There's really no way to set this up, although this is the first extra-base walk off hit on final out with team losing in playoffs, aka most exciting possible play in baseball, since Kirk Gibson's elbow pumps in 1988. Rollins got the first and last hit. Had never been to a post season game of any sort (largely because they largely haven't existed in Philadelphia for the last 10 years). Tons on tension and good vibes leading up to the game (This was also Bruce Springsteen's final Philly show and the official close of the Spectrum; talk about a time to be at the Bank). Howard's jack in the first got everyone going, and it was anticlimatic since. The game was sloppy, Blanton was fairly shook and just hanging on by a thread, and after Ibanez got what should have been a two run single taken from fucking Ramirez if anybody, the boredom and frustration got worse and worse. (Sidenote: I think Ramirez batted 7 times. Everytime I looked he was up. He got two ABs in one when Eithier got picked off on a 1-2 Ramirez count).
Howard strikes out in the bottom of the eighth and then Werth, for the probably 13th time that game, got under a 100 mile an hour fastball from Broxton.
Top of the 9th, Eyre gets a single from Furcal and an out. This is actually very significant. This is also when the crowd kind of woke up from a slumber. Some kids behind us just started screaming uncontrollably and everyone was back in it. So Lidge gets up and gets two huge outs. Rememember, this is a one run game with Furcal on 1st with no outs. Furcal is a certified Philly Killer so this got some momentum going.
Ibanez leads off the ninth and hits into two pitch grounder. Then Charlie makes a huge move and PH's Feliz with Stairs, It was pretty hilarious watching them face each other; they are like clones. Stairs wins the stare-off and gets a 4 pitch walk. Then Ruiz gets hit by a pitch. Two on for Dobbs with one out. At this point I was telling my dad that the only way to score both runs in that park appeared to be by putting it about 100 ft below us or a double RF gap. From left field it was playable from that perspective. I also mentioned that, given necessity, Rollins can at least make good contact if forced too. Well, I tried to conjure up memories of Dobbs hitting a double in this spot, and I think I remember once. Dobbs gets owned by Broxton. However, this did lead to one positive observation about Broxton, who I never law really before (I don't think he was there last year). He throws either a fastball or a fastball. If you can make contact, you can drill it. So Rollins comes up. Takes a pitch, takes a ball. He cracked that fucking ball and it flew about 10 ft past Either's range. In the replay, it looked like Eithier hustled, but I don't remember him hustling. They both knew they were fucked, Eithier and the CF.
Nobody left the park for 27 outs, unlike previous trips to the park. Total fucking chaos. The adrenaline from 45,000 people who went from cynical to berserk was unreal and I'll probably never experience again. I threw my hat and punched the guy below me repeatedly. People were screaming for the next 20 minutes.
Some guy started fucking a taxi on the way out, and the driver honked and then smiled. That about sums it up.
Not much else to say. I sincerely doubt I'll ever witness anything like that. My crew was a displaced Cialis commercial of high school buddies in their fifties. All said it was best sports moment ever, and those three combined are no spring chickens.
Hamels will start tommorrow and that should be it. Losing tonight the way they did is much worse than losing 11-0. They got neutered by a cocky black guy with a shaky season for his contract and reputation and worse postseason.
So Yankees-Phillies huh? Wow. This area will be a war zone for 10 days or so. I want the Yankees. Fuck the Angels. There will be 200,000 people around the Bank for the home games. Guaranteed. Riots. Guaranteed.
As for the Eagles, Peter King (who I read religiously and is far and away the best sportswriter alive) made an awesome point about the Eagles loss to Oakland which summed up what a lot of people were thinking but scared to say around other Eagles fans: Who wanted to see what Kolb would have done after the 10th third and out or 25th grounder in the dirt? That timeout call with no timeouts is classic McNabb; he was a fragile psyche. Let a white boy with 750 total yards in two games get a shot in the fourth. Isn't antagaonizing McNabb exactly what got them in the Playoffs (barely) last year? Shit, put Vick in. Anything but scared McNabb.
