(above : McLouth arrives in empty dugout)
Who amongst us hasn’t made a quick exit from a major league ballpark the moment a walkoff HR cleared the fence? OK, maybe not you, but I’ve done it a bunch of times over the years, especially when Armando Benitez was pitching for the Mets away from home. Last night at Turner Field, however, it was an altogether different set of circumstances at the end of Atlanta’s dramatic defeat of Philadelphia, as USA Today’s Paul White explains.
As Nate McLouth completed his home run trot, ready for the bouncing mass of teammates awaiting at home plate, he found nobody, just umpire Paul Nauert making sure McLouth touched ’em all.
The dugout? Empty. It was a walkoff for all the Braves, it turns out, who pulled a prank by all heading up the tunnel that leads to the clubhouse. That’s where they waited to celebrate.
“I didn’t know what to do,” McLouth said. “I looked around for a second and everybody was gone.”