The 2011 MLB Playoffs start in just a couple of hours. I’ll keep an eye on them as a baseball fan but frankly they don’t interest me all that much with the teams that are involved.
What did interest me was the final day of the regular season which was one that will be remembered as one of legend years from now.
With two wild card playoff spots remaining the Braves and Cardinals in the NL league were tied in the NL and the Red Sox and the Rays were tied in theAL
The Braves had the toughest assignment taking on the Phillies and one could perhaps make the same case for the Rays since they needed to beat the Yankees.
The Cardinals blew out the Houston Astros early and they were waiting for the finale of the Braves-Phillies game which the Braves were winning 3-2 going into the 9th inning.
But the Braves rookie closer, and perhaps the NL Rookie of the Year, Craig Kimbrel, blew a save and allowed the Phillies to tie the game to send it into extra innings.
In the 12th inning the Phils scored a run on what was basically an infield hit. In the bottom of the inning the Braves otherROY
The Braves had an 8.5 game lead on the WC race at the beginning of September. This collapse became the second worst in NL history pushing my 2007 Mets from 2nd to 3rd and settling behind the 64 Phillies.
So over in theAL
But some funny things happened. The Rays scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning capped off by an Evan Longoria 3-run homerun. The Rays still looked doomed and they were hurting by a real bad at-bat by one of their rookie hitters which, had it not happened, could have helped the Longoria homer tie the game. With Mariano Rivera, the Yankees closer, perhaps ready to come in to get a save in the 9th, the Rays come-back attempt was valiant, but probably too little too late.
The Red Sox game became delayed by rain and so the attention was on the Rays game.
The Yanks didn’t score in the 9th and in the bottom of the inning the Rays didn’t have to face Rivera. Red Sox fans were no doubt fearful that their enemies, the mighty Yankees, perhaps weren’t putting everything into this effort, but the Yankees decided to rest some key players.
It looked like it didn’t matter. The Rays made two quick outs and then manager Joe Madden sent in pinch hitter Dan Johnson who was hitting .108 with one homerun during the entire season.
Johnson and the Rays were down to their final strike of the season quickly. They could see that the Red Sox were winning their game. At that point they could only hope for an improbable Orioles comeback.
Johnson then hits a 2-out, 2-strike homerun to tie the game and ultimately send it into extra innings.
I’ve watched countless numbers of baseball games and baseball game highlights. I even had shivers watching that play. The Rays were back in the game.
Just to give this a little more perspective about how improbable this comeback to tie the game was; the Yankees had not blown a 7-run lead that late in a game since the 1950’s.
To make it more unreal was the fact that the guy who hit the homerun was not exactly some superstar player who came off the bench or up to bat and became the hero. No, Dan Johnson became Bucky Dent at that moment or Bobby Thomson, names of otherwise little known players who hit gargantuan homeruns for their teams at key moments in their team’s history.
But the Rays still hadn’t won. They played into the 13th inning. Meanwhile the Red Sox and Orioles resumed play.
In the bottom of the 9th inBaltimore
Papelbon blows the save inBaltimore
I turn the TV almost immediately over to the Rays game after I watch the Red Sox sulking as the Orioles celebrate as if they had won the playoff spot. Up at bat is Evan Longoria. All of a sudden Longoria smokes a line drive down the Tropicana Field left field line which clears the fence for a game-winning homerun. The Rays win the game and clinch the final playoff spot in theAL
The Red Sox end up beating every MLB team for the biggest September collapse in baseball history. They blew the 9-game lead they had over the Rays on 9-4. The Sox went 7-20 in September. If they had just gone an absolutely miserable 8-19 they would at least have clinched a tie for the WC spot. They started 1-10 and then became unbeatable only to become unable to win when they had to do so.
So the matchups are Phillies-Cardinals and Diamondbacks-Brewers in the NL and the Rays-Rangers and Yankees-Tigers in theAL
The Yanks and Phillies are the favorites to meet in the World Series but both teams have the exact matchups that are the worst for them in the best-of-three Division Playoff Round.
The Phillies aren’t exactly hitting very well and the Cardinals are the best hitting team in the NL. That is offset by the Phillies pitching rotation of course and they are still favored to win, but no team wants to face an Albert Pujols lead team with momentum at it’s back going into a short series.
The Yankees have to face the best pitcher in MLB in Justin Verlander and they may very well have to face him twice. But they have another issue…some dude named Doug Fister who in his last 8 starts is 7-0 and has only given up 4 earned runs.
I like the Brewers over the Diamondbacks in the NL to set up a Phillies-Brewers championship. I’m on the fence with the Yankees and Tigers, to be honest. If the Tigers win game one in NY I think they’ll win the series though and then face the Rangers who I like over the Rays.
I just saw that the Red Sox are not going to exercise the option of manager Terry Francona for next year. That basically means he just got fired for this collapse. He can’t hit, throw or catch the baseball for the team but ultimately he is the fall guy. When the Mets choked in 2007 I wanted their manager fired too. The Mets didn’t fire him and they bit it again the next year also. So I guess that the Red Sox didn’t even want to fool around with him any more. He will leave with two World Series rings in his pocket though; no one can take those away from him.
