The Impossible has Happened – Jason Schmidt Returns

If you were to assemble a list of the most unlikely scenarios in sports it would look something like this:

1.) Brett Favre remaining retired
2.) Al Davis making a smart executive decision
3.) Jason Schmidt pitching five innings in a major league baseball game.

Okay, while the third topic on this list may be a bit of an exaggeration, it does make an obvious point. Jason Schmidt pitching for the Dodgers is a rare occurrence.

But on Monday night, Schmidt’s long road back to the majors finally ended, as the three-time all-star pitched in a big-league game for the first time since 2007, two shoulder surgeries ago. In his return to the mound against the Cincinnati Reds, he gave up three runs over five innings, earning the victory.

While Schmidt gave up three runs in the first, he did not allow another hit through the next four innings. Over five innings of work, his fastball topped out at 87 mph and he also through 91 pitches.

“It was an emotional day,” Schmidt told the media after the game. “It’s been a struggle. I didn’t want it to take this long, but unfortunately, it did. Before the game, driving here and getting all the phone calls and text messages from everybody, there was a lot of buildup. It was fun, and I’m glad we came out on the winning end of it.”

But to get the win, Schmidt had a lot of help from his Dodger teammates, who helped his cause by getting on the board early – scoring four runs in the bottom of the first. The Dodgers never trailed after that point, as the offense went on to score seven runs behind Russell Martin (3 hits, 2 runs), Andre Ethier (HR, 2 RBIs, 2 runs), Manny Ramirez (HR), and Casey Blake (2 RBIs).