Scully’s Giants-Dodgers call to be used for 1 inning on ESPN

ESPN will honor the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers baseball announcer Vin Scully throughout the September 21 edition of WEDNESDAY NIGHT BASEBALL presented by Hankook Tire when the Dodgers host their long-time rivals, the second-place San Francisco Giants, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

San Francisco evened the three-game set with the Dodgers ahead of the series finale Wednesday. So a victory at Chavez Ravine would not only give San Francisco a win in the three-games series but would keep alive the team’s hopes in the division, given the Giants host Los Angeles Sept. 30 to October 2 in the final series of the season.

As an 8-year-old in the Bronx, Vin Scully would grab a pillow, put it under his family’s four-legged radio and lay his head directly under the speaker to hear whatever college football game was on the air in 1936.

“He has some really, really good stuff”, San Francisco outfielder Hunter Pence said. “I went by a Chinese laundry and in the window was the line score of the World Series game, that would be October 2nd, 1936, and the Yankees beat up the Giants 18-4”, he told reporters this week.

Even when the San Francisco Giants win these days, bad news comes with it. He said last week he will not do any playoff games.

“It seems like the plan was laid out for me and all I had to do was follow the instructions”, Scully said.

“Johnny is going to get an MRI in the morning and we’ll have to see what happens”, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Cueto’s injury after the game. “We had guys on base all night long, but we just couldn’t push any across”.

The Dodgers had nine baserunners in the first five innings – two at a time in four of the five innings. And maybe if I was invited to the last game or whatever, maybe I would go.

“He asked me, ‘Why you looking at me?'” Puig said after the game through a translator. A sad time for fans of the best baseball broadcaster ever.

Rich Hill (12-5) started for the Dodgers and pitched five innings, allowing just one run – the homer by Nunez – and six hits while striking out seven and walking one.

“He is just a different human being”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon recently said.

“It’s disappointing. I made one mistake to Nunez and he did what he should have done with the pitch”, a visbily dejected Hill said after the game. It was his shortest stint in his five starts with the Dodgers. “I take 100 percent responsibility for this”.

The attendance of 53,621 was the largest regular-season crowd in Major League Baseball since August 30, 2012, when the Dodgers had another Scully bobblehead giveaway. “It’s not acceptable to miss like that at this level”. Hill came out after 77 pitches. Steven Okert struck out pinch-hitters Yasiel Puig and Kike’ Hernandez, running the Dodgers to 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (elbow surgery) came off the 60-day disabled list and RHP Bud Norris was designated for assignment.