Juan Pierre Steals First Base to Avoid an Intentional Walk to Manny Ramirez

Juan Pierre stole a base last night, but it wasn’t the one most people steal. In the top of the 8th inning with two outs and Juan Pierre on second, the Phillies threw two intentional balls to Manny Ramirez. The Dodgers didn’t want to lose their best hitter to an intentional walk, so Juan Pierre smartly stole first base. With a runner on first, the Phillies instead decided to pitch to Manny. Manny made them pay by hitting a gapper off the left-centerfield wall as Juan Pierre scored all the way from first.

“This is why Juan Pierre is one of the smartest players in the game” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. Pierre easily stole the base without a throw. Pierre's ability to steal both first and third base from second makes him a dual threat and very tough to defend against.

However, Pierre's heroics couldn't win the game by himself. The Dodgers wanted to see the new episode of David Letterman so instead of having to play all three outs in the ninth, the Dodgers let Jimmy Rollins hit a walk-off double to end the game. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they forgot they were in the eastern time zone so they were a few minutes too late for Dave.