Odd Innings: Dodgers @ Padres, 4/7
A friend of mine emailed me the play-by-play of the bottom of the 5th inning of the game between the Dodgers and Padres at Petco on Saturday, April 7. It was amusing enough as it was, but it’s even more amusing if you look at the pitch-by-pitch:
| Bottom of 5th | SCORE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Capuano pitching for Los Angeles | LAD | SD | |
| Orlando Hudson | Strike (looking), Strike (foul), Strike (swinging), O Hudson struck out swinging | 5 | 0 |
| Jason Bartlett | J Bartlett singled to right, K Blanks hit for D Moseley | 5 | 0 |
| Kyle Blanks | Ball, Ball, Ball, Strike (looking), Ball, K Blanks walked, J Bartlett to second | 5 | 0 |
| Cameron Maybin | Strike (foul), Strike (foul), Ball, Ball, C Maybin grounded into fielder’s choice to shortstop, K Blanks out at second, J Bartlett to third | 5 | 0 |
| Chris Denorfia | Ball, Strike (looking), Ball, Ball, Strike (looking), Ball, C Denorfia walked, C Maybin to second | 5 | 0 |
| Chase Headley | Strike (looking), Ball, Strike (foul), Ball, Foul, Ball, Ball, C Headley walked, J Bartlett scored, C Maybin to third, C Denorfia to second | 5 | 1 |
| Jesus Guzman | J Wright relieved C Capuano, Ball, Ball, Ball, Ball, J Guzman walked, C Maybin scored, C Denorfia to third, C Headley to second | 5 | 2 |
| Nick Hundley | Ball, Ball, Ball, Ball, N Hundley walked, C Denorfia scored, C Headley to third, J Guzman to second | 5 | 3 |
| Yonder Alonso | S Elbert relieved J Wright, Ball, C Headley scored, J Guzman to third, N Hundley to second on wild pitch by S Elbert, Strike (looking), Strike (foul), Y Alonso hit by pitch | 5 | 4 |
| Orlando Hudson | Strike (swinging), O Hudson singled to left, J Guzman scored, N Hundley to third, Y Alonso to second, N Hundley thrown out at home attempting to advance on play | 5 | 5 |
Of note here:
Orlando Hudson was part of two of the outs recorded, and recorded the only hit-based RBI.
Jamey Wright failed to throw a single strike.
An inning that was plagued by some of the most frustrating types of occurences (walked-in runs, wild pitched-in runs, four-pitch walks) and some of the most mundane (fielder’s choice), ends on one of the most exciting plays in baseball: a thrown-out-at-home.
At times like these it’s easy to remember what the great bard said: “The game of ball is glorious.”
The pitch-by-pitch does fail to capture the strangeness with which the inning ended. For some reason Hudson got caught in a run down between first and second and while that was happening Hundley tried to go home which not surprisingly resulted in him getting thrown out. Considering that Hudson was going to be out no matter what it made sense for Hundley to try even though the chances of him making it were very slim.