Off-Day Puzzle #13: The Play

It's time for Dodger baseball! Live from Dodger Stadium, the SoSG Network presents the Dodgers as they take on the Florida Marlins. Hi everybody, and a very pleasant Thursday morning to you wherever you may be.

The Dodgers are still the hottest team in the majors at 27 games over .500. They've won five straight and are coming off a sweep of the Reds. The Marlins are in third place in the NL East and are coming off their own sweep, of the Padres.

Let's set the Dodgers defensively for you. Pitching today is Clayton Kershaw. Russell Martin is doing the catching with James Loney at first base, Orlando Hudson at second, Casey Blake at third and Rafael Furcal at shortstop. In the outfield we have last night's hero Manny Ramirez in left, Matt Kemp patrolling center and Andre Ethier in right.

Leading off for the Marlins is Chris Coghlan. Coghlan is batting .249 with four home runs. He steps into the box. The first pitch is a strike and we're underway. You know what I love about broadcasting baseball? Anything can happen.

Here's the next pitch to Coghlan, and he grounds it toward second. Hudson picks it up and — holy mackerel! A tiger has come out of left field and mauled the O-Dog!

The ball pops out of Hudson's glove and bounces toward home plate! I wonder if they're going to charge him with an error.

Martin picks the ball up. Coghlan rounds first! Martin throws to Furcal covering second but instead airmails it into right field! He must have been thinking of his beautiful, beautiful girlfriend. And Furcal jumped as high as he could but didn't come close to touching the ball.

Coghlan rounds second and is heading toward third! Ethier picks up the ball in the corner, but the tiger has chased the entire infield into the dugout! Nice kitty! But what's this? Kemp and Ramirez are running toward the infield! Ethier throws it toward them! Manny, the new cutoff man, catches it!

Coghlan is heading home! Manny throws it to Kershaw, who trips and falls! Goodness gracious me! Kemp tries to cover home but he trips over Kershaw! But here's Ethier, sprinting in from right field and jumping over the pile of bodies! He takes the short relay from Kershaw! The play at the plate and Coghlan is...out!

Ladies and gentlemen, what an incredible play. Half the team is trapped in the dugout by the tiger and the rest of the players are sprawled out on the infield. And that was just the first out of the ballgame!

While we wait for a zookeeper to be called from Griffith Park, we can talk about that play. Boy I tell you, that play reminds me of one player and one player only. If I remember correctly....

What player is our announcer thinking of?

Hint #1 (9:54 a.m.): For those of you scoring at home, or even if you're alone, that was an unusual play.

Hint #2 (12:30 p.m.): It's a pretty hyper series of events, isn't it? See if you can find what links the players together.

Hint #3 (3:15 p.m.): Might listeners be unusually really lucky?

Hint #4 (4:55 p.m.): You must understand the rules of baseball to solve this puzzle.

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Puzzle Rules: The answer to the puzzle is the name of a current or former Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:

• Email us with the first and last name of the answer, as well as your reasoning. And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
• Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. I may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; I may confirm correct answers there.

You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Good luck!

Not familiar with SoSG's off-day puzzle competition? We're always looking for more participants!