‘Squeezed’ Out of First Place

September 29, 2007 on 11:04 am | In Oddball, Sports |

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What a night it was last night for Red Sox fans. First they beat the Twins 5-2 at about 9:40 p.m. but they don’t know whether they’ll have the AL East title until the conclusion of the Yanks-Orioles game in Baltimore.

So the Bosox players head to the locker room unsure of their fate. Thousands of fans stay at Fenway to watch the conclusion of the Yankees’ game on the video screen high over the center field bleachers.

The table was set with the great closer Mariano Rivera trying to hold a 9-6 lead. He blew it, allowing Jay Payton to hit a bases-clearing triple to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

Then the Birds loaded the bases with only one out. Melvin Mora steps to the plate in what seemed to me to be an obvious bunting situation. He lays one down to his left and the winning run scores.

My question is why wasn’t Yanks third baseman Wilson Betemit (and most of the rest of the infield, for that matter) playing in so that they might have a prayer of getting the lead runner? Come to think of it, why wasn’t A-Rod playing at third? Would he have played that ball better?

6 Comments »

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  1. I’m not sure what would make the cut on my highlight reel. Papelbon dancing the jig? Yuke doing the Wally Moon walk? Or Alan Dershowitz getting sprayed with champagne in the clubhouse.

    Alan Dershowitz? Yes. Alan Dershowitz. Again. He seems to be everywhere.

    Comment by Terrence McCarthy — September 29, 2007 #

  2. Dershowitz getting doused w/ champagne? I’d have paid $100 to see that. There are times when I’ve wanted to spray him w/ mace. Other times I wanted to hug him …

    Comment by Terry — September 29, 2007 #

  3. He seems to have found an odd niche. I just wish the territory he inhabits didn’t include the sacred ground - the Sox locker room. Manny, Millar, Lowe, the cutesy Johnny Damon. Borderline borderlines thirsting for attention. Now this. The Godfather of attention seekers. Dershowitz on the highlight reel. If Theo’s grandfather and granduncle were writing the script - Alan wouldn’t be playing a role. He’d be given an exit visa. Outa here.

    Comment by Terrence McCarthy — September 29, 2007 #

  4. Insult to injury: Dershowitz was born and raised in Brooklyn.

    Comment by Terry — September 29, 2007 #

  5. My local paper says that there were two out when Mora got his bunt single. That would change all expectations. Anybody know the facts?

    Comment by Tom Cowgill — September 30, 2007 #

  6. Correct, according to the Baltimore Sun. But I don’t know as it changes everything. If he wasn’t expecting a bunt, why wasn’t Bedemit holding the runner on third to prevent the kind of lead that would enable a squeeze? Or playing in? He did neither. Either way, one run is all that’s needed to win, so it’s still a bunt situation. Still wonder why A-Rod wasn’t in there …

    Comment by Terry — September 30, 2007 #

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