded Stephen — who wanted to rip that guy a new one — he was just a kid. Besides, Mookie responded by going 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs, including 2 solo homers, one of which kicked off the game in a 6-run 1st inning. It’s been awhile since we earned Free Chicken McNuggets in the 1st inning!
With Clayton Kershaw on the mound, who has never won before against the Yankees, it looked like a nightmare starting to unfold when their leadoff batter smashed Kersh’s first pitch into centerfield for a base hit. When slugger Aaron Judge came to the plate to await Kershaw’s second pitch, I said to Stephen, “Aaron Judge can hit into a double play, right? That could happen.” Bam! He dinks it to third-baseman Max Muncy, who relays it to second-baseman Miguel Vargas, who shoots it over to Freddie Freeman at first. Bing-bang-boom! Two pitches, two outs. I totally called it.
The rest of the game was kind of sedate, comparatively. Kershaw went seven innings, gave up 4 hits and struck out 9. He was throwing heaters, and we racked up enough runs to not feel the sting when our bullpen started to falter. (Our relievers just love to walk guys, huh?)
The end result was a beautiful 8-4 victory over the dreaded Bronx Bombers, the bane of the Dodgers’ existence since the beginning of time. One down, two to go. Best coast wins!
Piewalla's Dodger Blues 