If you missed Friday night’s Dodger game on TV or radio – oh well.

If you watched Friday night’s Dodger game on TV or listened to it on the radio and turned the game off when the Dodgers were losing 6-0 – too bad.

But if you were at Friday night’s Dodger game and you left early, shame on you.

Why?

Because that 6-0 deficit became a 6-1 deficit in the bottom of the 7th; a 6-3 deficit in the bottom of the 8th; and an absolutely unbelievable 7-6 Dodger win in the bottom of the 9th.

Yasiel Puig woke the Dodgers offense up with an RBI double in the 8th inning. The Dodgers would score two in the 8th and four in the 9th for an incredible 7-6 walk-off win.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

It was epic.

It was 2006 back-to-back-to-back-to-back home run epic.

It was 1988 “brake lights” epic.

I would love to be a fly on the wall when Dodgers fans who turned the game off early or left Dodger Stadium before the 9th inning fire up their computers this morning and check the box scores or go to their favorite Dodger blog site and see that the Dodgers came from behind and won this game. I suspect that there will be some choice words uttered.

It was the first 6-run come-from-behind win since April 19, 2005 against the Brewers in Milwaukee and only the second in L.A. Dodger history.

“It was unbelievable really,” said Dodger manager Don Mattingly after the game. “It just kind of happened so fast. Mark (Ellis’s) ball, and then Nick (Punto) hits the first pitch, and then Adrian (Gonzalez) didn’t waste any time, and Jerry (Hairston Jr.) didn’t waste any time either. It was like ‘boom.’ Some times you get foul balls, fighting, long at bats but these were just quick.”

“Once we got a couple of runs in the previous inning I think we felt we had a chance in the 9th,” said Dodger right fielder Skip Schumaker, who got the 9th inning rally started with a leadoff single to left. “If you’re down five runs or six runs in the 9th that’s a little bit different, but when we got a couple runs across the board in the 6th and the 8th innings then we knew we had somewhat of a chance and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Schumaker added that this was the most emotional and exciting win of the season.

“It’s the best win so far. We’ve got a lot more games to go but this is one of the better comebacks, no doubt.”

Left fielder Jerry Hairston Jr., who knocked in the winning run on his comebacker which Rays reliever Fernando Rodney air mailed into center field for an error on what should have been a game-ending double play, agrees with both Mattingly and Schumaker.

Fernando Rodney’s errand throw didn’t miss by a little, it missed by a lot.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox PrimeTicket)

“We feel we’re never out of it, especially when we’re at full strength. We want to make sure that we give ourselves a chance. Our biggest thing is in the 9th inning getting the tying run to the plate and we were able to do that and we found a way to win tonight.”