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A Few of Bryce Harper’s Teammates Made Sure this NLDS jack was the Last Homer he would hit this year

November 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This was the greatest postseason collapse that I’ve ever seen. Such an epic collapse that coming on the heels of the Cincinnati Reds epic collapse  I actually decided to take extended time off from the blog.

There’s no more ‘Take on Me’. Hell, with the Nats flipping a coin to decide between Mike Morse and Adam Laroche, we might never hear it again. But the memories shall remain glorious. And if this was the last version of A-ha that we’ll hear at Nationals Park in Washington, it was probably the best one.

I thought that Bryce Harper was going to have a huge postseason. Instead, he only had a huge game five. And he didn’t pack up his things for the off season before he did this:

When the winter snow clears, he’ll be back. And he’ll be assaulting stadium seats with rapier shots at the young age of twenty. I can’t frickin’ wait!

Filed Under: MLB Playoffs, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals Tagged With: ,

Yes, You Choked; Yes, I’m Still Proud of You

October 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This was the toughest loss I’ve ever had to swallow in baseball; or in sports.

For as long as I live, I’ll never forget this. I’ll never get over it. It will never be easier to accept. It will always sting. It now exists as a spot place-marked forever in my life; an irreversible eternity. Never again in my life will I allow myself to think “hey, we might really have a shot to win the whole damn thing”. Not after this. If this team couldn’t do it, I’ll never be sold again.

The Reds made the kind of history you do not want to make yesterday afternoon in Cincinnati in losing 6-4 to the San Francisco Giants.

Sometimes in loss we learn the most about ourselves.

I have never in my life seen a team scratch, claw, and fight with such life or death desperation as the Reds did after getting down 6-0 yesterday. The image that will forever stick with me yesterday was Ryan Hanigan immediately when Buster Posey connected with his grand slam home run. Don’t watch Latos. Don’t watch the crowd behind him. Don’t look at the hitter or the ball’s flight. Watch Hanigan.

I have never seen a catcher react that way to a ball in play in all my years watching the game. Hanigan turns in immediate pain, anguish, and disgust and swings his arm in angst. He knows when Posey connects that it was the kill shot. The Reds at that moment probably knew they were dead. But like a cowboy in an old Western whose gut-shot, they kept shooting until they drew their last breath.

For instance; when Jay Bruce got down 0-2 in the ninth inning, he decides that even in defeat; he’s going to make the Giants closer earn it.

What ensues after Bruce gets down 0-2 in the last frame of the game and the Reds down to their final two outs of the season, was one of the gutsiest things I’ve ever seen in watching sports my entire life.

Bruce proceeds to battle Sergio Romo for 12 pitches in total as if he’s battling a damn lion or dragon. He stubbornly fouls off pitch after pitch, laying off many off-speed pitches that have long been to Bruce’s liking. As the at-bat wears onward, you realize Bruce is doing more than just trying to come up with a big swing that will result in a 3-run homer. He’s battling for himself, for his teammates, for all of us fans, and for what might have been his manager’s swansong. I don’t know what Bruce was thinking during the course of that at-bat where the Giants continually stayed away from his big time power to right field. I can only think he knew he owed it to everyone who hadn’t lost hope.

Bruce eventually flies out to right field, and the Reds came up short. But I had chills for much of that at-bat. It was a moment based on sheer will and determination. It was what baseball was all about. One man competing against another, knowing his probable fate but refusing to just roll over and die.

Forever etched in our memories is something different. I will never forget the hurt of this series collapse, but I’ll always know that the team I rooted the hardest for and held the closest to my heart fought like Hell for a different outcome, even when it would have been easiest to quit.

Like often the man who spends his days writing about them and living and dying with them, they just came up tragically short.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, League Division Series, MLB Playoffs, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , , , ,

Slaying the Giant Once and For All

October 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Cincinnati: All the scores I’ll never settle, all the debts I can’t repay, all my ghosts await me here.

