Former Dodger outfielder Cody Ross is a postseason hero for the Giants, breaking up a no-hitter Sunday for the third consecutive game with a home run – his fourth homer in those three playoff games. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News fills in some backstory on how Ross got to the Giants.

Four years ago, Ross was memorably designated for assignment by the Dodgers, a mere four days after he hit two homers and drove in seven runs in an April 13, 2006 game at Pittsburgh. (He was traded to Cincinnati on April 24.) At the time, Ross was 25 years old and had 15 major-league hits. He had his downs and ups after that, but he’s certainly making the Dodgers look bad now. Old story, of course.

Anyway, you might not remember the why of the Dodgers cutting him loose: Ex-Giant executive Ned Colletti felt they needed to add a second baseman rather than rely on ex-Giant Ramon Martinez for infield depth in the aftermath of a beaning of ex-Giant Jeff Kent – though as it turned out, Kent only missed one game. The Dodgers called up Oscar Robles and went with an outfield that included J.D. Drew, ex-Giant Kenny Lofton, ex-Giant Ricky Ledee, ex-Giant Jose Cruz, Jr. and Jason Repko. (Barely a week later, Ledee went on the disabled list, and Andre Ethier was called up to make his major-league debut.)

The team that hit Kent with that pitch? The San Francisco Giants. So that’s who I blame for all this.

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The 1978 Dodgers had the most future wins coming to their pitchers of any staff in major-league history, according to Stat of the Day, though most of them would be with other teams. Led by Bob Welch’s 211, the members of that team won 1,277 games after that season.