Pitcher This: Joel Busts a Ball at Dodger Stadium

Joel wows the fans at Dodger Stadium

It was a night of thrills for fans of baseball and comedy alike as earthquake survivor Joel McHale, aka America’s Favorite Pastime, took the mound Tuesday evening at Dodger Stadium to wing the ceremonial first pitch of the evening. Victory was in the air as the hometown heroes shut down the San Francisco Giants two to zip, but the real winners were the roughly 40,000 loyal Soup fans in attendance who showed up to see their man in person. While warming up (by hiding dabs of Vaseline on various parts of his body), McHale took a moment to answer a few Soup Blog questions:

Soup Blog: Is this the biggest venue you’ve appeared in?

Joel McHale: Well, there was the time that I opened up for Zeppelin at Wembley, but that was it.

S.B.: You threw a ball there?

J.M.: Balls were thrown, but not ones that would involve a sport.

S.B.: Speaking of balls, what’s on the agenda in terms of pitches?

J.M.: I’m hoping it’s going to be around a 94-mph curve, and I hope my rotator cuff shatters like a ceramic saucer.

S.B.: Are you excited?

J.M.: I just want to say that this is a great day for basic cable. I feel like a pioneer for basic cable, and I feel like, since Ryan Seacrest has never been able to do this, this is one thing I have on him.

S.B.: Babe Ruth used to dedicate home runs to sickly, bedridden children. What about you?

J.M.: This goes out to anyone with Legionnaires' disease.

S.B.: Are you a Dodger fan?

J.M.: Yes. You know, I’m from Seattle where I was a Mariner fan until they turned into a high school team this year. They’re in a different league, so I feel like it’s OK for me to be a huge Dodger fan. I’ve lived in L.A. now for, like, more than a third of my life, so I love the Dodgers. I love Chavez Ravine, I love the stadium and I still say, ha ha, Brooklyn. Not really.

S.B.: Are you also a fan of the legendary Dodger Dogs?

J.M.: Yes, my record is 45 Dodger Dogs before the seventh inning stretch. And then that becomes the eight inning anus stretch.

S.B.: How do you think you’ll feel postpitch?

J.M.: It’ll be the greatest moment of my life. And I might have pooped a little.