This post was supposed to be about my team and maybe your team and how they were choking it all away. It was supposed to be about how tomorrow I would go into work depressed and worried. And then slumber home to my couch to see the Reds squander away things in historic fashion.

Instead, I’m getting up tomorrow and using the power of my mind to focus on positive thought. The sun will rise tomorrow, and I believe it will shine just a little bit brighter upon the Reds. And I hope this post, more than any I’ve written before brings positive karma from all things and to all things surrounding the Cincinnati Reds.

What works out to be a legacy game for Dusty Baker in a Reds uniform also will work it’s way into the connected career vines of the names that dot this roster. Legacies will gain some of their definition tomorrow. That’s a certainty. And that’s why I have to say I was there at game five in 2012. That’s why I have to see it with my own eyes. It might be to say goodbye and it might be to celebrate it. But I have to finish what I started back on what ended up the most magical Opening Day in Cincinnati that I’ve ever been a part of. I have to see this thing through. It’s the only way.

Too many times in my life I’ve just talked myself out of going for it. I’m going for it tomorrow. Even if it’s by myself. I’ll be in the stands. And I’ll be rooting with everything I have inside me for Dusty and the boys. Because I do love them. Because they are family.

Tomorrow morning I’ll set foot down in the Queen City, and I’ll try to summon the ghosts of many nights and many friends gone by. And I’ll try and reflect on all the intrinsic value that is in that town for me surrounding that team dating back to when I was just a kid listening to 700 while I fell asleep at night. I’ve been waiting for tomorrow since I was just a little kid with so many big dreams.

Cain. Latos. For all the marbles. One last time. Someone draws their last breath. On an October 11th day in 2012 at 1300 hours, someone’s fate gets decided forever. I want to say I was part of it, regardless of how the end of the chapter will read.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Game 5s, MLB Playoffs, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , ,

Talk Me Down From The Ledge

October 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night was as it should have been. Homer Bailey was as dominant as a pitcher has ever been in the postseason.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, last night Homer Bailey became only the fourth pitcher in Major League Postseason history to allow 1 or fewer hits while striking out least 10 batters and throwing at least 7.0 innings…he joins Bal’s Mike Mussina (1997 ALCS vs Cle, 8ip, 1h, 10k), NYY’s Orlando Hernandez (1999 World Series vs Atl, 7ip, 1h, 10k) and NYY’s Roger Clemens (2000 ALCS vs Sea, 9ip, 1h, 15k).

Yet, the Reds drop this one 2-1 in 10 innings in front of the second largest crowd ever on hand at Great American Ballpark. Today, it’s Mike Leake pitching the biggest game of the Reds’ season. Johnny Cueto is done for the NLDS and the NLCS. Just terrific.

If the Reds bats awaken, they’ll move on to the NLCS. If they don’t, we’re going to lose this series in five game in a national embarrassment. If I’m completely honest with everyone that reads this blog; I’m not really satisfied with simply getting to the NLDS and winning a few playoff games. I want this damn series. I don’t care that Johnny Cueto and the team was dealt a really poor hand–and that’s what it was. When Homer Bailey pitches his ass off for you in an effort to keep you free from a lot of headaches, get more than four hits (three of which came in the first inning of the ballgame).

I now have a rotten feeling in my core I can’t seem to shake. That’s my thoughts on this early afternoon of what will be game four of the NLDS between the Giants and the Reds.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, MLB Playoffs, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , ,

Unchartered Territory: Reds win NLDS Game Two, Take 2-0 Series Lead

October 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

[NLDS Game Two Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com]

The Cincinnati Reds are locked in.

That was as good as you can see Bronson Arroyo look. It was his crowning moment in his Reds career. Maybe except for this commercial that I caught last night shortly after Cincinnati grabbed a 1-0 lead on Ryan Ludwick’s solo home run:

The Reds continued to play sound defense and add-on in the top frames until the game was through.

