Archives for posts with tag: Teoscar Hernandez
The 2nd night of a Supermoon Blue Moon coming up over a 6-3 Dodger win against the Mariners.

It was a beautiful sight at Dodger Stadium last night. We not only won after an 8th-inning 3-run bomb by pinch hitter Jason Heyward, but there were friends all around. Our Top Deck pals were there: Gilberto, Arlene, Liz and Darwin. I got to visit our Loge amigo Michael with his sister and her family. And my old Times buddy Carlos climbed up to the top row of the Top Deck to say hey. Not only that, but we got a great Teoscar Hernández Bobblehead to boot!

The only thing that bugged me was that the scoreboard operator is still an idiot. At the last game I went to (Aug. 10), I stopped by the Press Box to let someone know that whoever posts the pitch counts on the Right Field scoreboard has been getting it wrong the whole season. This “scorekeeper” counts the 4th ball of a walk as a strike. So, let’s say Evan Phillips walks the first batter he sees, his pitch count on the Right Field scoreboard will read “Total Pitches: 4 – Strikes: 1 – Balls: 3.” It doesn’t seem all that important, but when there are 4, 5, 6, even 8 walks in a game, the pitch count is completely out of whack!

For instance, last night, Walker Buehler allowed 3 walks, so when he left after the 4th inning, his pitch count in the stadium said “Total Pitches: 82 – Strikes: 53 – Balls 29,” when in actual fact, his stats were “Total Pitches: 82 – Strikes: 50 – Balls 32.” I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but accuracy is essential in baseball. For players, for pitchers, for broadcasters and for fanatical OCD fan scorekeepers, like me.

Anyway, at that Aug. 10 game, after I told some woman going into the press box about the problem, the pitch counts were accurate. I thought I had fixed the problem. But alas! The stupid scorekeeper must just have had the night off.

Everybody got a Joe Kelly jersey last night.

Holy cow! I just hope the Dodgers didn’t use up all their homestand home runs in one game!

What a slugfest that was last night. It was hard to believe it was even happening, there were so many homers and important hits, like Mookie Betts‘ 3-run double that tore the game open in the 4th. In the 6th inning, 10 Dodgers batted, scoring 7 runs on 6 hits (4 of them round-trippers)!

Not exactly the pitching duel I like to watch. In fact, in the 7th, the Rangers (reigning World Series Champions) had their backup catcher, Andrew Knizner, come out with bases loaded and a 14-2 deficit to do their dirty work on the mound. But to tell you the truth, he turned out to be more effective than their real pitchers. He lobbed the ball like it was batting practice, but only gave up a sac fly and one walk. And he had a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

The real batting practice came off Grant Anderson in the 6th, when the Dodgers were ahead, 7-1, with one out and Mookie walked. Shohei Ohtani blasted a home run to right field, and Freddie Freeman (who went 3-for-4 by the way) followed with another homer. Will Smith hit a single before Teoscar Hernández did what he does best: he clobbered the ball over the left field wall.

But a 12-1 advantage wasn’t enough for these greedy boys. After a lineout to left by Gavin Lux, Andy Pages smoked a single down the 3rd-base line, and Jason Heyward sent Anderson’s last pitch into the visitors’ dugout. Hey ya!!!

I just hope they still have some in the tank for tonight!

MY SCORECARDS
GAME 68: Dodgers 15-Rangers 2

Side note: Whoever posts the pitch counts on the scoreboard kept counting the fourth ball in a walk as a strike, and there were a lot of walks (10 altogether). So the pitch counts were completely wrong throughout the game. What a numbskull!

Teoscar Hernández hits one of two homers against the Cardinals on March 29. Saturday, he would repeat the feat to lead the Dodgers to a series win over the Yankees in New York. Oh yeah, and one of them was a slam! (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

OK, OK, the Dodgers can seem very inconsistent from time to time. Our bats can be dead as doornails one day and unstoppable the next. Our pitchers can strike out the side one inning, then give up home runs like there’s no tomorrow one frame later.

The Yanks, on the other hand, had an 8-game win streak going and the best record in baseball when the Boys in Blue put a stop to it Friday night, edging their longtime rivals, 2-1, in 11 innings. We killed them the next day, 11-3, and made them work for it Sunday, when New York bested us, 6-4.

I’m so glad we beat the Yankees. I was very worried about that series. I needn’t have fretted, however, especially on Saturday, when every Dodger had at least one hit, six of them had RBIs (including six for Teoscar alone). What a game! We had a 4-2 lead going into the 8th inning, then Wham, Bam, Thank You, Maam! — we scored 7 runs in the last two, highlighted by Hernandez’s Grand Slam.

I love the Dodgers. Starting tonight, I will go to five consecutive games. Stay tuned!