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"Well, good afternoon once again, everybody — wherever you may be. A cool, partly cloudy day here in New York City, and the Mets fans filing out of Citi Field are smiling tonight, because their club has taken a commanding two-games-to-none lead in this National League Championship Series.
The final score — Mets 8, Dodgers 4 — but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story.
You could almost feel the years in Bobby Colon’s left arm — thirty-four years old, the veteran of so many big league battles — as he took the mound today. He wasn’t overpowering, but he was poised, deliberate, and unflappable. Six and two-thirds innings, seven hits, two runs, and every time the Dodgers threatened, Bobby found something extra. A little life on the fastball, a well-placed curve. It’s one of those days that remind you: experience still counts for something in this game.
And then, as the shadows lengthened across the infield in the sixth inning, the Mets’ bats — quiet for most of the afternoon — finally woke up. Kevin Brubaker, the man who led the National League in triples this season, lined a sharp single to right to get New York on the board. That cracked the door open, and Alan Sloan kicked it down. Two doubles, three runs batted in, and both of those doubles were of the ‘ring-off-the-wall’ variety. Every time he came through, you could almost hear the heartbeat of 39,000 fans rising with him.
In the seventh, David Rosa delivered the knockout punch — a two-run home run to left that just kept carrying on that brisk October wind. You could almost hear the sigh in Chavez’s delivery — he knew it was gone the moment it left the bat.
For Los Angeles, they battled. Ten hits on the day, a couple of late doubles from C.J. Rudeseal and young Ken Frost — but they were always chasing, never quite catching up. Baseball can be a funny game like that: you play well, and somehow, the scoreboard tells you otherwise.
So the story tonight belongs to the veteran lefty, Bobby Colon — who may not light up the radar gun, but who sure knows how to light up a scoreboard in his team’s favor.
The Mets win it, eight to four. They lead the series two games to none, and now the scene shifts to Los Angeles — where the Dodgers, will try to find a little October magic of their own under those warm California skies.
From Citi Field in New York, this is Vin Scully — wishing you a very pleasant good afternoon, wherever you may be."
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