As we sit here on the eve of only the second postseason baseball game in Cincinnati in 17+ years, I hope the Reds realize they haven’t won anything yet. I hope they realize that the journey is still long. Two wins out West is very special, and it’s the hallmark of a team that means business. But the Giants could easily come back and win this series. This was just the first two dominoes that needed to fall in order to do something in this postseason. If the Reds come out flat tomorrow night, things can snowball in a hurry and this can quickly become the worst dogfight they’ve ever been involved in.

If you want my opinion, the Reds get the match-up they need tomorrow night. I don’t want them to face Matt Cain again. And I still think they’re damn lucky to have had such an easy time with Madison Bumgarner (though I’ll say it’s a misconception that I fall victim to in thinking that this roster of Reds struggles against LHP).

Tomorrow around dinner time, the Reds will face Ryan Vogelsong. He’s a good, solid big league starter. But he’s the kind of righty that the Reds should want to advance against in that park. He’s not Matt Cain, and he’s not Bumgarner.

Go ahead and move on in front of your fans on Tuesday night boys, and let the Cardinals and Nationals slug things out for a few more days. I have to admit, I want the Reds to just keep playing at this point. The worst thing that could happen was to give them a day off and a day to even think about what they’re doing. They’re going so good right now that you just hope they can get back out there on a diamond as soon as possible and keep rolling.

Part of how this team has already been able to do what they’re doing is I don’t even think they realize fully what they’re doing. They’re like a fearless teenager who takes a lot of risks because they don’t know how fragile life is at that age; the Reds still don’t grasp how delicate every single moment is in this postseason. And that allows them to be dangerous in this situation.

Tomorrow I’ll come home from work. I’ll slip on the #32 Bruce jersey (he got another big knock last night). I’ll hopefully see my team advance to the NLCS, making the vision I had back in 2010 the night we were eliminated from the NLDS a reality. To this point, I could not be more proud of how they’ve performed. I can’t even believe this is really happening.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, League Division Series, MLB Playoffs, Postseason, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cincinnati Reds win their first postseason game in 17 years

October 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com] [ESPN SweetSpot] [HardballTalk] [Lance Mcalister] [The Splash] [Giants Extra]

Someone pinch me, I’m dreaming.

Did my team really just beat Matt Cain on the road out west after losing Johnny Cueto (the ace of the staff) after he recorded just one out? I have to be dreaming. This has happened to me a million times. I wake up, and it all goes away. After all, it has been 6,210 days since the Reds franchise won a postseason game (1995 against the Dodgers for those wondering).

Brandon Phillips was balling out of his mind last night. He got scoring started with a two-run home run to left field. He made a few barehand plays. He made an unreal back up play over at first base on a bunt single that kept the runner on first. He singled home an insurance run. Thank you for playing this way DatDude.

Jay Bruce continued his postseason hitting success.

Matt Cain was cruising through the first four hitters in the Reds lineup when Bruce doubled down the right field line for the Reds first hit. There would be no perfect game in this one against the Reds.

And then there was Bruce’s home run into a spot of AT&T Park where home runs aren’t typically hit:

Not sure I’ve ever gone more nuts when a couple of home runs left the yard than when I did for Phillips and Bruce going deep.

There were just so many efforts that contributed to this game. There was no one story. It was a gritty team effort comprised of Bruce, Phillips, Mat Latos, Sam LeCure (getting five outs as a pinch-hit reliever), and the Reds bullpen working out of tight spots late in the game that had me holding my breath.

The first domino has fallen, and the Reds need just ten more wins to claim a World Series title and six more to reach the fall classic. Last night was another memorable, improbable, and high-character moment from a team that has already provided a full season’s worth of them.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, League Division Series, MLB Playoffs, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , , , , ,

Postseason Predictions Begin to File In

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

ESPN

A total of 28 experts picked the playoffs all the way through.