Since this is a blog about sports betting lines, I should mention the lines. Haven't looked at the Philly line yet, but who could predict at at WAS on MNF? Who are the Eagles? -6 or -1? Not a game I'm betting that's for sure. If I had to pick, I'd say -4.5., with the Phillies being a -135 favorite with Hamels v the young kid they lit up eventually. (Eagles are actually -7 and the Phillies won't post until LVSC wake up Pacific). BTW Yankess already opened at -135 tom.
BTW one word and then three little ones: Redskins LOL
NFL Lines I like next week:
MIN ML +195 vs. Pit at Pit. Why should the 6-0 Vik be a more than -3 dog to 3-3 Pit? That is basically saying the Vikings are underdogs if they both played in Florida. Nonsense.
ATL ML +195 or so against DAL at home. Cowboyws suck. Ryan is really, really, good. I know. He's my starting QB for fantasy. His lines every week are impressive regardless who or where they are playing. Seriously, he's special.
IND at STL giving -13.5. Why wouldn't Manning throw 5 TDs? So it the line assumes the Rams will put up more than 20 pts? Don't get it.
Fantasy player I love:
Ray Rice. Got him for Todd Heap straight up two weeks ago. 50 pts since then and last minute sctratch addition pulling Marques Colston. I wonder how Todd Heap is doing (Heath Miller and Greg Olson are enough TEs for me; I think Miller is actually #1 in fantasy pts). One thing I don't understand about fantasy is that my team in my league is much better than my smaller (money wise) league, but is 3-3, and I'm 6-0 and lead in pts in the small league. Actually thats why I love fantasy. Its not just blind gambling. It requires lots of management and attention, at least a good league it does.
BTW for anybody in my league reading this, I did briefly play with the idea of extending the big play bonus to all 40+ plays, not just 40+ td plays. If I got a lot of people in favor of it, I could adjust it, and see if the W-L totals will change, and then backchange it if it affects anybody.
Personal life: Not much to say. Literally nothing has changed since my last post except my residence. I was in a relationship when everyone was single. Now everyone is wifeyed up and I'm single. Its not intentional. I thought Vinny's crew was a homerun this summer but there's something about 21 year old girls I used to find a lot more attractive. No challenge, they just drink all the time and slut out. I may have to start cruising the net, which I always never thought I would have to resort to. How can you tell if there is any chemistry? There's something about meeting somebody and instant attraction which isn't part of the equation, although I am ignorant.
Movies:
The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker
Seriusly. And I have seen some good movies since I saw the Hurt Locker, but I can't say more. Its been about 4 weeks and I still am as enthusiatic as after i saw it. Just fucking rent it or dl it from thepiratebay, I doubt Comcast will be watching illegal dl's of that one. Basically the set up is the story of a IDE crew (explosive device) in Iraq. All action but incredibly smart. I'm talking Generation Kill good, top 3 war movies ever good. Check it out on metacritic.com or something, it has a 96 rating as of today. When the NYT and the WSJ agree on an Iraq war movie, that says something.
Anvil: The Story of Anvil was quite good too. This is Spinal Tap but for real. The most movieish documentary I can remember. So was Waltz with Bashir. Super good, and I love movies with that cartoon technology from Waking Life and aforementioned. How it didn't win best Oscar i'll never know. Whats the deal with that? What is it called? (rotoscoping says wikipedia). But still. See above.
BTW, final note as I probably won't post for a while unless the EAG-GIA in two weeks is crazy:
one underreported sports story is Ivey making and playing the final table at the WSOP in a couple of weeks. If you think poker is all luck and bad beats your fucking wrong. Watch old Ivey tapes in WPT events. He can see your cards. I'm not kidding.
Also, if your bored, check out the Klitichko fight against the Mexican heavyweight. Its pathetic what Klitichiko does to him. And actually, in the same vein, Malcolm Gladwell published an excellent piece about brain trauma in boxing and football right after the Clifton Smith defenseless jack up from CAR/TB. Check it out: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell
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