A Night to Remember

I had a blast last night following the harrowing drama of the resolution of the regular season in Major League Baseball. I'm listening to ESPN's Tim Kurkjian proclaim it as the greatest night of regular season baseball in the history of the sport, and if that sounds like hyperbole, I can't come up with a decent argument against.

Both leagues had teams in flat-footed ties for the wild card playoff slot, and thus there were four games with playoff implications. Three of the affairs came down to the last at-bat, and at one point, if scores held, there would be two play-in games today. However, both of those games went up in smoke, and as one team had a historic comeback and two others had crushing losses.

In the American League, Boston and Tampa were tied for the wild card. Boston had had a comfortable lead at the start of the month, but went on a historic collapse, playing bad baseball the entire month, unable to win two games in a row. Tampa fought back, and though they had a hiccough in New York last week, Boston's downward spiral enabled them to pull into a tie. They would host the Yankees, Boston was in Baltimore to play the last plays Orioles, who had thrown a monkey wrench in the Boston season by taking three of four last week in Boston.

In the National League, Atlanta had a collapse of their own, with the St. Louis Cardinals charging from behind. Atlanta was home against the Phillies; St. Louis was in Houston. Atlanta jumped out to a lead, and St. Louis, in the only noncompetitive game of the night, cruised to a lead against the Astros. It appeared the teams would end in a tie, necessitating a play-in game the next day.

It also appeared the Red Sox would survive their skid and make the playoffs. The Yankees jumped all over the Rays, with Mark Texeira slapping a grand slam. They would take a a 7-0 lead into the eighth. In Baltimore, after a rain delay, Boston went into the bottom of the ninth up 3-2, with their closer, Jonathan Papelbon, on the mound.

But the baseball gods were mischievous. Tampa, against the Yankees September call-ups, rallied for six in the eighth. Then, with two out in the ninth, Dan Johnson pulled a ball down the right field line, tying the game. Boston, still ahead, just needed to hang to force a play-in game, which means there would be two on Thursday.

But the old Curse of the Bambino came back to life. Papelbon struck out the first two Orioles in the ninth, but then surrendered two consecutive doubles to allow a tie. Then, a liner to left, which Carl Crawford just missed. The winning Oriole run rounded third. The Red Sox Nation was stunned.

Amazingly, just moments later, the Rays, in the bottom of the 12th, sent up Evan Longoria, who had already homered in the pivotal eighth. With Scott Procter on the mound (the Yankees had no other pitchers they were willing to use--Mariano Rivera was not an option) Longoria snaked the ball over the left field wall. He and Bobby Thomsen are now the only players in Major League history to hit walk-off home runs to send their teams into the post-season.

Meanwhile, in the National League, I could only follow the updates. Unbelievably, ESPN2 didn't switch to the Braves-Phillies game, they aired a strongman competition instead. WTF? The Braves rookie closer, Craig Kimbrel, who set a rookie record for saves, blew the most important save of the year, allowing the Phillies to tie. They would then lose in extra innings, while the Cardinals watched happily in the clubhouse.

The four first-round series are intriguing, although I think the Phillies will easily beat the Cardinals. I'll pick them in a sweep. I'll take the Diamondbacks over the Brewers in four, and the Rangers to sweep the Rays. As for the Tigers-Yankees, I can't make a prediction, I can't be objective. I was watching the crawl all night, willing the Tigers to win and the Rangers to lose so the Tigers would get home field against the wild card winner, and not have to go to New York to play the Yankees. It would not be so. I'll have a preview of the series up on Tiger Rag sometime tomorrow.