Here are the number of people who picked the Reds to do the following:

Lose in the first round (out of 28): 15
Win in the first round (out of 28): 13

Lose in the NLCS (out of 13): 4
Win the NLCS (out of 13): 9

Lose in the World Series (out of 9): 5
Win the World Series (out of 9): 4

CBS Sports (Eye on Baseball)

Knobler and Perry pick the Reds to go to the World Series. Perry picks the Reds to win it all.

Jon Heyman picks the Nationals to win the World Series, with Bryce Harper as the MVP.

Filed Under: MLB Playoffs, Predictions

Ol’ Marge Wants Ya to Pound Those Gays from San Francisco, Sweetie

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Oh boys, boys, boys. Oh sweeties. Oh honey pies.

It was quite a summer for this old girl, and it just happens to be Ol’ Marge’s favorite time of the year. I remember our postseason trip out to California back in 1990. I took a trip out to a gorgeous vineyard the day you boys swept the Athletics. Ol’ Marge was in Heaven honeys. I didn’t want to come back. Have you ever had Harlan Estates straight from the bottle baby? I had to have that little weasel John Allen come out and get behind the wheel of Marge’s Cadillac honey, or your owner would have never made it back to Cincinnati for the parade. I called that little kiss ass every name in the book on the ride back. We had to pull over and get smokes at an Indian Reservation honey. Ol’ Marge pissed the seat of her Caddy, sweetie. But that’s not what this story is all about.

This group; you’ve got some magic with you right now sweeties. All of you, you’re just as good of kids as those 1990 Reds who went into the postseason without hitting a lick and took the baseball world by storm honeys. Except for Chapman and his whores. He’s nothing but trouble sweeties. He’ll leave you high and dry when you need him most…. Ol’ Marge doesn’t trust him as far as she can fart honeys. Trust me on him sweetie. Ol’ Marge knows trouble when she smells it. You are who your friends are honey. And his friends are nothing but whores.

Before I get to the point of all this sweetie, run down to the Findlay Market and get Ol’ Marge and Schottzie a few items would ya darling? I need to stock up on those jumbo-sized tampons for the postseason honey, all the stress is making things extra heavy down south baby. And be a real joy baby and get Ol’ Marge a bottle of Old Grand-Dad would ya honey? I want to make sure I’m extra fucked up for when that pissant Stubbs has to hit honeys. Make sure you get Schottzie girl some triple-antibiotic cream sweetie. Schottzie girl has licked her crotch raw with the way you boys have been hitting lately. The stress baby.

The moral of the story sweeties; is that Ol’ Marge has never left you. You’ve got a lot of ghosts watching over you as you enter the postseason. George Steinbrenner is in Hell baby. There’s no watching over the Yankees for him. Every step of the way, Ol’ Marge will be with you boys; just like I was for those magical 1990 Reds. I know in my cruel and callous heart that you boys are going to win the whole thing. And life will have came full circle for so many of my fine fans in the Queen City baby.

If you boys promise to play extra hard, Ol’ Marge is prepared to let all of ya in on a little secret babies. Okay, here goes. Guess what kind of underwear Ol’ Marge is wearing right now babies? You think about it a while while I light up this Lucky Strike non-filterered baby. Don’t think too hard honeys. It was a trick question. Ol’ Marge isn’t wearing panties, and I haven’t since my third divorce sweeties. It’s about comfort you know.

I wish you boys all of the tea in China, even though China is disgusting honeys. You’re going to do it this year! I can feel it! Now reach down and rub Ol’ Schottzie girl down there where it smells funny sweetie. That’s it….. Schottzie girl loves when you rub…..

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Marge was a sweet old lady just misunderstood, MLB Playoffs

These Guys are Like Family

October 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

I was talking with Mrs. Diamond Hoggers tonight. We were talking about the impending baseball playoffs and the stress I’m feeling about the Reds. She mentioned that as long as her Yankees make the World Series she’ll be happy. And then she quickly had a turn of face.

