October 6, 2016 Page 5 Dodgers Send Vin Off in Style By Adam Serrao His voice is unlike any other around. It transcends decades. It transcends generations. After 67 years of service to the Dodgers, Vin Scully’s voice can be said to transcend the game of baseball. His cool, calming notes will forever be linked to the sounds and smells of summer and spring. When Scully pulls the microphone close, baseball fans everywhere know cleats scraping against the cement and the smell of fresh wooden bats are soon to follow. In this, Scully’s final year calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team is attempting to send him off into retirement the right way. A victory over the Colorado Rockies two Sunday’s ago in what would be Vin’s final game ever at Dodger Stadium gave the Boys in Blue a playoff ticket and their fourth National League West title in as many years. If his time with the Dodgers had to come to an end, at least it wasn’t with a shortage of postseason entertainment to keep him busy. Over his last four years in the game, Scully has seen his share of Dodgers playoff baseball. Still, there has been only one thing missing: a World Series ring. The last time the Dodgers were the best team in the world was in the 1988 season and there Vin sat, snuggly in the booth taking it all in, most likely feeling like a little child, giddy with excitement all the while. Now, at the young age of 88, the only thing that Vin has left to ask for is one more of those bright and shiny rings to send him off happily into the sunsetfilled, Dodger-blue sky of retirement. Most people find themselves lucky to retire at the age of 50 or 60. Well, Vin; he’s been happy enough to keep on going well beyond that. “The Dodgers have clinched the division,” Scully said over the call once Charlie Culberson’s home run cleared the wall to give the Dodgers the win. It was the fourth year in a row that Scully has now found himself muttering those words. After a season in which the team used 15 different starting pitchers and had a record of 41-36 back on June 26, they somehow found a way to mend together the pieces to streak for another division crown. Even with the success, however, Scully insists that after last Sunday’s call in San Francisco, his time behind the microphone is over. It’s typical Vin Scully fashion, never wanting to be bigger than the game itself, never wanting to one-up the players, and, of course, never wanting to be a distraction. Scully could obviously never mean anything negative to the game or his team, but if he did have an effect this season, it was in the way that he rallied the players from eight games behind the best team in baseball at the time right to where they are now; positioned on top of the hated Giants heading into this year’s playoffs. The Dodgers may have gotten swept by the Giants in the final three games of the season, but to be honest, no one was thinking about the play on the field. The Dodgers already had the division locked up and as far as baseball was concerned, a date with the Washington Nationals was the only thing on all of our minds. The Dodgers series with the Nationals will begin this Friday in Washington. The Dodgers were 5-1 against the Nationals during the regular season. Clayton Kershaw will take the mound in Game 1 looking to improve even moreso on that record. Kershaw is 2-6 with a 4.59 ERA in the postseason, certainly with something to prove. Despite that ugly ERA, the Dodgers ace is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA in Nationals Park throughout his career. Before the beginning of the postseason, it is important to acknowledge the end of Vin Scully’s career. It was a career that spanned almost nine decades and will go down in history as the most prolific broadcasting career ever. The Dodgers and their fans everywhere are extremely lucky to have had such an announcer and a friend that helped them grow within the game of baseball and in real life as well. There will truly never be another Vin Scully. In his own words, “Don’t cry because it’s over; Smile because it happened.” All of us should surely smile because of the career that Scully has bestowed upon us. “There will be a new day and eventually a new year,” Scully ended his illustrious career explaining to his listeners. “And when the upcoming winter gives way to spring, rest assured that it will be time for Dodger baseball. So this is Vin Scully, wishing you a very pleasant and good afternoon, wherever you may be.” Though the career of the greatest broadcaster ever is now officially over, his words will live on forever. Now all that there is left to do is win a World Series to send the legendary broadcaster off the right way. 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