"Hello! My name's Dusty Baker, and yes, I'm about to get pwned!"
"Hello, my name's Joe Torre, and I am smarter than the man pictured above me!"
This is what happens when Joe outsmarts Dusty:
Tie game. Bottom of the 6th inning at Dodger Stadium. Runners on 1st and 2nd. Starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo is clearly running out of gas. Dusty Baker tells pitching coach Dick Pole to get reliever Nick Masset warming up. Dodgers' manager Joe Torre sends veteran Mark Loretta on deck, presumably to bat for the pitcher.Russell Martin rockets a single, hitting it so hard that rather than scoring, the hit loads the bases. It appears like Arroyo is going to stay in to face Loretta.
Torre calls Loretta back in, and good ole' dreadlocked Manny Ramirez takes his place, causing the entire crowd, on Manny Ramirez Bobblehead night, to give a standing ovation. Dusty Baker does a double-switch, and calls in Masset to face Ramirez.
Announcer Vin Scully, who appears to be enjoying this, warns the viewers against the expectations and does what other announcers (ahem, Diamondbacks announcers) often forget to to do -- he tells us the stats. Masset is 1/28 against right-handed hitters, Manny is 3/27 as a pinch hitter, and Manny has 20 career grand slams.
Ramirez lines a low fastball into the left field seats that are known as "Mannywood," causing an absolute eruption in the sellout crowd as the Dodgers go up 6-2, and threaten to beat the Reds in LA for the 12th time in a row. The crowd calls him out for two tips of the cap, and he impersonates his own bobblehead before hitting the showers.
Vin Scully's description of the pitch: "That really was like trying to throw a lamb chop by a wolf."
Now, this is not only a testament to Ramirez, but also to Joe Torre's creativity, who clearly did something that the Reds didn't expect whatsoever. Ramirez was riding the pine because he was hit in the left hand with a fastball the night before, which is just about the only reason why he wouldn't play on his own bobblehead night.
Torre after the game: "It was a perfect situation. They couldn't walk him."
