As Yogi Berra once said, âIt ainât over till itâs overâ. And as my buddy Don, who is an Angel fan said late night, âIf Brian Fuentes had walked Swisher, I think I would have jumped off my roofâ.
Fortunately for the Angels (and Don S), he didnât.
I learned my lesson though. I watched the game on TV at home till the beginning of the 7th. John Lackey had been pitching brilliantly up until then and had a 4-0 lead. Thinking that Big John had things well in hand, I decided to head to local coffee shop and watch the rest of the game on Gameday while I got some work done.
Itâs a 6 block walk to the coffee shop and I was away from the game for 15 minutes, 20 tops. Logging into Gameday, I was rudely greeted with a 7-6 Yankee lead. Refreshing the browser didnât seem to help.
Looking back at it, I had a sneaking suspicion that Lackey was tiring. Mid-inning, the camera crew show him in the dugout and boy, he really looked spent. I remember commenting on that to my kid.
But thanks to a 3-run seventh fueled by back-to-back base hits by Guerrero and Morales, the Angels got back on top for the final score 7-6.
Iâd like to say that was the end of the excitement but the Yankees made the Halos earn their pay Thursday night. Angel reliever Brian Fuentes made things a little too interesting. After a two-out, bases empty intentional pass to Alex Rodriguez, Fuentes followed that up with a Matsui walk and a Cano HBP to load the bases. If that werenât enough, Nick Swisher took him to a full count before popping out to short for third out to end the game.
Fuentes line looked good. One inning, no hits and a save. But that sure didnât tell the story of the game. However, he got the job done.
The Angels got their miracle. Three-Two sounds a whole lot better than Two-Zero or Three-One.
Other Postseason News:
- The MLB is
panickingcalmly reacting to the controversial calls that some of the umps have been making and readjusting the World Series lineup. Is this a PR move or a logical move on their part? - One analyst in, one analyst out. ESPNâs Steve Phillips is taking an âextended leave of absenceâ after admitting to an affair with another ESPN worker.
Over at Fox Sports, theyâve decided to hire Sox manager Ozzie Guillen as a pre- and post game analyst for the World Series (The Baseball Zealotâs opinion: Good on them⌠heâll at least be interesting) - Is MLB doing a little damage control? The same day an article came out in the Washington Post entitled Phillies Want Shot at Yankees, MLB.com came out with an awkwardly titled article, Series Opponent Doesnât Matter to Phillies. Not that we as fans really care a whole lot but image is a big deal to Major League Baseball.