Like I pointed out in jingoistic fashion, this is really her team. Even if she doesn’t know it. How could you not root for the Reds? She’s practically grown up with these guys. When she married me, she also married Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Homer Bailey, Drew Stubbs, Dusty Baker. These guys have spent more time in our living room than any other male aside from myself the past four or five years. These are the guys that grew up together in the minor leagues hoping to one day have a shot at a run like this.

How could she not pull for the Reds? How could anyone? And with that, she realized what I was saying. She admitted that she would be heartbroken if the day lies ahead that they get eliminated. And what she doesn’t know is she better be ready for my bad behavior; win or lose. Let’s hope it’s only from celebrating victories.

Full preview of the Giants/Reds NLDS to come tomorrow….

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, MLB Playoffs

Wild Card Friday (& Predictions)

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For the first time in the history of this blog (and the sport in general), the postseason kicks off with two Wildcard teams playing a one game play-in the day before the real deal gets going.

National League: St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves

The last time Fredi Gonzalez was in this situation, he didn’t fare so well. He’s not a good manager, and his immensely talented team has brought him back for a chance at redemption despite his attempts to sabotage them all. It’s a testament to the winning culture in Atlanta, and the fact that they want to send their strong leader Chipper Jones out as he deserves; a winner.

The Cardinals had enough magic last season to last them a lifetime. If you were like us, you waited all season long for a Cardinals run that never really came. We have no doubts that the Cardinals will have some great runs in the future under Mike Matheny, and this season was a nice start to his managerial career. But these Cardinals are not made with the same ingredients that made them great at this time last year. They just aren’t.

They’ve still got the ability to score and knock down fences with the best of them, but there’s some smoke and mirrors within their starting rotation. Adam Wainwright has a lot of mileage on his arm, Chris Carpenter missed most of the season, and the wildcard game starter Kyle Lohse had a career year that seems to be an anomaly more than a constant.

The baseball gods will allow the Braves to extract some sweet revenge on the team that stole their spot like a thief in the night a year ago. Fredi and the Braves will win tomorrow night in Atlanta and give Chipper Jones one final crack at a ring that has eluded him since 1995. The Cardinals season ends tomorrow.

Prediction: Braves over Cardinals

American League: Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers

My goodness we love Ron Washington. His speech to his troops before World Series game seven last postseason is the thing that legends are made of. And how about those tricky Orioles? Who in their right mind had Buck Showalter and the Orioles here at this point? No one. Not a damn person outside the Baltimore fan base, and if you try to tell me otherwise you’re lying.

The Orioles have strung together a rag-tag bunch that includes Mark Reynolds, Robert Andino, Nate McLouth, and Chris Davis. Of course they’ll go to the Hellhouse that is the Ballpark in Arlington, to face all of those terrifying hitters and F-bomb dropping Ron Washington and they’ll start a pitcher (Joe Saunders) who I would consider waiver wire garbage. Were they trolling late-night for catfish the night that they found Saunders? He started seven games for the Orioles this season. They haven’t a season like this since I was still searching for my first kiss. And they’re going to let Joe Saunders decide their season? This is who you throw out there to decide the biggest game this team has played in decades? That’s TV I’ve got to see.

But you know what? The baseball gods are a funny thing.

Here are teams on the opposite side of the spectrum. One team is littered with superstars, while the other just appears littered. The Rangers will throw their high-dollar import special Yu Darvish to oppose Saunders. The Rangers have about as much postseason experience up and down the roster as anyone in the field this year. The Orioles have little to none.

Everyone in the world will pick the Rangers tomorrow night. It would probably make sense to do the same. But something in my gut tells me that this Texas team has learned the just how long and impossible the journey seems. They’re jaded. They dropped the World Series two years ago. Last year they climbed back up that tall hill only to see it slip away in the most gut-wrenching fashion possible in sports. If that wasn’t enough to kill the spirits of this team, getting caught by the Oakland Athletics and losing the division title after leading the way for 99% of the season has destroyed this team’s inner conscious. I’m telling you that they’re mentally cooked.

