“I don’t know, you come to the ballpark tonight and it would be like going to the theater on Broadway and just before the curtain comes up, a gentleman comes out and [says], ‘ Rex Harrison will not be performing tonight in “My Fair Lady.” John Brown will take over.'”

(Or, as Miguel Batista said after he was greeted with boos at Nationals Park in 2010 after being named the replacement starter for Strasburg minutes before first pitch, “Imagine if you go to see Miss Universe, then you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos.”)

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Scully, who was battling a sore throat, apologized for the sound of his voice in the second inning of the Dodgers’ 4-1 win.

“By the way, I owe you an apology, and I should really be honest with you as to why I’m here,” Scully said. “I mean it’s not important, except maybe I’m aggravating you a little bit, and I apologize. I really knew I had a sore throat, but I wanted to see Strasburg and Kershaw so badly that I decided I’m going to go and somehow I’ll croak my way through the game. It will be so exciting. I’m going to see two of the great pitchers going head to head. And about 45 minutes before the start of the game, Strasburg let me down. So anyway, I’m sorry, we’ll do the best we can. . . . I don’t know, maybe I thought all of a sudden I’ll feel 100 percent, with Strasburg and Kershaw, something magical will happen. Dummy.”