So instead of talking about the Division winners and who matches up best against whom, we are talking about the Wild Card races, the squeeze bunt that beat the Cardinals and how the improbable Orioles are wrecking the Red Sox chances to hold on to a playoff berth. How weird.
How could this possibly be? How could two teams who had what seemed to be insurmountable leads both be in a flat footed tie on the last day of the season? The Atlanta Braves, who seemed a lock on the wild card a month ago, are now tied with the St. Louis Cardinals, a team any sane person counted out months ago. The Boston Red Sox have squandered a formidable lead and likewise are tied with Tampa Bay.
These, you may remember, are the same Red Sox who at the beginning of the season were thought to have an impeccable pitching staff, both starting and bullpen and a lineup filled with prodigious scoring threats. The offense, has, at times, produced. But the pitching has all but disappeared. Last night, the Red Sox managed to beat Baltimore, but only because a Yale-educated catcher, filling in for pretty much everybody, came through not only with timely hitting, but also cut down a runner at third with a terrific throw from behind the plate. Perhaps they can win today, making it two in a row. Something they haven’t managed in an entire month.
It is a game of momentum, of missed opportunities and unlikely stars. And so, after 161 games, as strange as it sounds, the last one counts.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Hunter Pence!Hunter Pence!
Hunter Pence, human exclamation point, must think he’s in heaven. Traded at the deadline from a team which has slowly fallen apart to one which seems destined for post-season greatness is the stuff that Pence dreams of.
Hunter Pence made his major league debut in 2007 with the Houston Astros in the waning days of the Killer Bees. Bagwell was already gone, the team’s World Series appearance was in the rear view mirror, but Berkman and Biggio were still there. And if you put a certain gloss to it, if you overlooked the fact that the talent pipeline was virtually empty, you could convince yourself that success was just around the corner.
Turns out that Pence, all arms and legs, impossibly tall, trying desperately to do well, was really the only talent they had developed. It must have been tough for him these last few years to watch the team sink from passable to mediocre to awful. Because all it takes is watching Hunter Pence play for a few minutes to realize that this guy cares about the game in a way few players do.
How gratifying then to see him in Philadelphia where the fans greeted his arrival with a standing ovation and haven’t stopped cheering. Hunter Pence, who runs out every grounder, swings harder in the on-deck circle than most guys do in the batter’s box and lives almost exclusively to play ball has found a home that deserves him.
Hunter Pence made his major league debut in 2007 with the Houston Astros in the waning days of the Killer Bees. Bagwell was already gone, the team’s World Series appearance was in the rear view mirror, but Berkman and Biggio were still there. And if you put a certain gloss to it, if you overlooked the fact that the talent pipeline was virtually empty, you could convince yourself that success was just around the corner.
Turns out that Pence, all arms and legs, impossibly tall, trying desperately to do well, was really the only talent they had developed. It must have been tough for him these last few years to watch the team sink from passable to mediocre to awful. Because all it takes is watching Hunter Pence play for a few minutes to realize that this guy cares about the game in a way few players do.
How gratifying then to see him in Philadelphia where the fans greeted his arrival with a standing ovation and haven’t stopped cheering. Hunter Pence, who runs out every grounder, swings harder in the on-deck circle than most guys do in the batter’s box and lives almost exclusively to play ball has found a home that deserves him.
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