[Ghoulish Delight]

The key to last night's Dodger win, imo? 7th inning.

Even though they were already leading 4-1 going in, that Dodgers half of the 7th was huge. Penny looked tired in the 6th. He wasn't throwing strikes and when he was, they were getting hit hard. He got out of it cheaply enough, but gave up that first run.

So I was pretty surprised to see him at the plate to lead off the 7th. You could see him talking to someone in the dugout (Honeycut, I would guess) as he walked off the field. I guess he won the argument because there he was. And then he got a hit. And then he was forced out at second.

And that's when the inning got good. The Dodgers knew Penny was tired. He was tired coming off the mound after the 6th, and he had just run from home to second, including a take-out slide a second. So the Dodgers slowed the game down. You could see it. They were taking more pitches, getting deeper into at bats. The D-Backs obliged by changing pitchers twice. And Penny got himself a good 30 minute rest, which allowed him to come out and get one more quality inning. The insurance run didn't hurt either. It doesn't seem like much, but over the course of the season, a 7 inning starts vs. 6 inning starts make a difference, physically and psychologically, for a bullpen.

That's the kind of subtle team play that a lot of people miss if they don't know the game. And that's the kind of team play that's sorely lacking in the American League with the DH.