Look back at the other side now, those tricky Orioles. They don’t know what they’re about to embark upon. They haven’t been here. They can say ‘who gives a shit, the whole damn season has been crazy anyways’. They have been starting Mark Reynolds the last few seasons. What do they care? Here’s a situation where I think lack of experience helps a team. In this one game scenario, they can catch some lightning in a bottle because they aren’t able to fully grasp the moment. All the pressure in the world is on our beloved Ron Washington and his Cocaine Cowboys of the West.

Most of all, in this life when everything seems so certain; it isn’t at all. Go the other way with the pick that everyone will go one way with. When they zig, you zag.

Prediction: Orioles over Rangers

Filed Under: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, MLB Playoffs, Postseason, Predictions, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Wild Card Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

MLB’s Health and Upcoming Labor Deal

November 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Major League Baseball is close to finalizing a new labor agreement that would extend peace for 20 years.

This is good news–it exhibits that baseball is possibly in the best long-term health of any of the three major sports. That said, with anything that is a positive there is usually some type of drawback.

The following would be stipulations of the new labor agreement:

  1. It will pave the way for realignment of the sport into two 15-team leagues, adding an additional wild-card team in each league.
  2. Interleague play will be spread evenly throughout all six months of the regular season.
  3. Significant changes to the draft, free agency and the so-called “Competitive Balance Tax.”

Sources won’t predict how soon a deal could be finalized but it is speculated that these rumored changes would be in effect by the 2013 season.

I’m indifferent on how I feel about it. I feel like the return to the 15-team leagues is pretty old school. I like it. I think adding an additional playoff team puts added incentive on being the #1 seed entering the playoffs and does a nice job of keeping fan interest up for those that follow the game. It’s like an extra lottery ticket added to the raffle. Some will argue that it dilutes the significance of making the playoffs; but I’d rather this than having just the top two teams from each league square off.

Interleague play I’ve never had a problem with. It will be interesting to see how it is spread so that it’s taking place virtually every day of the regular season. Again, if you’re going to have interleague play in general, this isn’t really a drawback for me as a fan.

 

Filed Under: Interleague Play, Labor Agreement, MLB Playoffs, MLB rulebook Tagged With: ,

I’m actually pulling for the Yankees tonight

October 6, 2011 by 1 Comment

I’ve definitely got reason to root against the Yankees tonight. I mean, New Yorkers are really a loud, brash, cocky breed of fan. My roomate, teammate, and probably my best friend from early on in my college career; George, was a big Yankees fan. I watched the entire 2001 and 2002 postseason with him. He changed my mind about Yankees fans, at least for a short period in my life.

I was the best man in his wedding back in 2009. To the outsider–it was that postseason when A-Rod went off. In fact he hit a dramatic home run the night of his wedding. What a great feeling that must have been for my lucky friend huh?

Well shortly after his wedding–of which I delivered a best man speech at–my friend disowned me. For no reason at all. The true reason was his new wife didn’t really like me and he lost his damn mind. That’s really all I can figure. At that point, I figured that every time the Yankees lost it was a good night for me because I knew that somewhere in this world my fraud of a friend might be distraught about it out in his new whine & cheese lifestyle of a world in Connecticut. That’s if, he could ask for his wife for his nuts back long enough to check the box score the morning after. I assume he stopped watching baseball altogether. He probably spends his days and nights buying her flowers or fancy chocolates and disowning other friends she doesn’t like.

But if he’s out there and he has her permission to watch television on his own for a little bit tonight, he’ll be tuning in to the game. And as fun as the thought is of his agony if they get pounded tonight–he would get over it. Because baseball isn’t that important to him anymore. Things that were important to the friend and teammate I knew now play second fiddle to his mean wife and his bullshit house and pets.

Wouldn’t you know three years after I met George, I met the girl I would marry. And as my damned luck would have it–Yankees fan. First line she ever said to me was about the Yankees. Her brothers love the Yankees. They’ll be in New Yankee Stadium tonight. Her best friends mostly love the Yankees. Again–they’re going to the game tonight. My father-in-law? Asks me my thoughts on the Yankees in whatever series they’re in before he asks me how work is going. Or how his daugther is doing.

