Steve Webb
DENVER, CO — Let’s face it. 162 games is long freaking season. And by the end of it, everybody gets a little loopy and needs to blow off some steam. Goofball traditions like rookies in uniform going out for coffee for the veterans and wearing costumes for the final road trip of the year have become part and parcel of the last few days of the regular season. And one of the most inexplicable of these traditions seems to be the “National Anthem Standoff,” where one player from each team stands with cap on heart long after the Star Spangled Banner is finished and doesn’t budge until the guy from the ohter team does. It’s a weird game of chicken that everyone seems to enjoy. Well, we got treated to one in Denver on Friday night before the Dodgers opened up a meaningless final series with the Colorado Rockies.
The game started normally enough, with the singing of the national anthem. But afterward, neither Landon Knack or Colorado pitcher Kyle Freeland, neither of whom was starting that night, stayed in position.
For nearly five minutes, the standoff continued as the Rockies took the field and Dodgers leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani took his warm-up swings in the on deck circle. At one point, Dodgers play-by-play man Stephen Nelson quipped of the well-coiffed Freeland. “The only movement we’re seeing so far is hands through hair.”
At one point, Freeland can be seen calling over to the Dodgers dugout, “Go get your boy,” referring to the fact that as a rookie, Knack should be the first to relent. Eventually, home plate umpire Chad Fairchild agreed, walking over to the Dodgers righty and delivering the message that playtime was over. Knack seemed to question why the same message was not delivered to the home team, but eventually he relented and returned to the Dodgers dugout. Victory secured, Freeland returned to the Rockies dugouts to high-fives from his teammates. It was about the last thing that would go well for Colorado in the Dodgers 11-4 victory. World War III averted. Let’s play ball!
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