See Adrian Gonzalez in the picture above? That’s him about to swing at a pitch from J.J. Putz in the bottom of the ninth. Five seconds before this moment, Gonzalez was in the midst of another tough game, one that was magnified by the fact that the suddenly feeble Dodger offense was about to go down to another loss, one which would have put them a season-high 5.5 games out in the NL West. Even the double the box score showed for him was a ball that should have been caught had a sunny sky not caused outfielders Chris Young & Justin Upton to stare blankly at each other as it dropped in. Yet another loss with yet another lack of offense, other than Matt Kemp‘s solo homer, and there’s no telling how ugly things may have gotten around here.

Five seconds after? Well, after the much-maligned Mark Ellis & Shane Victorino slid across the plate to turn a 4-3 loss into a 5-4 win, Gonzalez was mobbed by teammates after his first LA walk-off, and suddenly all seemed right in the world. Amazing how much things can change in just a few seconds, isn’t it? Suddenly, you hope that this team has momentum instead of heading down the tubes, and the timing couldn’t be better: after three games with San Diego starting tomorrow, the Giants are the next up. Safe to say, that series is going to be as big as they come.

But most importantly, was Todd Coffey excited?

Yes

— Todd Coffey (@ToddCoffey60) September 2, 2012

Hey, me too.