Two Good Games

In between Viagra commercials, the Anaheim Angels finally beat the Yankees in game 3 of the ALCS. It took 11 innings, an inexplicable pitching move by Yankees manager Joe Girardi and a timely hit by the Angels back-up catcher but they got it done. This does not appear to be a formula for success and The Best Team that Money Can Buy is playing extremely well but it was fun for one afternoon.

Jeff Mathis, the game hero, is one of those players that most of us identify as some guy who plays in the American League. Jeff Mathis, the Fox broadcasters assured us, should have been pulled for a pinch runner earlier in the game, because he runs too slowly. But Jeff Mathis, stayed in the game, was stranded on third base because none of the Angels big guns could drive him in, and won the game himself a little later.


Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the Phillies may have dealt the Dodgers a knock-out punch with a come from behind win against their best reliever. See, the thing about relief pitchers who throw 100 mph and look like the incredible hulk is, that if they walk batters and hit batters, they’re gonna lose. Because while the rest of us are awed by the triple digits on the radar gun, the batter who is going to win the game is fouling off the pitches he can’t hit and waiting for one he can drive for a double to the gap.