came to bat in the bottom of the 11th inning last night with the bases loaded, i recited to myself most of the ways that the game could end with pages' at bat, including by wild pitch, balk, or passed ball. as for pages, i figured he could have ended the game and reached base safely by:
- getting a base hit (and i was for sure thinking about how the last extra inning postseason game the dodgers played ended, since it also featured a bases loaded at bat)
- being hit by a pitch
- getting a base on balls
- catcher's interference
- reaching on a fielder's choice coupled with an error
i didn't think about the other sorts of basepath interference, but that last one in the list above did come to mind. i just didn't expect it to actually happen. another one i didn't think of was the dropped third strike derivative of the passed ball or wild pitch, and this ending has to rank up there with mickey owen's dropped third strike in the 1941 world series in terms of postseason gaffes. however, that error didn't end the game or a series like this one did last night. it's not a merkle boner, but it is a terrible way to have a season end.
anyway, i feel for the phillies' pitcher and fans but am still happy that the dodgers advanced. now i am waiting to see if there will be a rematch of the 2017 nlcs or the 2018 nlcs starting on monday.
here are a couple of loosely associated cards - i am hoping that the dodgers will write some more autumn tales
as they advance to the league championship stage.
i'll see myself out.
Congratulations on moving on to the NLCS. I won't be rooting for the Dodgers, but I will be rooting for a handful of their players.
ReplyDelete