Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wild Baseball...Nothing Like It


A few minutes ago I was on my way to sleep. The Yankees were clinging to a 7-6 lead in St. Petersburg in a game that they led 7-0. The Red Sox and Orioles were in a rain delay in Baltimore.

Things seemed sure that Boston was heading to the playoffs.

Then Dan Johnson hit a two-out, bottom of the ninth solo home run for the Rays to knot that game at seven. They are into extra innings as I write.

The Sox and Orioles have returned from the rain delay. Baltimore has put the first two on base in the last of the seventh, down 3-2.

Oh yeah, and the Cardinals have already won. The Braves, just outs away from forcing a playoff tomorrow, blew the save to the Phillies, and they're in extra innings.

Such is the reason that I will take baseball over anything else. The clock doesn't run out. The pitch has to be thrown, and it really isn't over until...you know.

If the Rays and Sox both win and lose, there's a playoff tomorrow. The same goes for the Cards and Braves.

And so in this most boring of regular seasons, the grand game steps up once again, dusts itself off in the face of its many critics and reminds us why there's nothing like a pennant race, and the playoffs.

1 comment:

John Meissner said...

Man, on man are you ever right! For sheer drama in sports, nothing matches a do-or-die game at the end of a pennant race. Wow, what a game in St. Pete. It's amazing I didn't wake up my whole family with my screaming and cow bell ringing!

GO RAYS!