A night like this could not have been scripted. In fact, if Hollywood made a movie about the final day of the 2011 MLB baseball season, it would be stranger than fiction. But yet here we are. The St. Louis Cardinals were 8.5 games out of the Wild Card as the month of September began. The Tampa Bay Rays were 9 games back in the American League, and last night, the impossible became possible, as both teams will be playing playoff baseball later this week.
Unbelievable.
I honestly do not think I am overvaluing this in the slightest, but last night, the evening of September 28th, 2011 is the most incredible night of baseball games I have ever seen in my entire life. Aside from the fact that 2 of the largest late season collapses occurred side by side, this night produced excitement and intrigue that is sure to never be duplicated in my lifetime. The scene was set with four games controlling the destinies of 4 teams with just two playoff spots on the line.
Tensions swirled over Houston, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, and Baltimore while collective fans dramatically inhaled at around 7:05 eastern time and couldn’t have possibly let the air out of their lungs until just after midnight. The stage was set, with clubs at a deadlock atop the wild card standings in both leagues, MLB history could be made or at the very least we were all in for a wild ride. And for two cities and two fan bases, that exhale represented more than a tensionless sigh of relief, it represented an opportunity to continue to play baseball, if not for just a couple of more days. But for Boston and Atlanta, it was more like the wind had been knocked of them, and those two ball clubs will be spending the long offseason answering gut wrenching questions about how they could let this happen.
And what happened was a 13 inning marathon in Atlanta where the National League rookie of the year, who set a record with 46 saves his first season in the bigs, blew the one that really counted. What happened was a questionable call by Atlanta Manager Freddy Gonzalez in the top of the 13th to hold a runner on first with two outs and men at the corners. What eventually happened was representative of the scene inside the Brave’s dugout throughout what seemed the entire game, if not the entire month of September. The dejected and complacent faces of that team were not only omnipresent during tonight’s game, but it seemed to take the place of the young and scrappy mantra that was bestowed on Atlanta all year long. The fight went out of the Braves a long time ago, and even though they saw that the opportunity was in no one’s hands but their own as the scoreboard flashed a Cardinals 7-0 win over the Astros in about the 8th inning, the Braves couldn’t do anything about it. What’s worse was that there were no rally cries, no terms of endearment or encouragement towards each other, just simply a sigh and a realization that they would actually have to win to get into the playoffs. But nonetheless, the game was exciting. Once it ended, and right as the Cardinals began to celebrate in Houston with champagne and Budweiser baths, I glanced at the ticker across my television and noticed that the Rays had come back and tied the Yankees at 7.
What made the comeback even more improbable and exciting was the fact that Bronx Bombers jumped out on top of Tampa 7-0 led by two Mark Teixeira home runs, one of which being a grand slam in the second inning. David Price, the Rays’ ace, had to exit stage left after only 4 innings of work and sat and watched as the Rays went into the bottom of the 8th still down 7. At that point, Baltimore and Boston were in a rain delay at Camden yards where the Red Sox were nursing a one run lead. Baltimore had runners on base in every inning up to that point, but couldn’t manage to achieve that timely hit.
Let’s get back to St. Petersburg, the 8th began with a simple Johnny Damon single that was quickly followed by a Ben Zobrist double and all of sudden the Rays had a little something going with runners at the corners and no outs. Casey Kotchman was hit by a pitch and Sam Fuld managed a pinch hit walk with the bases loaded that plated Damon and the Rays were finally on the board. Next up, Sean Rodriguez, he gets plunked, and all of sudden the wheels began turning in my head about the fact that the Yankees were already on their 10th pitcher –yes I said 10—and this game could be within reach with one swing of the bat. The fact that New York had absolutely run the well dry with limited pitching options left if this actually became a game, represented how bad a manager Joe Girardi is and is a big reason for what transpired next. After a Desomnd Jennings strikeout and a BJ Upton sac fly, Evan Longoria hit a 3 run bomb! Seemingly out of nowhere the Rays are only down one run headed into the 9th.
Flash back to Baltimore where a few minutes later, the Red Sox and Orioles get back under way and the next couple of innings are virtually the same as before the delay. Both teams continue to strand base runners as the score remains Boston 3, Baltimore 2.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 9th in the Rays Yankees contest and manager Joe Maddon decides to send Dan Johnson to the plate to pinch hit for Sam Fuld with 2 outs. Johnson sends a laser over the right field wall and the Rays have done the unthinkable and tied the game at 7. We now head to extras in St. Petersburg…
An hour later, the Red Sox have taken their one run lead into the bottom of the ninth where Jonathan Papelbon is now on the mound in pursuit of his 32nd save of the season. After striking out Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds (big surprise) to start the inning, the game looks all but over, and the Red sox only angst now will come while scoreboard watching the Rays whose game against the Yankees has reached the 12th inning. The next batter however, Chris Davis, doubles to deep right and that’s followed up by a Reimold ground rule double and suddenly, the game is tied and the Orioles have a man in scoring position. The comeback was capped by Robert Andino’s single that scored Reimold from second and Boston’s scoreboard watching, as well as their season, took a turn for the worse… but they didn’t even really get a chance to look up and check the score of “the other game”…
Because 3 minutes later, as Boston was still gathering their belongings from the visitor’s dugout at Camden Yards and spitting in disgust, down in St. Petersburg Evan Longoria was doing it again and just barely poked the game winning walk-off homerun over the left field wall at Tropicana. It all happened so quickly, that the Rays bench caught wind of the BoSox loss as Longo was hitting, but he didn’t know until he crossed the plate. It was the perfect cap to an amazing night.
ESPN.com was quick to dub the evening 89 Minutes to History as that was the time that elapsed from 10:26 p.m. ET when the Cardinals cemented their victory in Houston to 12:05 a.m. ET when the never say die Rays completed their 12th inning miracle against the Yankees. History is exactly what it was as I am quite certain I will be telling this story to my grand kids. It was one of those epic baseball nights that will beckon feelings of nostalgia when my hair has gone gray and I am longing for the good old days. But most importantly, this Wednesday night represented what makes sports a love and passion to the athletes that play it. You play to win the game (thanks Herm), and if winning isn’t everything, if it isn’t the only thing, than perhaps you might be better off selling insurance. It is my strong belief that the teams that won tonight, the teams that made the playoffs, are the ones that wanted it the most. They are the ones that needed it the most, and the reason we will see the Rays in Texas, and the Cardinals in Philadelphia is because those teams are winners. Atlanta and Boston have no one to blame but themselves, but because I do not have an emotional dog in this fight, I was just happy to see the night live up to the hype and having me up and out of my chair at every turn. I went to bed dreaming about baseball tonight and Sef Sam Holy sent me a text earlier, after all the games had just ended that I think really sums it up and all it said was, “I’m so pumped for the playoffs now.”
What a great night for baseball…
No comments:
Post a Comment