I take it all back
As last night's post showed, I was a little mad with MLB.com when I couldn't log on to watch yesterday's games. Tonight I'm still mad, but only because I know I'm not going to get enough sleep for about the fourth time this week - I had no problems logging on to MLB.TV tonight and am now in the middle of my third game of the night...
The first game was the Giants trying to stay alive (and failing) in Florida - a good back-and-forth game, although I'm still trying to work out why the Giants tried to send the runner home from second base on the last play of the game. Okay, there were two outs and maybe it was worth a shot, but if they'd held the runner at third, they would have had the bases loaded, still with two outs, and a better chance of winning the game. Great play by Pudge Rodriguez, by the way, to block the plate, hang on to the ball and send Florida to the NLCS.
The second game was at Wrigley Field, and after nine innings of baseball, it all came down to one of those great confrontations - the tying Chicago run at the plate, in the shape of Sammy Sosa, and Atlanta's John Smoltz on the mound. Sammy got hold of a 3-2 pitch which looked like it may leave the ballpark, but it was caught deep in center field, so the teams head back to Atlanta for game 5. Cub's fans' hopes are still alive, but Chicago is gonna have to do things the hard way - on the road. Still, they've got the right guy for the job on the mound - Kerry Wood should be facing Mike Hampton in the final game of the series. Atlanta may have a problem with their closer - Smoltz didn't look at all comfortable on the mound during the ninth inning, and as he left the field, he didn't shake anybody's hand with his right (i.e. pitching) hand, giving high-fives with his left hand instead. Watch this space for more details on Smoltz...
My lightning one-night ballpark tour has of course ended up at Fenway, where the Red Sox are trying to keep their playoff hopes alive. Boston is leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, and although it's almost 3am here, I think I'm gonna make up for last night's failed efforts and see this one through to the end. I've always said that sleep is a much overated concept...!
The first game was the Giants trying to stay alive (and failing) in Florida - a good back-and-forth game, although I'm still trying to work out why the Giants tried to send the runner home from second base on the last play of the game. Okay, there were two outs and maybe it was worth a shot, but if they'd held the runner at third, they would have had the bases loaded, still with two outs, and a better chance of winning the game. Great play by Pudge Rodriguez, by the way, to block the plate, hang on to the ball and send Florida to the NLCS.
The second game was at Wrigley Field, and after nine innings of baseball, it all came down to one of those great confrontations - the tying Chicago run at the plate, in the shape of Sammy Sosa, and Atlanta's John Smoltz on the mound. Sammy got hold of a 3-2 pitch which looked like it may leave the ballpark, but it was caught deep in center field, so the teams head back to Atlanta for game 5. Cub's fans' hopes are still alive, but Chicago is gonna have to do things the hard way - on the road. Still, they've got the right guy for the job on the mound - Kerry Wood should be facing Mike Hampton in the final game of the series. Atlanta may have a problem with their closer - Smoltz didn't look at all comfortable on the mound during the ninth inning, and as he left the field, he didn't shake anybody's hand with his right (i.e. pitching) hand, giving high-fives with his left hand instead. Watch this space for more details on Smoltz...
My lightning one-night ballpark tour has of course ended up at Fenway, where the Red Sox are trying to keep their playoff hopes alive. Boston is leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, and although it's almost 3am here, I think I'm gonna make up for last night's failed efforts and see this one through to the end. I've always said that sleep is a much overated concept...!
posted by Iain at
02:50
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