The Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox polished off their respective collapses while the Tampa Bay Rays made the most improbable comeback of their young franchise's history. Also, Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals plowed through the Houston Astros like they had the worst record in baseball... oh, wait.
Guys like Nolan Reimold and Robert Andino, who forced Jonathan Papelbon's soon-to-be infamous blown save, are maybe the last two names you'd expect to hear today. Maybe, if you're living outside of Baltimore, you have no clue who the hell they are. They're spoilers. Season-enders. Game-changers for a day.
Many Red Sox fans, already disappointed with Carl Crawford's once-promising season in Beantown, may want to kick him in the nuts today after his disgraceful, missed catch on Andino's low liner to end the game. Pure laziness. David Ortiz summed it all up in his post-game interview:
"Umm....this is... this might be the worst situation that I have ever been involved in, in my whole career."
Then there's Evan Longoria, who enjoyed a two-home run evening -- one being quite possibly the biggest walkoff bomb of his career -- at Tropicana Field as his Rays rallied from a 7-0 deficit in the eighth inning. And Dan Johnson. Batting .183 on the year and the last guy you want at the plate when your team is down to their last strike of the season in the bottom of ninth, goes yard to tie it up and give Tampa a shot at October.
Hunter Pence, who was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in late July, made a ridiculous throw from right field to nail Dan Uggla at the plate in the sixth inning before getting a bloop single in the 13th that beat the struggling Braves 4-3 to politely hand the Cards the NL Wild Card.
And now we wait. No baseball today, as the 2011 Postseason begins Friday on TBS when the Texas Rangers meet the Rays for Game One of their ALDS at 5:07pm ET. C.J. Wilson will take on rookie left-hander Matt Moore in Arlington before Justin Verlander faces CC Sabathia in a battle of division winners at 8:37pm ET in the Bronx. The NLDS begins Saturday, with times yet to be decided.
Also, you should probably check out this Dugout: Greatest Night. We almost peed a little when we read it.
9 comments:
That picture is worth a thousand words.
Great recap ladies! Last night was hands-down the most intense night of baseball ever, I almost had a heart attack watching the Rays game!
I'm still worried about my heart rate and blood pressure 12 hours after all these games ended.
Tell us how you really feel, Anonymous.
I think even Papelbon said the same thing, Anonymous.
He was so pissed off at the post-game media last night. I love the guy who was all, "What are you feeling right now? Disappointment? Shock? Sadness?"
Yeah asshole, I just totally blew it. I'm pretty bummed out.
I honestly though he was going to punch that guy.
I was wrong about the Cardinals not winning the WC, and I'm thrilled. Give me a heaping pile of that crow; I'll gladly feast on it.
MATT MOORE WITH THE GAME 1 START!@
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