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DODGERS 4, N.Y METS 1
Dodgers homer on three consecutive pitches in win
Winning pitcher Kuo finishes the trifecta after Betemit and Kemp in the
second inning of a 4-1 victory over the Mets.
By Bill Shaikin, Times Staff Writer
9:55 PM PDT, June 12, 2007
Dodgers 4, N.Y. Mets 1
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Dodgers 4, N.Y. Mets 1
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- A change in the air?
Arrive in the third inning most nights, and you miss two innings.
If you arrived in the third inning Tuesday, you missed history.
You missed back-to-back-to-back home runs — not just by three batters,
but on three pitches.
Wilson Betemit, Matt Kemp and Hong-Chih Kuo did the honors, powering the
Dodgers to a 4-1 victory over the New York Mets. The Dodgers climbed
back into a first-place tie, sharing the top spot in the National League
West with the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Kuo hit his first major league home run — and the first for any
Taiwanese-born player, pitcher or otherwise. He punctuated his blast
with flair, with a bat flip worthy of Barry Bonds.
"I didn't mean to do that," Kuo said.
He hadn't hit a home run, after all, since high school.
But he did mean to pitch well, and he was outstanding. He scattered five
singles over seven innings for his second major league victory, both
against the Mets. He has scrapped his windup in favor of working
exclusively from the stretch, enabling him to tame his often-erratic
control by limiting his walks to one and his pitch count to 89.
And the thrills continued to the very end, with Jonathan Broxton and
Takashi Saito (18th save) wrapping up the victory by striking out four
of the last six batters.
You might remember the last time a major league team hit three home runs
on three pitches. The Dodgers did it, last September, for the final
three of four consecutive home runs in the ninth inning against San
Diego.
The home run derby was not as dramatic this time, not with the pennant
stretch still months away, but it was still plenty of fun. Except, that
is, to John Maine, the Mets pitcher who gave them all up — to the Nos.
7, 8 and 9 hitters in the Dodgers lineup.
Betemit went first, with a seemingly routine home run to left-center,
estimated at 408 feet, on an 0-1 pitch.
Kemp went next, on the next pitch, and he went deep down the left-field
line and into the second deck. The home run, estimated at 447 feet, made
him the first player in two years to hit one into the Dodger Stadium
loge level.
"I kind of looked on the JumboTron to see where it landed," Kemp said.
And then came Kuo, completing the trifecta with a 412-foot shot, a
fastball redirected into the all-you-can-eat bleachers in right field.
Kuo said he was surprised. Kemp said he was not, noting that Kuo
regularly hits batting practice homers beyond the center-field fence.
After Kuo came Rafael Furcal, and the crowd buzzed over the possibility
of four home runs on four pitches. Furcal killed the buzz by taking the
first pitch from Maine.
"He didn't come with a fastball there," Furcal said.
He did to Kuo, in the moment that will resonate from this game.
The pitching story can be told another time. This is a hitting story,
about the pitcher who crushed the fastball and flipped the bat, a
slugger on the replay if you didn't know any better.
Kuo said he was not concerned about future retaliation for the flip that
followed his home run.
"I don't worry about that," he said. "I might not hit another one."
Said catcher Russell Martin: "He can do whatever he wants when he hits
one like that. He'll probably get some sliders next time."
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
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