Do You Believe in Ethier? Yes!

Andre Ethier's walk-off grand slam last night to beat the pesky Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the ninth is merely an extension of his greatness in the late innings. It was his eleventh career walk-off hit, and his second this season, lending credence to the idea that Ethier defines "clutch." If there was ever such a thing as on offensive closer in baseball, Ethier would have to be considered the best in the league. He certainly picked up the slack for Jonathan Broxton last night.

In all fairness, Broxton just got unlucky. Those last two singles with two outs by Greg Zaun and Craig Counsell were very weakly hit, and lucky to be base hits. Zaun's was a little blooper (he did that earlier too against John Ely) and Counsell's ground ball found the only possible spot where it could avoid the glove of diving shortstop Jamey Carroll.

But back to Ethier. Los Angeles is very fortunate to have two top-notch closers in two major sports: Kobe Bryant and Andre Ethier in basketball and baseball, respectively. Andre Ethier is the Kobe Bryant of baseball. When Kobe gets the ball in the waning seconds, with the game on the line, he delivers, as consistently if not more so than anyone could expect or imagine in such a situation. Ethier is the same way. When he steps to the plate in a walk-off situation, his opponent might as well just start walking back to the dugout. As I watched Ethier step to the plate last night in the ninth from my seat behind first base, I knew the game was over. You just get that feeling when he bats under do-or-die circumstances.

The amazing difference between Kobe and Ethier, however, is that the Lakers can choose to give Kobe the ball when they need a big shot down the stretch. The Dodgers, due to the beautiful nature of baseball, cannot make the same choice for Ethier. They can hope, but they cannot choose. Imagine if they could choose. Given all we've seen from him in the past three seasons, imagine if they could choose. It's mind-blowing, and yet it might be even more mind-blowing that, despite the Dodgers' inability to force him to the plate late in games, he still gets his opportunities time and time again. And when he does, he gives you very little reason to believe he won't win the game right then. He's Andre Ethier, and his heroic magic continues to dazzle spectators with stunning frequency.