So I realize, there’s enough people I love in my life right now who love the Yankees that sure; I’ll pull for your damn Bronx Bombers. Whether it’s negative or positive interest that I have in them, there’s always interest. They interest me more than the Tigers–minus that little chain-smoking managerial ball of perfection that they have standing on the top stoop.

They’ve got Doug Fister opposing them tonight. He’s been lights out scary good since becoming a Tiger. Hell, I might even say this guy will contend for 20 wins next year. He was a scrub for the Mariners. He’s definitely figured it out. I have a feeling that he is the story of tonight’s game when the dust settles. Let’s just call it a gut feeling.

George if you’re out there and you see this post, I still have your shoes that I thought I would someday get to return to you when I saw you again. In fact I’m wearing them at work right now while I write this post. They look older now and are stretched out because my feet were always a half size bigger than yours. You missed my wedding, you missed the birth of my child (we bought a puppy but close enough), you didn’t call on my birthday. I know your wench of a wife hates me but I hope your Bombers win tonight old buddy. But it’s not because of you.

Go Yankees.

Filed Under: Detroit Tigers, Game 5s, League Division Series, MLB Playoffs, Postseason, Yankees

The D-Backs Win in a Wild One, Force Game Five

October 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I haven’t taken the time to sit through an entire 9 innings yet this postseason. Things in life just seem to get in the way. Now relax, I’m not guilty like some of my peers that tell me they haven’t watched any playoff baseball. I would never be that guy. But life has been getting busy on me.

So last night I decided I wasn’t going to miss any of the Arizona/Milwaukee game. I grabbed my puppy and let the little tike sleep on my shoulder and watched nearly every pitch. After all, the D-backs are my playoff horse. I needed to will them on to victory. And the scrappy-ass little Arizona DiamondBacks came through for me by winning 10-6 in front of their home fans and forcing game five in Milwaukee on early Friday evening.

The game got off to a wild start with Joe Saunders giving up a run in the top of the first inning and then the D-backs responding back to put five on the Brewers in the bottom of the frame. Ryan Roberts hit a grand slam and then Chris Young got one to fly out.

I had worries that Arizona would take their foot off the gas. They’re young, and relatively inexperienced. But they didn’t stop grinding. Milwaukee would cut the lead to 5-3. But then a guy named Collin Cowgill would add a pinch-hit two run single to make the score 7-3.

The entire state of Arizona thought this game was going to be tied 7-7 when Corey Hart hit a ball to the track with the bases loaded that somehow Gerardo Parra ran down on the track in left center field. When Hart connected, I even said out loud “oh no, he got it”. He didn’t get it.

Arizona wouldn’t cast any doubt in our minds from that point on. The ball was flying out last night. The organ was magical. The D-backs were victorious. They’ll either go on to the NLCS or win their final game in front of their home fans.

Kirk Gibson’s boys delivered in giving us a third game five in the NLDS. The rest of America should realize that this roster set is a group of ‘guys’ that just seemed to gel and will never do this again. For that reason alone (and the incessant man-love for Justin Upton that I have) I want this team to knock off a seemingly loaded Milwaukee team on Friday night.

[Box Score]

Filed Under: Arizona DiamondBacks, big wins, League Division Series, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB Playoffs, Postseason Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) Played on Chase Field Organ

October 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Listen very closely here. The music being played by the organist at Chase Field during this first inning pitching visit in Game 4 of the NLDS is Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark.

That’s as classic as classic can get right there. The Boss, played in Arizona during a playoff game; on an organ. If I didn’t have D-Back playoff fever before, I’ve definitely got it now.

Filed Under: Arizona DiamondBacks, MLB Playoffs, Postseason, Songs that need played over the loud speakers at the ball park Tagged With: ,
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