The look in the dugout said it all. The smiles, the joy, it was all there. And why not… After a pitching duel between two young and talented starting pitchers left the score knotted at 2-2, the Washington Nationals jumped out in front of the Los Angeles Dodgers in beautiful and balmy Chavez Ravine.
Let’s cut to the action… With Washington looking to snap a four game skid, up came catcher Wilson Ramos for the Nationals in the eighth inning. And just as he has so many times before, Ramos puts his team on top with a prodigious 435-foot solo homerun that split the night and sent his teammates in the dugout into a sublime ecstasy. A hero’s welcome awaited Ramos as he crossed home plate and went into the jubilant Nationals dugout.
But this was no ordinary night, and like a grizzled old backstop and former Met once said, “This is baseball, and it ain’t over til it’s over.”
Onto the bottom of the ninth…
With victory only three outs away, manager Dusty Baker and his motley crew were confident they had this one in the bag. But fate had something else in store for them on this particular evening.
After center fielder Joc Pederson whiffed at strike three for the first out of the frame, up came the veteran Howie Kendrick to pinch hit for the Los Angeles Dodgers. With laser focus, Kendrick strokes a line drive to right field in front of Bryce Harper and singles to put the tying run at first base.
And then it happened. The oft-maligned and enigmatic Yasiel Puig shoots a sharp ground ball through the infield and straight to Nats center fielder Michael A. Taylor.
But what started out as a nightmarish night already, having struck out five times in the game, was about to become exponentially worse for the young Taylor.
The ball rolls under his glove and darts by him for an error, as Kendrick motors around third base to score the tying run as Dodger Stadium erupts in boisterous pandemonium.
Taylor gives chase to the ball that rolls all the way to the wall as Yasiel Puig races around second base in full throttle and heads for third leaving behind him a cloud of dust and the roar of the crowd.
Finally, Taylor gets to the ball and fires it to second baseman and relay man Daniel Murphy as Puig sprints home with the speed of a cheetah in chase of a gazelle.
Shockingly, Murphy gets the ball and then freezes as if he’s in sheer panic. As Mets fans, we’ve seen this all too many times before.
Murph double clutches, but it was far too late as the electric Yasiel dives into home plate like a B-52 bomber to give the Dodgers an exciting and improbable 4-3 walk-off victory and their fifth straight win. Murphy never even threw the ball to home plate where a raucous celebration ensued led by another former Met – who else, but Justin Turner.
And just like that, the Nationals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and the New York Mets gained a full game to cut their deficit to 3.5 games behind the first place Nats who have now lost five straight.
For Daniel Murphy, it was the classic Murphy flub. But for Michael A. Taylor, it was one of the worst nights for a player that you’ll ever see.
Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Yasiel. And most of all, thank you, Yogi Berra.
Hers the call from the legendary Vin Scully, who summed it up quite perfectly. “I don’t believe what I just saw.”
