James Loney hit just one home run at Dodger Stadium this year, but he goes leading off the bottom of the second, pulling the ball down the line against the lefty Hamels. He actually slugged a little better against lefties this season. The Dodgers lead 1-0 on the unexpected long ball.
Update: Ronnie Belliard hits the ball hard to center, and Shane Victorino makes a nice play going back to catch the low fly ball. One down.
Update: With two outs, Hamels walks Kershaw. Devon Young sent me this today:
Ok, a few night ago I was watching the Rockies-Phillies, and saw Colorado’s pitcher at the plate with a 3-1 count and the next pitch was a ball (thrown by Happ). WHAT?!?
Wondering immediately how often that has ever happened in a post-season game, I looked it up. 176 times since 1903. Seriously. In fact, I found that just 3 days earlier, Cole Hamels earned a walk too, in this series!! WHY AND HOW ON EARTH DOES THIS HAPPEN SO OFTEN???? If that ain’t crazy enough, Derek Lowe actually drew 2 walks in a playoff game last year! (10 other pitchers have drawn 2 walks in a post-season game since 1903)
Note that there have never been a recorded an official IBB in a post-season game to a pitcher’s plate appearance.
Of the 32 times a “pitcher walk” has happened in a post-season game between 1995 – Oct 11, 2009, the team drawing the “pitcher walk” has a record of 19-13 (.593).
Furcal hits a weak grounder to end the inning.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:41 pm | League Championship Series | Permalink | No Comments
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