Baseball is an incredible game. Just when you think you’ve seen or heard everything that you can possibly see or hear, something new happens.

It happened again on Friday night in front of 36,767 fans at San Diego’s Petco Park and undoubtedly millions of other Dodger and baseball fans around the world. Ironically, many, perhaps even most, of the fans at the Padres’ 13-year-old ballpark were, in fact, Dodger fans; a byproduct of being a short three-hour drive away from 55-year-old Dodger Stadium and the reason it is often referred to as “Dodger Stadium South.”

It goes without saying that many, perhaps even most, in attendance had come to see 29-year-old Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who was making his first start in over six weeks, having been on the disabled list since July 23 for a lower back strain. That was 33 games ago, or roughly 20 percent of the Dodgers historic 2017 season. Yet in spite of his prolonged absence and the fact that this was his first start since July 23, the Dallas Texas native and Dodgers 2006 first-round draft pick managed to throw six innings of two-hit shutout baseball against the NL West fourth place Padres.

Even after spending six weeks on the disabled list for lower back stiffness, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was every bit his normal ‘lights out’ in his return to action on Friday night.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to flat out dominating the Friars with his seven strikeouts and zero walks over his six innings of work, neither of the two hits that Kershaw allowed left the infield. In fact, none of the 20 Padres batters that he faced even saw ball three – none of them. What Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was hoping would be a five-inning / 75-pitch outing  in his return from the DL ended up being six-innings on only 70 total pitches from the three-time Cy Young award winner and 2014 NL MVP. Like I said, flat out dominating.

But perhaps even more incredible is that no Padres batter even hit the ball out of the infield on Friday night, this due to the remarkable work of Kershaw, Dodgers right-hander Brandon Morrow, left-hander Tony Watson, and star right-handed closer Kenley Jansen. Not one Dodgers outfielder made even one play all night. Incredible indeed.

But something else happened during Friday night’s game that Dodger and baseball fans have probably never seen before. They witnessed the longest-tenured Dodger appear in his 1,434th game in Dodger Blue and the shortest-tenured Dodger appear in his first. That longest-tenured Dodger was, of course, 35-year old / 12-year MLB veteran Andre Ethier and that rookie making his major league debut was 21-year-old Alex Verdugo.

As Dodger fans well know, Ethier has spent all of the 2016 season on the disabled list for leg issues, the result of a freak accident when he fouled a ball off his right shin during a spring training game in 2016 that fractured his right tibia. The Phoenix, Arizona native and Oakland A’s 2003 second-round out of Arizona State University (who was later traded to the Dodger in 2006 for troubled outfielder Milton Bradley – a trade which, to this day, is still considered among the best in franchise history for the Dodgers) then missed all of the current 2017 season (to this point) for lingering neck and back issues.

Even though Ethier grounded out to short in his return to action on Friday night, the reception that he received from both Dodgers and Padres fans was quite emotional.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Verdugo was selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft from Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. The young outfielder skyrocketed through the Dodgers minor league system, posting a slash-line of .305 / .362 / .438 for an excellent OPS of .800 over his four minor league seasons. He was the Dodgers first announced September 1 , 2017 call-up on the very same day that Ethier was finally activated after spending nearly two full seasons on the DL.

In his first career game, 21-year-old Alex Verdugo showed remarkable plate discipline.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But what made Ethier’s return to action – albeit in a pinch-hitting role – even more incredible is that the veteran outfielder received a standing ovation from the crowd – Dodger fans and Padres fans alike – when he was announced. It was indeed one of those incredible never (or rarely) seen before baseball moments.

As great as it would have been to say that it was Ethier or Verdugo who led to Friday night’s 1-0 win over the Padres, that did not happen. In fact, Verdugo, who played the entire game in center field, went 0-for-3 at the plate with a walk, and Ethier, who pinch hit for Kershaw to lead off the top of the seventh, grounded out to Padres shortstop Yangervis Solarte – about as uneventful as it comes – except for that longest-tenured / shortest-tenured thing which, quite frankly, is pretty remarkable to have done so in Kershaw’s 16th win of the season, tied for most in the MLB with Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Greinke and Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Zach Davies.

Yes, baseball is an incredible game.