June 28th, 2013 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Okay, I confess – it was me. I’m the guy who was silently praying for Skip Schumaker to strike out in the bottom of the 7th inning with the bases loaded for the second out – not because I have any ill-will towards Skip Schumaker or because I wanted to see his batting average dip below .250. No, I wanted Schumaker to strike out because it would prevent him from hitting into an inning-ending double play. But even more importantly, a strikeout would allow the guy on deck to come to the plate. Yes, that would be Yasiel Puig – Man of Steel.
Now granted, it certainly appeared to me that Schumaker had successfully checked his swing, but when Phillies catcher Humberto Quintero appealed to third base umpire Bill Miller and Miller wrung Schumaker up, I silently said to myself “Yes!” (Okay, maybe it wasn’t so silent).
I cannot argue that having a guy at the plate with the bases loaded and only one out isn’t better than having a guy at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs isn’t flawed thinking, but let’s be real here – it is Yasiel Puig we’re talking about; the guy who was 0 for 3 on the night, which meant that the law of averages were stacked heavily in his favor.
And Puig delivered exactly as I had envisioned by pulling a hard grounder into the hole between short and third for a 2 RBI single – but that’s only the half of it.
After flailing at back-to-back sliders low and away off of Phillies right-hander Justin De Fratus, Puig was laying on another slider – and he got one. But what was absolutely amazing… impossible actually, is that the pitch was not only low and away, it was out of the strike zone, yet Puig was able to somehow pull it into the hole for what would eventually be the game winning hit.
How Yasiel Puig was even able to get the bat on this low and away slider is a miracle…
…but being able to pull it into the hole was impossible. (Click on photos to enlarge)
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
We will never know if Skip Schumaker might have gotten a hit had Miller ruled that he had checked his swing, nor will we ever know if he might have hit into an inning-ending double play; but what we do know is that Puig continued his meteoric rise to immortality with yet another game winning hit for the Dodgers.
…and I bet even Skip Schumaker is okay with that.
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The legend grows! I don’t think the casual observer appreciates what he did. That slider was low and away. Standard practice is go with it and hit the ball to right field as he has done many times. Instead he pulls it. Any other normal major league batter doesn’t have enough strength to hit the ball hard and it is an easy ground ball to handle even if it is in the 5/6 hole. They will catch up to it. Just looking at his swing on TV my instant reaction was that it was going to be an easy grounder. Instead he muscles it and hits it hard enough get it through.
We are watching something really special unfold.
@Think_BlueLA poor M. Ellis and Skip. They probably get all kinds of “little” prayers asking for a K to see Puig. I’m with you on that one
I know some of you out there don’t like to have memories of Manny brought back but everytime Puig comes through in the clutch, like he did last night, I just can’t help being reminded of that short lived time when Manny was with us.
The best thing about this is that Puig can be with us for a much longer time.
“The best thing about this is that Puig can be with us for a much longer time.” You are right about that OBF.
OBF – I just don’t see how you can even think of Manny Ramirez and Yasiel Puig at the same time. Ramairez was a fake, a cheater caught twice, couldn’t produce in the playoffs and as predicted quit on the Dodgers as he did on the Red Sox.
Yasiel is a breath of fresh air and what you see is what you get, not a fake. Yasiel will have difficult times too but he isn’t a fake.