Monday night’s interleague game between the Dodgers and the Mariners at Dodger Stadium was just plan nuts. I mean who would have thought that Brandon McCarthy could spot the Mariners to a 4-0 lead on three home runs only to have the Dodgers come back to within one, and then have McCarthy give up another solo home run, and then have the Dodgers tie it at five, and then have McCarthy make it through the seventh inning with 10 strikeouts and zero walks?

Like I said, it was  just plan nuts.

Trying to pick a hero in the Dodgers eventual 6-5 win in 10 innings is difficult at best. Oh sure you could go with Alex Guerrero’s bases loaded walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning for the game winner; or you could go with Andre Ethier’s crucial leadoff double in the 10th inning that set up Guerrero’s walk-off; or you could go with Yimi Garcia’s outstanding top of the 10th inning when he retired the Mariners in order with two strikeouts; or you could go with Paco Rodriguez’s huge eighth-inning strikeout of Robinson Cano (who had already homered in the game) with the go ahead run on first base; or you could go with Yasiel Puig’s mammoth solo home run halfway up the Left Field Pavilion in the bottom of the fifth inning to get the Dodgers to within one.

Paco Rodriguez’s eighth-inning strikeout of Robinson Cano with the go ahead run at first base was huge.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But for me the hero of the game was Scott Van Slyke.

Wait a minute, you say. How can a guy who went 0 for 1 with two walks be the hero of the game?

It’s rather quite simple, actually.

In the bottom of the fourth, Yasiel Puig led off the inning with a single. He was then forced out at second on a fielders choice by Adrian Gonzales. This was followed by a double off the bat of Howie Kendrick to put runners at second and third with no outs bringing Scott Van Slyke to the plate. After quickly falling behind in the count 0-2, Van Slyke took the next three pitches to work the count full. He then fouled off a pitch to stay alive and then took ball four to load the bases. Alex Guerrero stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Gonzalez. On the play Kendrick tagged up and advanced to third base. But also on the play a very alert Scott Van Slyke noticed that Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano had gone out to take the cutoff throw, thus leaving second base unattended. Van Slyke promptly tagged up from first and advanced to second base without a play.

While all of this may seem rather insignificant, it was anything but. Joc Pederson stepped to the plate and sliced a single to left field on which both Kendrick and Van Slyke scored to make the score 4-3 Mariners.

Joc Pederson’s single to left would have driven in one run instead of two had Scott Van Slyke not alertly tagged up and taken second base on Alex Guerrero’s sacrifice fly to right. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Even though the Dodgers still trailed the Mariners by one, Van Slyke’s heads-up play allowed two runs to score in the fourth inning instead of only one which, of course, made all the difference in the world in the final score. Had Van Slyke not alertly taken second base on the tag-up, the ninth inning would have ended with a 5-4 Mariners win instead of forcing the game into extra innings and the Dodgers eventually winning it in the bottom of the 10th on Guerrero’s walk-off single.

Sometimes the biggest play of the game is one that you won’t find in the box score.