The Sommer Frieze

Blake DeWitt’s 3-run triple highlighted a 5-run first inning as the Dodgers took Game 3 of the NLCS 7-2 to cut the Phils’ lead to two games to one.

In Game 2, Manny Ramirez was buzzed by Brett Myers. In Game 3, Russell Martin was buzzed by Clay Condrey in the 2nd inning—this after being hit by soft-tossing Jamie Moyer in the first. The next inning, Hiroki Kuroda threw one over Shane Victorino’s head, eliciting Victorino to point to his hip and head as if to say “throw at my body, not my head.” Benches eventually emptied, though no punches were thrown. An interesting exchange occurred between coaches Larry Bowa and Davey Lopes.

Jamie Moyer, five weeks short of his 46th birthday, became the oldest pitcher to start a LCS game. He was knocked out after just 1 1/3.

On October 12, 1929, Jack Quinn of the Philadelphia A’s started Game 4 of the World Series. Quinn was born in Austria-Hungary on July 1st, 1883 (baseball-reference.com), making him 46 years, 3 months and 11 days old when he started that game. Quinn died in Pottsville, PA (a reasonable driving distance from me, say an hour’s time) in 1946. Until recently, Quinn held the record for the oldest player (46) to hit a HR (broken by Julio Franco). He pitched until he was 49. Game 4 of the 1929 WS is remembered for probably the greatest postseason comeback ever. Quinn gave up six runs, five earned in five innings. Entering the bottom of the seventh, the Cubs had an 8-0 lead. The A’s erupted for 10 runs (a WS record for an inning, matched by the 1968 Tigers) and won the game 10-8.