Top of the 8th, the disaster inning

I went to last night’s Dodger game. Yes, game 4 of the National League Championship Series. Yes, the one they lost… and lost bad.

That lost has totally screwed with my mood. I couldn’t sleep last night. I woke up late, went to work sleepy and low on energy. I told my co-worker that I felt hungover despite only drinking water and Dr. Pepper at the game. The smoky air (thanks to the fires in the Valley) irritates my eyes and constantly makes me feel like crying.

Yeah, I’m sad, but it’s also not over. The Dodgers can bounce back. They’ll have to win three in a row. I’ll be crossing my fingers and cheering for Los Doyers.

And now, photos from the game.

We got to the game early enough to catch the starting pitcher, Derek Lowe, warming up with Russell Martin in the bullpen. Our seats were loge level right next to the bullpen.

I was supposed to be Gabby’s date, but she got a single ticket for a luxury box thanks to her boss. She let me invite someone else to use her ticket. Danny was the first person to respond. He told me about his trip to Alaska over the weekend for an a cappella festival. According to him, Sarah Palin isn’t as popular amongst Alaskans as the mainstream media makes her out to be.

The bullpen (aka the heart breakers)

Chicanos sure love their Fernando Valenzuela jerseys.

Los Lobos’ Louie Pérez, David Hidalgo and César Rosas sing the national anthem. I usually feel really awkward during the national anthem (despite having played it dozens of times during pre-game shows in high school and college band). My ears perked up as soon as I heard the announcer say, “3-time Grammy Award winning band from East LA.” They did a good job. Oh yeah, a few minutes later, I heard one of their songs (La Venganza de los Pelados, featuring Rubén Albarrán de Café Tacuba) when Rafael Furcal came up to bat.

I love the way the stadium looks all dressed up with the bunting.

Russell Martin (the catcher) didn’t get hit this game. That’s good.

Orel “the Bulldog” Hershiser threw out the ceremonial pitch. It was a little slow (53 mph), but what do you expect from a guy who won the Cy Young Award 20 years ago?

Time for Lowe to go out, he gets high fives from the rest of the bullpen. Maybe he needed something else, because he promptly gave up two runs.

Danny: what’s Manny doing in the pavilion?

He has a point, that dude looked a lot like Manny Ramirez. I think his dreads were real and not the cheesy fake ones.

Full moon over smoky skies. Did I mention the air quality sucks? By the end of the game, I felt like vomiting (and that was while we were winning) and kept coughing.

Chan Ho Park warming up before coming in to pitch. He’d throw a wild pitch allowing one of the Phillies to steal home and tie up the game at 3-3.

Then Joe Beimel came up to end the 6th inning.

The bottom of the 6th started off good. We should’ve had more runs scored — especially after the bases were loaded — but all we got were two runs. Still, we were high fiving our neighbors, smiling and laughing. Phillies 3. Dodgers 5. Game 4 was almost done and the series would be tied.

Hong-Chih Kuo began warming up and would take over in the 7th inning. He struck out the side at the top of the 7th.

onathan Broxton (the closer) and Cory Wade (another reliever) began warming up in the bottom of the 7th. Just six more outs. I felt good. Broxton is good closer.

But it didn’t turn out that way. The top of the 8th was a disaster. Kuo gave up a hit to Ryan Howard. Torre pulled him out and brought in Wade. He gave up a 2-run homer to Shane Victorino to tie the game. Torre promptly took out Wade and brought in Broxton. Rather than get out of the inning without another run, Broxton gave up a 2-run home run to the Phillies’ pinch hitter. Oh yeah, that was his first home run he’s given up at home since 2006. The Phillies now had the lead.

The energy was sucked out of the stadium. The Dodgers tried to rally in the bottom of the 8th, but didn’t do anything except leave two men stranded.

The 9th inning came and went and the score remained the same: Phillies 7-Dodgers 5.

Losing sucks. At least I was at home for Games 1 and 2. I didn’t have to feel the energy of 50,000+ depressed fans.