I can't believe that earlier in the afternoon I was arguing with a co-worker about the Wild Card play-in game. She said it wasn't really a playoff game, since it was only one game. I was maintaining it was a playoff game. Just ask the Dodgers and Angels and everybody else who'd been eliminated. Little did we know that, regardless of our opinion of the legitimacy of the post-season spectacle, both of our favored teams were going to be eliminated that evening. Badly.
Kimmie is a Braves fan, which of course meant she was hot for Chipper Jones. The man simply has some sort of strange power over women. I think he's single-handedly responsible for much of MLB's female fanbase. I do not hold him single-handedly responsible for the Braves defeat by the Cardinals. Then again, I only got to watch bits and pieces of the game, but there seemed to be plenty of blame to go around. Chipper did not want to leave the game this way, with an error, that proved contagious to his teammates, and a lackluster offensive performance.
While it would be easy to blame the Braves loss on four unearned runs, thankfully the umps helped out with an interesting interpretation of the Infield Fly rule. Technically, it doesn't have to occur on the infield, but if you're going to call it in the outfield, you should probably be wearing a helmet to protect yourself from the fan debris. Though the intricacies of the rulebook may have been lost on the fans in attendance, and they may have been a wee bit partisan, they know a bad call when they see one. I don't condone interrupting a sporting event with a mild fan riot, mostly because it's not going to do any good and it's just going to waste everyone's time. Then again, that kind of behavior did lead to NASCAR implementing the Green-White-Checker rule. I don't think anything that good is going to come of this.
Hmph. And people were bitching about Replacement Ref's in the NFL. (Sorry, had to put that little anti-union dig in. It's in my contract.)
Meanwhile, my Rangers will not be drawing comparisons to the 90's Buffalo Bills this year. While I have to applaud the plucky Orioles for their unexpected success this season, my disappointment in the Rangers is profound. You could really see this coming after their outright collapse to the even more improbably successful A's this week. That sweep was inexcusable. Tonight, I knew Darvish would pitch well. It was just a question of whether or not the bats would show up. They didn't.
While Chipper is going to get off lightly by Braves fans, my dear Hammy (Josh Hamilton) is wearing the collar for both ending up in the play-in game and for losing it. Dropping a routine flyball in the finale of that A's series that lead to the loss already had Rangers fans grumbling. They were booing tonight as he went 0 for 4, with two strikeouts, and only saw EIGHT PITCHES. I think his longest AB was that three-pitch strikeout in the eighth inning with a runner in scoring position. And then you think back on his self-inflicted batting slump in the middle of the season. And then you think about his off the field stuff.
Nolan Ryan had no trouble getting rid of CJ Wilson, a good pitcher, who didn't perform in the clutch. I think Josh is going to get one generous free agent offer from the Rangers. If he doesn't like it, there won't be another from the team. Who ever does get him will almost certainly overpay for him and that team's fans will let ownership know about it before he even steps on the field. Could the Rangers take a chance on Melkey Caberra?
I really hate saying this stuff.
No. Kimmie was right. These didn't feel like playoff games. For one team it was going to be a walk-on cameo. Yeah, the stadiums were full of enthusiastic fans, but this wasn't a stage set for memorable success, only ignominious failure.
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