Sept. 29, 2011
At the risk of sounding cliché, oh what a night!
What Major League Baseball provided fans last night was simply amazing. The fact that the wild card race in both leagues came down to the final day of the season is unbelievable but then Atlanta, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, New York, Boston and Baltimore played three of the more dramatic games of the year. Of course all three games were going on at the same time so if you burned through the batteries on your remote, you’re not alone.
What happened in Tampa was probably the most impressive of the three games. The Rays and former Commodore David Price were down 7-0 to the American League East champion Yankees after five innings. A seven-run lead on the last day of the season for most teams might as well be 100 (see the St. Louis-Houston game from last night). Typically the last game of the season is one of the quickest of the year because both sides are ready to end a long season but not the Rays. Tampa Bay scored six runs in the eighth to close the gap to a single run but stranded the tying run on second base. Oh so close but we’ve seen this before, the late dramatic come back falls just short. So with two outs in the ninth inning Rays’ manager Joe Maddon (what’s up with this hair?) calls on Dan Johnson to pinch-hit. Johnson seemed like a logical choice to pinch-hit with the season on the line, he entered the at-bat hitting .108 with one home run and nine total hits with Tampa. Then of course, as only baseball can, Johnson hits a home run down the right field line. No other sport offers this kind of drama and excitement. The drama wasn’t over at Tropicana Field until Evan Longoria hit his second home run of the night with a walk-off blast in the 12th inning approximately three minutes after the Red Sox dropped another game to Baltimore.
The misery of Red Sox Nation was complete when Robert Andino lined a single into left field that Carl Crawford couldn’t get to (of course he couldn’t get to it, tough first year in Bean Town for Crawford) that scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. This game had plenty of drama too with the Sox starting Jon Lester on three days rest and a 90-minute rain delay in the seventh inning with Boston up 3-2. The Orioles’ two-run rally in the ninth came with two outs as well to add to the drama. The Sox were one out away from going to the postseason twice, once in Baltimore in the game they had control of and once in Tampa Bay in a game the Rays would not have had control of if not for Boston’s September collapse. Tampa closed with a 17-10 final month of the year while the Sox went 7-20 to erase a nine-game lead.
Speaking of leads, the Braves held a 10.5-game advantage over the Cardinals in the wild card late in the season and a 3-1 lead over Philadelphia going into the seventh inning Wednesday night. Then the wheels finally came completely off. An error allowed a run to score to cut the Atlanta lead to a run and if you were a Braves fan that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach surfaced… and didn’t leave. Making his 79th appearance and 12th in September Braves closer and likely National League Rookie of the Year Craig Kimbrel entered the game in the ninth inning with that one-run lead. That sick feeling in Braves’ fans stomachs only got worse from there as the ageless Placido Polanco greeted Kimbrel with a single. After a strikeout and a pair of walks to load the bases Chase Utley’s sacrifice fly tied the game 3-3 to put Braves fans in a full panic. By this time the Cardinals had finished off an 8-0 win over Houston to at least force a 163rd game with Atlanta IF the Braves could win. Utley struck again in the 13th to move a runner over to third then Hunter Pence finished it off with another single to put the Phillies on top. A double play ended the Braves’ season in the bottom of the inning and put the playoff teams in stone. St. Louis will play Philadelphia, Arizona will play Milwaukee, New York will play Detroit and Tampa Bay will play Texas.
Vanderbilt had former players on each side of the dramatic night with Price’s Rays winning despite his rough outing while Mike Minor and Antoan Richardson were in the Braves dugout during Atlanta’s loss.
Last night’s drama and excitement is just more proof that baseball provides fans something they’ve never seen on a nightly basis.
I’m outta here!
Former Dore Mike Baxter hit his first big league home run on the final day of the season with a two-run blast in the sixth inning in he Mets’ 3-0 win over Cincinnati.
Notes from Wednesday’s scrimmage at Hawkins Field
Vanderbilt continues Fall Ball this week scrimmaging on Wednesday afternoon at Hawkins Field. The team’s pitching dominated over the five-inning game fanning a combined 12 hitters.
Adam Ravenelle struck out one in his lone inning of work. Sam Selman struck out two in his inning on the mound. Will Clinard recorded two strikeouts in two innings. Robert Hansen struck out the side in his inning. Lefties Keenan Kolinsky and Stephen Rice each had one strikeout in one inning. Freshmen Brian Miller and Tyler Beede each punched out a batter in their respective innings.
The Dores had a few offensive highlights on the day with Riley Reynolds driving in the lone run of the game with a RBI-single. Tony Kemp singled and stole second in his first at-bat of the game and Chris Harvey belted a double down the left field line late in the game.
Defense helped the pitchers rule the day with several players making outstanding plays. At shortstop Joel McKeithan made a nice play behind the second base bag to rob Anthony Gomez of a hit. McKeithan had a pair of hits taken away from him with Tony Kemp making a nice play in the left-center field gap and Josh Lee making a diving catch in the left field. Zander Wiel’s nice stop at first base took a hit away from Kemp.