LOS ANGELES -- Amid the chaos and nail-biting anticipation of the 18-inning marathon that took place on Friday night in Game 3 of the World Series between the Red Sox and Dodgers was a little side story that was developing in the seats behind home plate, right in the view of a national television audience.
Mary Hart, who for decades was the host of the long-running celebrity news show "Entertainment Tonight," has been a Dodgers season-ticket holder for years, and she is a regular fixture at Chavez Ravine, both during the regular season and the postseason. Her presence behind the plate has garnered plenty of attention, especially during the many years the Dodgers have played in October, when a regional audience becomes a national one.
:: World Series schedule and results ::
But Hart's popularity soared to a new level during Game 3 on Friday, thanks to her savvy wardrobe choices and her keen sense of humor, even as the stressful innings dragged late into the night.
This story involves Craig Kimbrel, the Red Sox's All-Star closer. He has an odd delivery that begins with him leaning over at almost a 90-degree angle and holding his bent arms out to the side, almost bird-like, as he peers in to the catcher for the sign.
During Kimbrel's appearance in the ninth and 10th innings on Friday, Hart did what a lot of fans do when he's pitching -- she imitated his stance. And that's when social media started blowing up, as the kids say.
Hart's Kimbrel dance immediately became one of the No. 1 trending topics on Twitter.
Hart said her fascination with the stance began in Boston last week. She and her husband, Burt Sugarman, went to Games 1 and 2 at Fenway Park, and they were struck by Kimbrel's odd delivery.
"I noticed how peculiar it was, just mechanically. How does he get his arms around and everything?" Hart said just as Game 4 was beginning on Saturday. "It was just kind of spontaneous -- I'm going to get up there and do what he's doing."
Also, she thought, maybe, just maybe, it would get into his sightline.
• Celebrity host Mary Hart's spot-on impression of Kimbrel
"There was a little bit of, 'Maybe I can throw him off a little,'" she laughed. "He's a hell of a pitcher."
Hart dancing in her vintage Dodgers sweater created quite a visual. She has two items of outerwear that she sports at Dodgers games -- a jacket and that vintage sweater, a gift from her husband some 20 years ago.

"I have it with me and I'm going to wear it again when it cools down tonight," she said.
Hart's Dodgers fandom began almost 40 years ago. She moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and was a bat girl at a Hollywood Stars game, the annual exhibition that for years was a fixture at Dodger Stadium. She met Dodgers legend and former manager Tommy Lasorda, who said to her, "Young lady, what is your dream?'"
Hart told Lasorda she likes to sing, and that she'd like to be on the field to sing the national anthem at a Dodgers game.
"And I was, 30 days later," she said. "Because of my friend, Tommy Lasorda. I've had a connection for a long time."