Controversial Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig had only one pinch-hit at-bat in Monday night’s 8-2 pounding of the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium but he made the best of that one at-bat; he lifted an opposite field solo home run just inside the right field foul pole off of Yankees left-hander James Pazos.

Although Puig’s “short-porch” home run did not factor into the Dodgers eventual win, it gave those who had doubts about the troubled 25-year-old Cienfuegos, Cuba native further proof that the Dodgers did wise by not unloading him after banishing him to Triple-A Oklahoma City for a month.

Since returning to the big club on September 2, Puig is 5-for-14 with three of those five hits being home runs. He has also driven in six while scoring five runs himself. He has also drawn four walks while striking out only twice for an very impressive September slash-line of .357 / .474 / 1.000. This figures out to an insane OPS of 1.474; this in only seven games played through the first 12 days of September.

Puig has five hits in September – three of which have been home runs.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Puig wasn’t the only one to make some noise on Monday. Dodgers right-hander Jose De Leon made his second major league start and picked up his second major league win, thanks in part to Puig and a Dodgers offense that gave him eight runs of support on 11 hits.

“It was electric and everything I expected,” De Leon told reporters after the game. “I was a little more nervous than I was in L.A. Since I grew up a Red Sox fan, I really wanted to beat the Yankees, so it was a good one.”

“His poise is off the charts,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Jose De Leon.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But without question, the loudest noise came from the 1,311 members of the Pantone 294 Dodgers fan group that essentially took over Yankee Stadium on Monday night. The group, spearheaded by 29-year-old Alex Soto of Huntington Park, California – a Dodgers season ticket holder out in the Left Field Pavilion  – initially drew loud boos from Yankee fans when they displayed a giant “LA” flag but immediately drew tremendous respect from those same fans both because of their sheer numbers and because of the extremely loud roll call that they did … of the Yankee players.

“It was as energetic as I’ve seen. That energy picked us up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “[Our fans] travel well, but that was more than I expected. On a Monday, we might have caught the Yankee fans off guard a little bit.”

Even De Leon was impressed with the Pantone 294 group.

“It was awesome,” De Leon said. “Got to give to them too, coming all the way from across the country. It really felt like home.”

Although there’s no official statistic for it on Baseball_Reference.com, there is a very good chance that the 1,311 members of Pantone 294 that traveled across the country for the Dodgers-Yankees series is the largest organized group to ever do so. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the win, coupled with the Giants loss to the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers are back to a four-game lead over the Hated Ones with only 19 games remaining in the regular season; of which six are against the Giants.

Oh, by the way … the Pantone 294 group will also be at AT&T Park for the final series of the season.

…just sayin.