Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley is 37 now, which means that most of his outstanding baseball days are probably behind him.
Advertisement
Utley called the play “pretty lucky”. He’s made quite the impact on the field but an even greater impact off the field and now he has something to show for it.
“No tribute we could conjure could do justice to the gifts Vin has presented the Dodgers during the course of his unmatched career”, said Dodgers Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Lon Rosen. He becomes the 11th victor of the award that is voted on by Dodger personnel.
Utley realized he didn’t have the ball immediately, and scrambled back to get it.
The Giants and Padres begin play Saturday at 5:40 p.m., a half-hour before the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. It will depend on the players, and if they really will be able to “Win for Vin” the rest of the way. He’s helped me on the field, off the field, in the clubhouse.
“I should be on my knees to pray in thanksgiving for all the wonderful things that have happened to me”, said Scully, showered with the same roar of the crowd that first enticed him while listening to college football games on the family’s four-legged radio as an 8-year-old in the Bronx. And then I asked him about what Maulding had told me, the suits.
“Now people say to me, ‘Well now that you’re retiring, what are you going to do?'”
Adrian Gonzalez, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI, hit a sacrifice fly to plate Chase Utley to cap the scoring in the seventh. Utley is now batting.253 with 12 homers, 25 doubles, three triples and 50 RBI in 130 games and almost 500 at-bats. He lowered his earned-run average from 24.75 to 15.00.
Vin Scully’s unmatched prowess at calling baseball games is well documented, as is his fondness for relaying illuminating stories about everything from the players on the field to the fans in the stands. His combined 26 strikeouts are the most in a two-game span in Colorado franchise history.
True to his reputation as clutch performer, Utley belted two dramatic grand slams this season: May 27 in front of a hostile environment at Citi Field in NY, and August 16 in his return to Philadelphia.
Utley initially bobbles the grounder from starter Tyler Chatwood, then recovers and makes a blind toss to first base that would impress even the most savvy National Basketball Association point guards.
Weiss played shortstop for Oakland against the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series.
Kazmir was already an unlikely choice to make a postseason start for the Dodgers. I have tremendous respect for every single man who ever wore a major league uniform, going all the way back to my first year of broadcasting in 1958.
On Jan. 29, 1958, just as the Dodgers were making final preparations for their move to Los Angeles, Campanella was involved in a tragic auto accident that paralyzed him from the neck down, marking the end of his playing career.
Advertisement
A two-run single by switch-hitter Yasmani Grandal (batting left-handed) gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
