If you say you knew the little-known codicil of Rule 8.06 that manager Bruce Bochy used as a cudgel to help the Giants complete a huge comeback and beat the Dodgers 7-5 Tuesday night, well, you're a liar and your pants are on fire.
In a stunning and wacky end to a game that already was a novella, the Giants scored three runs in the ninth inning to overcome a 5-4 deficit after acting Dodgers manager Don Mattingly spent two visits on the mound on one trip to talk to closer Jonathan Broxton. After Bochy informed the umps, they invoked an obscure part of the rule and forced Broxton to leave the game.
George Sherrill relieved him, and Andres Torres responded with a two-run double into the left-center gap to give the Giants a lead. Buster Posey added an RBI single.
Jeremy Affeldt earned the save in place of a resting Brian Wilson, and so ended an already eventful game in which an ineffective Tim Lincecum was knocked out in the fifth inning after knocking down and then hitting Matt Kemp, and Clayton Kershaw retaliated against Aaron Rowand and earned one of three Dodgers ejections.
"I think that's the craziest win we've had all season," Affeldt said. "I'm sure we'll put our heads on our pillows and smile."
They can smile because they overcame a 5-1 third-inning deficit and secured their first series win against the Dodgers since May 2009.
The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Mattingly went to the mound to talk strategy with Broxton, then started to return to the dugout. He wanted to say something else, swiveled back toward Broxton and returned to the mound. According to Rule 8.06, once you step off the dirt, the first visit is over.
"I guess those two little steps off the mound helped us," Lincecum said.
Mattingly said home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson yelled, "No, no, no" when he started back toward the mound. The umps knew what happened, but they would not have forced Broxton out had Bochy not complained.
Bochy knew the rule well. He used it in this same stadium in 2006 to force then-Dodgers manager Grady Little to remove Brad Penny.
"It's an easy mistake to make," Bochy said. "I saw it. Once he went back to say a few more words, I was sitting in a pretty good position, that's all. What's important is that Torres came through with that double. He delivered big-time."
Lincecum's fifth-inning drilling of Kemp - accidental, he said - set off the daisy chain. Kemp took a couple of steps to the mound and Lincecum took a couple of steps toward Kemp, later saying, "I was just doing my part, whatever the hell that was, standing there wearing it."
The Giants then scored three off Kershaw in the sixth to close to 5-4. Sandoval had the big hit, a two-run double down the left-field line. In the bottom half, Denny Bautista nearly hit Russell Martin. Dodgers bench coach Bob Schaefer was ejected arguing that Bautista should have been ejected.
Kershaw retaliated in the seventh by hitting Rowand, an odd move with the Dodgers leading by only a run. That got Kershaw ejected. Equally important, manager Joe Torre was ejected automatically, putting Mattingly at the helm.
Lost in the hubbub and crazy ending was an unnerving outing by Lincecum, who struggled to hit 90 mph on the gun, could not throw strikes and even had a pitch slip out of his hand and fly into the air. He allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings.
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