Now I must get ready to kick back and watch the games. Nothing much else going on today to do so I’ll have that to keep my mind off of this past week.
What did interest me was the final day of the regular season which was one that will be remembered as one of legend years from now.
With two wild card playoff spots remaining the Braves and Cardinals in the NL league were tied in the NL and the Red Sox and the Rays were tied in the
The Braves had the toughest assignment taking on the Phillies and one could perhaps make the same case for the Rays since they needed to beat the Yankees.
The Cardinals blew out the Houston Astros early and they were waiting for the finale of the Braves-Phillies game which the Braves were winning 3-2 going into the 9th inning.
But the Braves rookie closer, and perhaps the NL Rookie of the Year, Craig Kimbrel, blew a save and allowed the Phillies to tie the game to send it into extra innings.
In the 12th inning the Phils scored a run on what was basically an infield hit. In the bottom of the inning the Braves other
The Braves had an 8.5 game lead on the WC race at the beginning of September. This collapse became the second worst in NL history pushing my 2007 Mets from 2nd to 3rd and settling behind the 64 Phillies.
So over in the
But some funny things happened. The Rays scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning capped off by an Evan Longoria 3-run homerun. The Rays still looked doomed and they were hurting by a real bad at-bat by one of their rookie hitters which, had it not happened, could have helped the Longoria homer tie the game. With Mariano Rivera, the Yankees closer, perhaps ready to come in to get a save in the 9th, the Rays come-back attempt was valiant, but probably too little too late.
The Red Sox game became delayed by rain and so the attention was on the Rays game.
The Yanks didn’t score in the 9th and in the bottom of the inning the Rays didn’t have to face Rivera. Red Sox fans were no doubt fearful that their enemies, the mighty Yankees, perhaps weren’t putting everything into this effort, but the Yankees decided to rest some key players.
It looked like it didn’t matter. The Rays made two quick outs and then manager Joe Madden sent in pinch hitter Dan Johnson who was hitting .108 with one homerun during the entire season.
Johnson and the Rays were down to their final strike of the season quickly. They could see that the Red Sox were winning their game. At that point they could only hope for an improbable Orioles comeback.
Johnson then hits a 2-out, 2-strike homerun to tie the game and ultimately send it into extra innings.
I’ve watched countless numbers of baseball games and baseball game highlights. I even had shivers watching that play. The Rays were back in the game.
Just to give this a little more perspective about how improbable this comeback to tie the game was; the Yankees had not blown a 7-run lead that late in a game since the 1950’s.
To make it more unreal was the fact that the guy who hit the homerun was not exactly some superstar player who came off the bench or up to bat and became the hero. No, Dan Johnson became Bucky Dent at that moment or Bobby Thomson, names of otherwise little known players who hit gargantuan homeruns for their teams at key moments in their team’s history.
But the Rays still hadn’t won. They played into the 13th inning. Meanwhile the Red Sox and Orioles resumed play.
In the bottom of the 9th in
Papelbon blows the save in
I turn the TV almost immediately over to the Rays game after I watch the Red Sox sulking as the Orioles celebrate as if they had won the playoff spot. Up at bat is Evan Longoria. All of a sudden Longoria smokes a line drive down the Tropicana Field left field line which clears the fence for a game-winning homerun. The Rays win the game and clinch the final playoff spot in the
The Red Sox end up beating every MLB team for the biggest September collapse in baseball history. They blew the 9-game lead they had over the Rays on 9-4. The Sox went 7-20 in September. If they had just gone an absolutely miserable 8-19 they would at least have clinched a tie for the WC spot. They started 1-10 and then became unbeatable only to become unable to win when they had to do so.
So the matchups are Phillies-Cardinals and Diamondbacks-Brewers in the NL and the Rays-Rangers and Yankees-Tigers in the
The Yanks and Phillies are the favorites to meet in the World Series but both teams have the exact matchups that are the worst for them in the best-of-three Division Playoff Round.
The Phillies aren’t exactly hitting very well and the Cardinals are the best hitting team in the NL. That is offset by the Phillies pitching rotation of course and they are still favored to win, but no team wants to face an Albert Pujols lead team with momentum at it’s back going into a short series.
The Yankees have to face the best pitcher in MLB in Justin Verlander and they may very well have to face him twice. But they have another issue…some dude named Doug Fister who in his last 8 starts is 7-0 and has only given up 4 earned runs.
I like the Brewers over the Diamondbacks in the NL to set up a Phillies-Brewers championship. I’m on the fence with the Yankees and Tigers, to be honest. If the Tigers win game one in NY I think they’ll win the series though and then face the Rangers who I like over the Rays.
I just saw that the Red Sox are not going to exercise the option of manager Terry Francona for next year. That basically means he just got fired for this collapse. He can’t hit, throw or catch the baseball for the team but ultimately he is the fall guy. When the Mets choked in 2007 I wanted their manager fired too. The Mets didn’t fire him and they bit it again the next year also. So I guess that the Red Sox didn’t even want to fool around with him any more. He will leave with two World Series rings in his pocket though; no one can take those away from him.
Now I must get ready to kick back and watch the games. Nothing much else going on today to do so I’ll have that to keep my mind off of this past week.
Done
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