The Dodgers and their fans rolled into Anaheim with their sea of blue, their fans bravado, and their "LET'S GO DOD-GERS" chant. It actually had a playoff style environment last night. The crowd was the biggest I've seen in years and while the Dodger fans were loud, I didn't see any extra curricular stuff in the stands.
When the Dodgers went up 3-0, I honestly felt the game was going to get bad quick, but credit to Canning, who settled down and really pitched his ass off. When Kole hit that home run, it got substantially more quiet, yet I think the Dodger fans thought they clearly had this game in the bag. The middle innings, the pitchers settled in and the Dodger fans started their cheers again.
That's when the magic of the 7th inning happened. Apparently, Dodger fans aren't exactly thrilled with Dylan Floro. He's probably the equivalent of Justin Anderson for the Dodgers. Hard throwing guy, but makes mistakes. The Dodger fans behind me were already nervous when Trout came to the plate. When Trout hit that bomb (with 2 strikes on him), the stadium was as loud as it was since 2002 when Speiz hit his HR. The place went nuts and it was awesome to hear the Dodger fans in their stunned silence. The only thing that was better, was when Joe Kelly came in. THAT'S when the REAL Dodger fan bitching started and it was awesome.
To score 2 runs on 0 hits was insane, but to watch the Dodgers simply implode was even better. And their fans.....holy crap. You would have thought this was the World Series again. Cussing, complaining, and heading for the exits.
Of course as Angel fans, nothing is ever easy for us with our bullpen and Ty Buttrey and Hansel Robles sure made things uneasy. But I give credit where credit is due. The entire bullpen, including Cam Bedrosian, stepped up and did the job. It was a great win last night. Yes, it's only one game, and yes, we're still under .500, but the atmosphere and the environment took me back to the days when that was the normal at Anaheim Stadium.
And it was fun for once.