We all know that baseball players are a superstitious lot, whether it’s not stepping on the line when entering or exiting the field, or wearing the same hat or T-shirt after a successful game, or not talking to pitchers when they are having a great outing, or whatever. As such, you can imagine the chuckle I got when the Dodgers took the field on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against the Pirates and there were Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford sporting high socks – something that neither had done through the first five games of the new season.

Hey, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work, right?
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As we all know, Crawford has been smoking hot during the opening week of the season so seeing him dressed differently was a bit confusing to me, but Kemp had every reason in the world to try something… anything to turn his dismal .056 batting average around.

I continued chuckling to myself over this high socks thing through the top half of the first inning, at least until I was rudely interrupted by an Andrew McCutchen 2-run home run off of starting pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu before the seats were even warm. But after escaping the inning without further damage (due to an absolutely brilliant defensive play by Dodger third baseman Juan Uribe), I began to wonder if the high socks thing might actually help the struggling center fielder.

Although the high socks didn’t help Crawford in his leadoff at bat when he hit a comebacker to Pirates starter Jeff Locke, Nick Punto lined a sharp single to center, bringing Kemp to the plate with one out. Would the high socks change Matt’s luck?

First pitch – swung on and missed (uh oh). Second pitch – called strike two (not looking good). Third pitch – a ball in the dirt that Matt didn’t chase (good boy). Fourth pitch – crack – a hard line drive into the right field gap for a double sending Punto to third.

Son of a gun.

Both Punto and Kemp scored on the next play when the Dodgers other hot hitter, Adrian Gonzalez, singled up the middle and the Dodgers accomplished something that they haven’t done yet this season – string three consecutive hits together and actually get a hit with runners in scoring position. Could the tide finally be turning? Could there actually be something to this high socks thing? I’ll reserve judgement for right now.

Crawford leads off the bottom of the 3rd with a double to the wall in the left field gap. Huh… maybe his high socks are working after all. Punto lays down a perfect sac bunt (no easy task off a left-hander) to move Carl over to third base. Here comes Kemp with his high socks and the go-ahead run 90 feet away. First pitch – crack – a high fly ball to right field. Jose Tabata makes the catch but Crawford tags up and scores easily, and the Dodgers take a 3-2 lead.

Son of a gun.

Crawford and Punto lead off the bottom of the 5th with consecutive singles. Carl’s high socks are really working now. First and second with no outs and here comes Kemp. I don’t even care that Matt leads the team with 2 GIDPs because he wasn’t wearing high socks then. What’s he do? He grounds into his third double play of the season.

Son of a bitch.

Gonzalez follows with a line drive single to left to score Crawford and the Dodgers take a 4-2 lead. It’s clear that AGon doesn’t need high socks.

Justin Sellers leads off the bottom of the 7th with a home run to left center making it 5-2, pinch hitter Mark Ellis flies out to center, Crawford grounds out to second (hmm), Nick Punto walks and here comes Kemp again. Punto steals second and Matt works the count full. Sixth pitch – in the dirt for ball four.

Son of a gun.

Justin Sellers launched this mistake pitch into the Left Field Pavilion. It was Justin’s first hit of the season. (Video capture courtesy of Fox Prime Ticket)

Gonzalez follows with a single to right to score Punto and the Dodgers lead 6-2, which would be the final score as the Dodgers sweep the Pirates to move into third place in the NL West (ahead of the Giants) one game back of the D-backs and Rockies.

So, was it the high socks? Probably not. But I’m betting that Matt Kemp will be wearing them when the Dodgers take the field at Petco Park in San Diego on Tuesday afternoon. Did I mention that baseball players are a superstitious lot?