I was planning what to do for Football Friday last night when the World Series decided to stage one of the craziest finishes to a game that I can remember. So today Football Friday is going to be taken over by baseball.
Trust me this comes as a big surprise to me especially.
Prior to last night I had not watched one minute of the World Series. I had last tuned in to the final two innings of the Yankees' game 5 loss to Detroit in the ALDS. I only flipped the game on last night because I saw it was going to the ninth inning and figured I would at least watch Texas celebrate winning the series, since they were up two runs.
After I turned it on I ended up leaving the room for about ten minutes and when I came back in I saw that St. Louis had runners on first and second with two outs.
Now I know the game itself had been pretty crazy from the start (Gus Ramsey tweeted the following around the sixth inning: "30 years from now the scorecard from this game will need to be sent to people who decipher hieroglyphs to understand what happened") but what proceeded in the final two and a half innings was a roller coaster of emotions for each team's fan base.
In no particular order here is a recap of what went down:
- On two separate occasions the Rangers had the Cardinals down to their final strike. In the ninth inning David Freese (more on him later) tripled to right field to tie the game at 7, and in the tenth Lance Berkman singled to center to tie the game at 9. Now the Rangers don't have the tortured past that some other franchises do, but coming off a loss in the Series last year and blowing two opportunities to win last night will probably cause a fair amount of pessimism in the greater Dallas area tonight.
(We will now enter the Ron Washington portion of craziness, and none of it involves cocaine)
- There were a few things that can be questioned last night but the greatest mistake made by the Rangers, and namely Washington, was the decision to have the outfield play deep in the tenth inning. They went into a "no doubles" defense, but the problem was the tying run was on second base and the Cardinals only needed a single out of the infield to tie the game. Berkman ended up singling to center and Texas had no opportunity to make a play at the plate because the outfield was so deep.
- The decision to pinch hit for pitcher was shaky as well. Feldman had been pitching well for Texas in the postseason overall and outside of the base hit to Berkman had looked solid last night. He seemed their best option on the mound, but instead they had to go to Mark Lowe in the eleventh and the rest is history.
- Nelson Cruz will look back on this game a lot if the Rangers end up losing tonight. He had seemingly put the Rangers in control when he followed an Adrian Beltre homer with one of his own (his 8th of the postseason, tying the record for one postseason). In the ninth inning though he allowed Freese's triple to get over his head despite playing deep to prevent an extra base hit. Sports can be cruel because of how quickly one player can go from hero to goat.
- Josh Hamilton's night (3-6, 3 RBI and what could have been the game winning 2 run homer in the tenth) was overshadowed, and rightfully so, by the Cardinals' heroics. He is the one I will feel the worst for if St. Louis ends up winning. He has gone through a lot and it would have been a great story for him to have hit the home run that propelled the Rangers to a championship.
- David Freese became a legend in St. Louis last night. The hometown boy not only kept the Cardinals alive in the ninth with his two run triple to right, but he topped it off with the game winning home run to center field in the eleventh to force game 7. Not only was it a great story because of him being a local product, but it was also redemption for him after he dropped an easy pop fly earlier in the night. If the Cardinals win tonight his name will never be forgotten in that city.
- Finally I could not get over the fact that only four people initially went to grab the Freese home run ball when it landed in center. It was funny to see the guy dive and get it and then get hugged afterwards. I am pretty sure in most other cities there would have been more of a fight for that ball. And of course nothing more will be made of the ball because Derek Jeter didn't hit it so the media can't obsess over it.
So no matter how tonight plays out Game 6 will go down as an all-time classic in World Series history. The series as a whole has also been very exciting and memorable. At least that's what I've been told...
On to the (football) picks!
(Home teams in CAPS)
NCAA
Brigham Young (+14) over TEXAS CHRISTIAN
Michigan State (+4) over NEBRASKA
MICHIGAN (-14) over Purdue
MARYLAND (-7.5) over Boston College
PENN STATE (-5) over Illinois
Navy (+21.5) over NOTRE DAME
Georgia (-3) over Florida (in Jacksonville)
KANSAS STATE (+14) over Oklahoma
TENNESSEE (+4) over South Carolina
Stanford (-8.5) over SOUTHERN CAL
Last Week: 5-5
Season: 39-37-4
NFL
TITANS (-8.5) over Colts
TEXANS (-10) over Jaguars
Vikings (+3.5) over PANTHERS
Saints (-14) over RAMS
RAVENS (-13) over Cardinals
GIANTS (-10) over Dolphins
BILLS (-6) over Redskins
BRONCOS (+3) over Lions
Patriots (-3) over STEELERS
NINERS (-8.5) over Browns
SEAHAWKS (+3) over Bengals
Cowboys (+3.5) over EAGLES
Chargers (-4) over CHIEFS
Last Week: 6-6-1
Season: 54-42-7
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Good insight on the game.
ReplyDeleteWatching Nelson Cruz loaf back to try to field Freese's triple was the worst for me. Every person that has played baseball past little league knows that as an outfielder, you sprint backwards, find the wall and come in on it if it's that close.
Second, I think that the media is obsessing over the final strike situation. Berkman was not going to strike out and it's a pretty meaningless statistic.
Rangers have not lost back to back games since August. Go Rangers!
baseball sux....da best team is vandy guys...we will win da hardest game of tha year...youll see....
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