High-fives all around after the second win over the “L.A.” Angels in two nights.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Fan favorite Luis Cruz broke out of his slump with a two-run homer.

So I’m at a Pasadena speakeasy, playing bar trivia, eating chicken taquitos and watching the second game of the Freeway Series, when WHAM, BAM, ALA KAZAAM! what should happen but Luis Cruz hits his first home run of the season with Juan Uribe on board. The Dodgers take a 2-0 lead over the pretenders from Anaheim, who came into the series so sure they would trounce us as they have in the past. HA!

It wasn’t until after our trivia team, Pauly’s Robot From Rocky IV, was well on its way to a victory of its own that I noticed Hyun-Jin Ryu pitching into the ninth inning. He smoked those Haloes, allowing only two hits in his first complete game. Wow! Maybe all that “turning a corner” talk was right. I won’t go betting on it, yet, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Any team that is too ashamed to admit where they are actually from should not be cheered by the people that live there.”
— Pamela Wilson

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-4 in the game against the Angels.

OK, so I’m visiting my mother-in-law in the hospital, and I go out to get a coffee, turn on the radio in my car, and I hear Charlie Steiner saying, “Well, we’re going to the bottom of the fourth, and the Angels have a 6-1 lead…” He doesn’t sound happy. I wasn’t happy, either, but I wasn’t surprised. Even Rick Monday couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice.

Two hours later, I get back in the car to go home, and I decide I should see how bad the damage ended up being. I look at my phone, and “Oh my God!” I yelled it right there in the parking lot. “Oh my God! The Dodgers came back!” I turned on the radio just in time to hear the exuberance of a close, come-from-behind victory over the other “L.A.” team, who had an eight-game winning streak going in.

Afterward, Kevin Kennedy talked about turning points and game-changing events, and I agree a game like this could be a momentum shifter (especially since the Padres, Rockies and Giants all lost), but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve already had a couple of games this season that were going to “turn it around.” This one too could have been a fluke, but after those horrible first innings, everything seemed to click. It would be so great if the Dodgers could keep it going tonight.

I thought a photo of my Dodger steppingstones would be appropriate, because everyone we face just walks all over us.