Within maybe ten or fifteen minutes of each other on Wednesday night, all of baseball’s postseason races were wrapped up succinctly. The Braves fell to the Phillies, 4-3 in 13 innings to give the NL Wild Card to the Cardinals. The Red Sox lost 4-3 to the Orioles in heartbreaking fashion. And the Rays battled back from being down 7-0 to defeat the Yankees 8-7 in 12 innings.
Let’s take a look at the Braves and Phillies first. Atlanta’s strongest asset this season was their spectacular bullpen. Tonight, that bullpen walked eight hitters in 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs. The management of the bullpen at the game exemplified Fredi Gonzalez’s debut season as Braves skipper; he allowed long reliever Cristhian Martinez to throw just seven pitches in the 12th before pinch hitting for him, and bringing in Scott Linebrink in the 13th. Linebrink would end up losing the game for Atlanta. And who was the hero for the Phillies? Hunter Pence, the trade deadline acquisition that Philly fans fell in love with. It wasn’t the hard hit smash that Phillies fans have come to expect from Pence. In fact, his game winning hit barely got out of the infield. But that was the difference at the end of the day.
In Baltimore, the Red Sox carried a lead over the Orioles into the ninth inning. Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the game. Papelbon has had an up and down year, and has struggled in recent days. Papelbon allowed three hits in the ninth inning, with the final one being a looper into left field that Carl Crawford, the highly paid, much maligned free agent signing of the Red Sox, couldn’t catch. Crawford’s throw home was late, and the Orioles got the win. Crawford’s first season in the northeast didn’t go as expected, and it seems fitting that he was primarily involved in the final play of the Red Sox season.
And finally, in Tampa. The Rays, always the underdog, fell behind 7-0 to the AL East champion Yankees. They rallied back with six runs in the eighth, capped off by a three run homer by the of the franchise, Evan Longoria. In the ninth, down to their final strike, one of their anonymous players struck. Dan Johnson homered to right field to tie the game for the Rays. And then, in the 12th. Longoria stepped in again, and he walked off to give the Rays their third playoff berth in four years. The superstar of the team carries the team to the victory, with a little bit of help from one of the guys you never read about.
It was an amazing night of baseball, and we’ve got playoffs to look forward to on Friday. Make sure to check here at the OC for all of your playoff needs, including team and series previews, and game recaps. Things are just getting started folks.
