LOS ANGELES – It makes no sense trying to explain what the Dodgers are doing, or how they’re doing it.
In a case like this, you simply sit back and enjoy the ride.
A season of improbable comebacks and amazing finishes added another episode Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. To call the circumstances unbelievable would be understating them.
The bottom line: The Dodgers came from four runs behind to beat the New York Mets 5-4 in 12 innings – first on a game-tying two-run homer by pinch-hitter Andre Ethier in the ninth, then on a game-winning double by Adrian Gonzalez.
How to explain it? Impossible.
"Seriously? Explain that game?" manager Don Mattingly asked. "I don't know. It's kind of fun though."
So much of the past two months have been fun. Last Friday night, the Dodgers overcame a 6-0 hole to beat the Tampa Bay Rays. Wednesday, it was just another version of the same comeback, this time from 4-0 behind.
"Nothing is surprising in this game," rookie Yasiel Puig said. "This is the way we prepare to win, just like we did against Tampa Bay."
But they are making it look easy these days. Their bullpen is keeping games close, and players are stepping up to the plate and delivering in critical situations.
Ethier, who did not start for two nights in a row because of a bruise in his left calf, stroked a two-run, opposite-field homer off LaTroy Hawkins after Mark Ellis led off the ninth with a single.
"The guy's been out for basically a day and a half, but to go opposite field here?" Mattingly said. "That ball took off. Usually nothing goes out at night here, especially opposite field. That's pretty amazing what happened right there."
But perhaps no more amazing that Puig, who led off the 12th with a roller past Mets shortstop Omar Quintanilla into shallow center field.
In classic Puig style, the Dodgers outfielder never hesitated, sprinting around first and diving head-first into second for a double. He made it easily when the throw from the outfield was off line.
"Every time I leave the plate, I'm always thinking for second (base)," Puig said through a translator.
As crazy as his attempt to reached second appeared, Mattingly approved.
"I'm thinking go," he said. "That's that perfect play where you're running hard out of the box. At that speed, that thing gets slowed down just enough where you've got a good shot. I’m thinking go."
And so he did, setting up Gonzalez's single to left that sent home a sprinting Puig.
The win was the Dodgers' season-high eighth in a row and their 23rd in 26 games since the All-Star break.
But it's not so much the wins as they way they do it – always with a flair.
"Lots of amazing stuff today," Mattingly said.
It would be impossible to disagree.
