It wasn't like I knew. It was around 11pm last night, the Dodgers willing themselves to as 5-3 lead and me resigning myself to the 2-2 series tie, knowing the onslaught of Simers and Plaschkes telling me how they knew the Dodgers could do it. The tough love of Boston fans around me who say they are "rooting" for the Phillies (if only to be, as they believe, the sacrificial lamb to their beloved Sox...more on this later).
A quiet Ryan Howard single breathed little life into the scenario, down 2 in the eighth. Cory Wade arrives to promptly retire Pat the Bat. 2 outs and the game, almost essentially rests on the shoulder of the littlest man, Shane Victorino
And with another blast, Vic's ascension to the thrown, perhaps above recently former centerfielder Aaron Rowand and maybe, just maybe above the last playoff centerfielder (to win a game) Lenny Dykstra.
Or maybe Victorino, like many before him and frankly, many of us, is just happy to be there, happy to be doing what he does, happy to be a major leaguer this close to the biggest stage in baseball.
Victorino breathed life and then Carlos Ruiz pumped the chest. A quiet single by the man FOX nicknamed "Cooch" lead to another 2 out baserunner. And up stepped another no-name hero. Matt Stairs, the former Blue Jay, odd kind of acquisition you think might help you win a September game or two provided an October blast for the ages. Unlike Vic's eaking of a homer, Stairs Dinger was a no-doubter, the kind of blast in October that a city will walk about for years.
The kind that makes you think, maybe this is it?
On the other side of the country, Boston was a different kind of atmosphere. After receiving the news that Josh Beckett claims he is ok, the rumors are swirling that he is not. And its bad. Then Sox fans had the pleasure of watching their newly minted ace, Jon Lester, get smacked around by their division rival and ALCS opponent. And now the Sox's hope rest on the shoulder of the 5-2 ALCS knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield. When he's on, he's on and when he's off...well, warm up the pen. The Sox will try to keep pace tonight. If Wakefield falters, you can say goodnight Irene.
- Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers look for excuses, while Bill Shaikin thinks they just screwed up.
- On the other side of the country, Sam Donnellon talks about Vic the Villain, And Mike Jensen talks about Matt Stairs moment in the lime lights of L.A.
- Tony Romo will be out for 1 month with a broken pinkie. Its either Brad Johnson or Brooks Bollinger. Yeah, its pretty funny.
- Giants pummeled by the Browns...wow
- SSReporters is pissed and thinks you broadcasters could learn a thing or two...or three...or four
- AwfulAnnouncing's got the battle a-brew-ing between Mike Wilbon of PTI and David Scott of Scott's Shots. Was Kimbo's fight fixed. Is MMA even real?
- Over the next 6 hours, we'll note the fate of Tony Gonzalez...and frankly, its gonna be weird
- And finally, thefightins picked up on something I read in the Donnellon article above (but I'll give them credit, because they made a blog post before me). Matt Stairs talks about the Phillies Clubhouse culture.
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1 comment:
I'm glad you enjoyed the game in LA. When Stairs came up to bat I was hoping to see him hit the ball because I had never seen him do that before. I never expected a home run. That's what is so great about baseball. You can always expect the unexpected. Who would have thought the Phillies would have had a winning season this year. Goes to show ya, just a few acquistions in the right spot can turn a team around.
Let's not say anything bad about 'Pat the Bat'. He is doing so much better this year than he had in the last two.
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