L.A. sends Vin Scully off with extra-inning thriller

LOS ANGELES -- After 67 years, Los Angeles wasn't ready to say goodbye to Vin Scully.

With the Colorado Rockies holding a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs,Corey Seager, theLos Angeles Dodgers' 22-year-old shortstop, hit a home run to right field to tie the game and extend the final home game for the 88-year-old announcer one more inning.

Sunday would be the final game Scully would broadcast from Dodger Stadium as he nears the end of a 67-year career that began in 1950 when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn and spanned nearly seven decades.

"And wouldn't you know we'd go extra innings," Scully said after Seager's home run. "Of course, you didn't have anything better to do anyway."

In the bottom of the 10th inning with two outs, Charlie Culberson homered on a fly ball to left field to give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory and their fourth straight National League West title, a franchise first, in Scully's final game behind the microphone at Dodger Stadium.

"The Dodgers have clinched the division," Scully said on the call. "And will celebrate on schedule."

It was a storybook moment in a storybook career for Scully, who was given a standing ovation after the game from the crowd and the players, who took off their championship hats and waved them at a smiling Scully up in the broadcast booth.

"Vin, we love," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on the field after the game as he looked up at Scully. "This is for you, my friend."

Scully will retire after finishing up a three-game series in San Francisco next weekend.

During Sunday's game, Dodgers players tipped their helmets toward Scully before stepping into the batter's box -- an idea that was hatched by Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner while the two were texting the night before the game.

After Roberts' on-field interview, Scully got on the microphone and addressed the crowd from the press box named after him.

"I'm terribly embarrassed," he said, standing up from his chair with his wife, Sandra, seated behind him. "I was hoping the team would win the game 10 to nothing and there would be no tension and it would be a nice easy day because I have a very, very small, modest contribution on my last day. I have always felt you folks in the stands have been far, far more important to me. You have given me enthusiasm; you have given me young at heart.

"Believe me when I tell you, I've needed you far more than you've needed me. Anyway, I wanted to try and express my appreciation to all the players. God bless them, and to all you folks at the ballpark. It's a very, very modest thing, but I sang this for my wife -- it was a loving gesture. You know the song, the "Wind Beneath My Wings," and that's what you are. You are the wind beneath the team's wings, and you are the wind beneath my wings. I know it's modest, I know it's an amateur, but do you mind listening?"

With that, Scully sat down as the players on the field and the crowd erupted in applause while a recording of Scully singing "Wind Beneath My Wings" played at Dodger Stadium.

When the song had finished, the players began jumping and celebrating winning the division on the field before heading into the clubhouse. Meanwhile, Scully said goodbye to his friends in the broadcast booth before exiting the Vin Scully Press Box for the final time.

"Thank you," Scully said as he walked out. "Thank you so very much."