September 20, 2006 Dodgers’ Highlight Reel Unlikely to Have an Equal By LEE JENKINS The parking lot at Dodger Stadium, famous for luxury cars that arrive late and leave early, was the site of a memorable traffic snarl Monday night.
Exits clogged in the bottom of the ninth inning, when drivers who were leaving the ballpark met drivers who were coming back in. Those listening to Vin Scully on the car radio made quick U-turns. A line of taillights became a river of headlights.
“We started getting calls in the command post that fans listening to the game in their cars were coming back,” said Lon Rosenberg, vice president for stadium operations. “Typically, we don’t allow that. But this was a unique situation.”
The Dodgers were in the midst of erasing a four-run deficit in the ninth with four consecutive solo home runs. It was no time to make anyone pay for parking or buy a new ticket.
When the bottom of the ninth inning began, fans were leaving Dodger Stadium by the thousands. When the inning ended, the stadium was somehow packed again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this place so crazy,” said Tommy Lasorda, a former Dodgers manager, who was in the stands. “The only thing I can compare it to is Gibson.”
For Lasorda to invoke Kirk Gibson’s name is a testament to the magnitude of Monday night’s game. Gibson hit a home run on a bad leg to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series over the Oakland Athletics. Nomar Garciaparra hit a home run on a bad quad in the 10th inning to complete the comeback of comebacks against the San Diego Padres.
“I just couldn’t wait to get to home plate and hug everybody,” Garciaparra said. “It was a big group hug.”
When Garciaparra reported back to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, evidence of the bash was scattered around the clubhouse: players who were hoarse, coaches who were giddy, bats that were headed for the Hall of Fame. All that was missing was the smell of dried Champagne.
This season, defined by the resurgence of the Detroit Tigers, the resilience of the Florida Marlins and the power of Ryan Howard, will be remembered around Southern California for four classic home-run balls.
The Dodgers beat the Padres, 11-10, in the kind of game that has not come along since 1964, when the Minnesota Twins swatted four consecutive home runs in the 11th inning to beat the Kansas City A’s, 7-4.
A team has hit four consecutive home runs three other times in major league history, but never in a situation quite like this — bottom of the ninth inning, down by four runs, first place on the line, division rival in the field, elite closer in the bullpen.
“That was absolutely the most wonderful game I have ever seen in my life,” said Marlon Anderson, who hit the fourth of the Dodgers’ four straight home runs. “It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me on a baseball field.”
Just like that, the National League is interesting again. Dismissed throughout this season as a haven for mediocrity, the N.L. West now features baseball’s most compelling race, with baseball’s most intriguing backdrop.
The division title will probably go to the team that best copes with the effects of Monday night. Conventional wisdom favors the Dodgers, who entered Tuesday with a half-game lead over the Padres, and enough momentum for a week.
But the same rationale applied last October to the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros, after Albert Pujols hit a home run in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, lifting the Cardinals and crushing the Astros.
In Game 6, the Astros regrouped and closed out the series. The Pujols home run turned out to be a footnote.
“This can go one of two ways from here,” Lasorda said. “Sometimes, you get too hopped up, too excited, and it works against you.”
Jeff Kent started the ninth-inning rally Monday by swinging at a pitch around his knees. Then J. D. Drew went after one at his waist. Russell Martin picked out a chest-high fastball. Anderson attacked a fastball on the outer edge of the plate.
Kent’s drive arced over the center-field wall. Drew’s high fly landed three-quarters of the way up the right-field bleachers. Martin’s line drive screamed into the left-field seats.
When Anderson connected, much of Los Angeles was tuned to KFWB 980 AM. Scully gave the call: “Believe it or not, four consecutive home runs, and the Dodgers have tied it up.”
They needed only seven pitches to hit four home runs. They needed only three pitches to hit the last three home runs. The first two blasts came off Jon Adkins, a middle reliever. The next two came off Trevor Hoffman, one of baseball’s best closers.
Even Garciaparra, who can seem sullen and aloof, looked possessed when he batted in the 10th inning. As the ball sailed skyward, Garciaparra jabbed his right fist in the air. He wagged his right index finger. He was screaming as he was trotting. Injured the past two years with the Red Sox and the Cubs, he hobbled joyously around the bases.
For the next hour, cars in the parking lot honked their horns. Drivers had a reason to be riled up. And it had nothing at all to do with the traffic.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
