When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came out to get starting pitcher Blake Snell out of Wednesday night's game against the Philadelpha Phillies, Snell's eyes became as big as Ralph Kramden seeing money in a suitcase.
Snell started telling Roberts, even before the Dodgers skipper reached the mound, that he's got it. Roberts picked up his pace to the mound, got eye-to-eye with Snell, and quickly retreated to the Dodgers dugout.
Maybe Snell didn't want the Dodgers bullpen, which has been much maligned, coming into a game he was winning. Snell reached back and fired a high fastball that the Phillies' Otto Kemp couldn't reach. Snell got his 12th strikeout, a season high, and let out a roar.
The Dodgers also got home runs from Shohei Ohtani, his 51st this season, and Freddie Freeman en route to a 5-0 win over the Phillies at Dodger Stadium,
It was a big win for LA and Snell, too.
"I was excited," Snell said after the game. "I don't like the bullpen finishing my innings. I'm very adamant about that. I don't want them in that situation. I put myself in this, I can pitch my way out of it."
In the Phillies' half of the seventh, Snell walked Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler. But Snell was able to get out of the jam.
About that mound visit? Snell and Roberts offered their own stories about the abrupt moment.
"'Please, keep me in. I got it,'" Snell said. "It meant a lot that he trusted me."
"He was adamant he wanted that last hitter," Roberts said. "And I trusted him. And he finished him off the right way. Just a huge boost for us. Just a great performance from pitch one. We needed this one tonight. And he delivered.”
Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia was making his way toward the mound. Once Snell told Roberts that he was staying put, Vesia made a right turn and headed back to the bullpen.
The bullpen did its job with Tanner Scott working a scoreless ninth. Los Angeles needed this win to still be in line for a National League playoff spot. But the Phillies, who took two out of three games in LA in this series, entrenched themselves in a better position.
Don't be surprised, Dodgers fans, if the Phillies and Dodgers meet once again in the NL playoffs.
Philadelphia holds a 5.5-game lead in the NL standings and have a tiebreaker advantage, too. If LA can keep its two-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West, then win a Wild Card series, the Dodgers probably have to get through the City of Brotherly Love to move forward.
If Roberts can get another key start or two out of Snell, then have his bullpen repeat its performance through the rest of this regular season, then things get interesting. It's been a topsy-turvy season at times for Roberts, who has faced enough consternation from Dodgers Nation that it might keep him up at night.
Still, the Dodgers are in position to play postseason ball.