Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Royals vs. Athletics: Wild Card Game live-blog

7:18 pm CT, 8:18 am Beijing time: Oh shit.

Comeback time.

7:34 pm: Butler! Let's go Royals!



8:12 pm: Did I just see a "Cain is Able" sign in the crowd? That's inspired.

8:13 pm: Cain is able. And here I thought I'd have to sweat through seven innings to see the game reset. This is much preferable. Deficit gone...

8:15 pm: ...and now the lead! which means we're three innings away from Herrera-Davis-Holland. I've always relished, from an observer's point of view, the emotional ebb and flow of a baseball game. One minute you're clutching the physical manifestation of your heart in the form of a pillow, deathly hopeful, and the next you're pumping your arms as adrenaline surges and your body is like, "Dude, you're not even in a fight." And then -- is it too early to say? -- the game ends.



Note from the TBS broadcast: "Salvador Perez is the Yadier Molina of the American League."

8:56 pm: Yordano Ventura pounds his glove as he emerges from the bullpen. Go git em, young flamethrower.



9:42 pm: As easy and tempting as it might be, you can't really put this on Ned Yost. James Shields might have pulled himself out of the jam, but who's to say? He didn't look sharp in the first two innings, and those baserunners in the 6th were solely his responsibility. Kelvin Herrara could have done better out of the pen, but he wasn't exactly mowing down Derek Norris and Coco Crisp. One has to believe Yordano Ventura was told beforehand to be ready to come in out of relief, and that he relished the opportunity. Sometimes athletes simply don't perform as well as we -- or they -- hope. It happens.

Two innings left. Whatever happens...










11:19 pm: I'm reminded of one of the best baseball game I've ever seen, the 13-inning Game 163 in 2007 between the Rockies and Padres, which I wrote about here.

Lucky to be watching this one. Whatever happens...



Well, that happened. Been dropping thoughts on Twitter. I'll end the post with these, and then go celebrate. As should you. We all deserve it.

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