Wow. San Diego Padres @ Los Angeles Dodgers - 15 Apr 12.

Matt Kemp 3-4, HR
Dee Gordon 2-6, 2SB, Walk off 1B in the bottom of the 9th
Dodgers Defense, Triple Play

Wow. Lot to get to in this write-up. The plan was to come home from work, relax with MLB At Bat and Vin Scully, and listen to 3/23rds of my fantasy team (Kemp, Kershaw, Gordon). Then I took a look at the lineups and was delighted to see Andy Parrino was going to be starting at shortstop for the Padres… I went to high school with him! He was a few grades below me (he graduated with my wife) and I don’t think I ever talked to him, but “local boy makes good” is an awesome story and it’s great to see him get some starts.

And then it got interesting.

First things first, Kemp is a beast. I love the fact that every time he puts on a fireworks display over Chavez Ravine the crowd chants “MVP, MVP” at the top of their lungs. He’s incredible, and he deserves the adoration he receives. He started off with a single, hit a solo shot, hit another single, and then (sadly) GIDP. He’s a threat every time he steps up to the plate, and not just to go deep. He makes things happen.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 4-1 lead early and it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing, until Kershaw imploded a bit and let the Padres right back into it thanks to Hermida’s great pinch hit appearance. And aside from some sloppy scorekeeping, things looked to be smooth sailing right into extra innings until the Dodgers swung some momentum to their side big-time.

They turned a Triple Play, or as I noted, a “TRIPLE PLAY!” It was a bit controversial because it looked like the batter had been HBP when the dodgers began to toss it 2-5-6-3 around the diamond to start collecting outs. The Padres players weren’t even trying to stop it; they all thought the play was dead (especially Bud Black, who got tossed arguing it). Instead the ump ruled that the ball had made contact with the bat near the batter’s wrists, the play stood, and it was awesome. Never thought I’d randomly tune in and get to score something rare like a triple play!

Dee Gordon, who regularly couldn’t get on base if it was made of pure gold with a “FOR FREE” sign next to it, came through in the bottom of the ninth for a walkoff single, the second straight walkoff game I’ve scored. It was a great game to score. I got very lucky.

Also, I tried a new score card from Squaretender. I loved it, especially having both teams on one sheet, except for one major issue: the scoring boxes are teeny-tiny. Like, microscopic. None of my pencils had a sharp enough point to write in the box, so I ended up using a .4mm needle-tip Hi-Tec-C pen. Hence the sloppiness. I don’t think scoring in pen is for me.