I know you guys here aren't much into baseball and are even less interested when it involves a Canadian team. But that 7th inning in last night's Game 5 of the Jays-Rangers series was easily the most insane inning of baseball I have ever seen. It went like this:
Top of the 7th - Game tied 2-2
- Odor (no, he doesn't stink, he was a thorn in the side of the Jays all series) gets on base. With two outs, he gets to third
- Choo comes up to bat, count gets to 2-2
- after the 2-2 pitch, Martin (catcher) throws the ball back to the pitcher.....except it hits the bat of Choo on the way and rolls out towards third like a bunt
- while the ball is rolling, the home plate ump calls the play dead (waved his arms, basically like a time out)
- Odor doesn't care, still runs home since, technically, a ball thrown back to the pitcher is live (let's ignore the fact it hit the bat for now)
- umps tell Odor to go back to third since the play was called dead; Bannister (Rangers' manager) complains
- umps get together, discuss it, then decide to award Odor home
- Gibbons (Jays' manager) comes out and protests; umps, not wanting to decide on a play like that which may decide the series, go to New York (replay head office) to make the call
- New York upholds the reversal of the call, award the Rangers the run, they take the lead 3-2
- fans quite literally have a cow, start throwing shit on the field (a baby got sprayed with beer; I don't condone this shit regardless of how pissed you are); 18 minute delay to clean it all up, Jays players, as pissed as they were as well, beg fans to stop
- after what was about a 30 minute delay, Sanchez in two more pitches strikes out Choo to end the inning (so run wouldn't have counted if not for the crazy play)
Bottom of the 7th - Rangers lead 3-2
- first batter is C (Martin), hits a weak grounder up the middle; Andrus (SS) boots it on a little weird hop at the end, error to SS, safe at first
- next batter is CF (Pillar), hits a well-hit grounder to Moreland (1B); as he's about to throw it, Martin moves a little to his left, forcing him in to a more difficult throw and 1B makes an error by throwing it into the ground (actually luck it hit the SS's leg or it woulda gone out into left field); another error, men on 1st and 2nd, no one out. prior to at bat, backup 1B (Smoak) comes out to on-deck circle to pinch hit for the following batter
- before being called into the game, backup 1B goes back and SS (Goins) bats for self since it's an obvious bunting situation; backup CF (Pompey) comes in to pinch run for C; SS bunts it, 3B (Beltre) gets to it fast and tosses it to the SS who drops the ball and makes his second error in the last 3 batters. Bases loaded, no one out
- next batter is LF (Revere), hits sharp grounder to 1B, goes home for the force out where backup CF takes the C (Giminez) out with a slide; manager complains, no one care
- next batter is 3B (MVP!), hits the slowest bloop flare in the history of baseball to 2B (Odor) who misjudges it. It falls in behind him off his glove, run scores to tie the game. It was such a crazy bloop that the 2B is still able to get the runner going from first to second (LF) because the runner had to go back to tag up
- next batter is RF (Jose), who smacks a long 3-run homer to put the Jays up 6-3. He watches the ball fly for 2 or 3 seconds then flips the bat in a "FUCK THAT, AIN'T NO WAY THE GAME WAS GONNA END ON THAT SHIT" way (seriously, look at the millions of little videos or pics or memes out there that show the flip), rounds the bases at normal speed, then celebrates with his teammates at home; relief pitcher (Dyson) takes exception to flip (called it "bush league") and bitches out on the next hitter (DH - Encarnacion), benches clear
- next two batters (DH and 1B - Colabello) get singles, no one cares
- next batter is SS (Tulowitzki), pops out to end the inning. As he does this, relief pitcher comes by and pats him on the ass and says some shit to him. Benches clear again, nothing comes of it
And that's how a 53-minute inning (it felt longer) went. The game ended and the Jays won the game (6-3 was the final score) and the series, one in which they were down 0-2 them came back and won the last three games. A little later I was watching the highlights and went to the MLB network and even the commentators there (the US guys) couldn't believe what just happened. Un-fucking-real inning and not just for the fans of the teams (I can't imagine how shitty the Rangers' fans feel). Karma is an evil, super-vindictive bitch and she shows up in full Jays' gear that night....WOW.
And it's not just great for us fans of the team that they won but you just don't want any series to end on a play like that. I'm willing to bet they take a long look at that in the off-season and make a determination if they should change anything. If that game ended like that Toronto would still be burning....
Top of the 7th - Game tied 2-2
- Odor (no, he doesn't stink, he was a thorn in the side of the Jays all series) gets on base. With two outs, he gets to third
- Choo comes up to bat, count gets to 2-2
- after the 2-2 pitch, Martin (catcher) throws the ball back to the pitcher.....except it hits the bat of Choo on the way and rolls out towards third like a bunt
- while the ball is rolling, the home plate ump calls the play dead (waved his arms, basically like a time out)
- Odor doesn't care, still runs home since, technically, a ball thrown back to the pitcher is live (let's ignore the fact it hit the bat for now)
- umps tell Odor to go back to third since the play was called dead; Bannister (Rangers' manager) complains
- umps get together, discuss it, then decide to award Odor home
- Gibbons (Jays' manager) comes out and protests; umps, not wanting to decide on a play like that which may decide the series, go to New York (replay head office) to make the call
- New York upholds the reversal of the call, award the Rangers the run, they take the lead 3-2
- fans quite literally have a cow, start throwing shit on the field (a baby got sprayed with beer; I don't condone this shit regardless of how pissed you are); 18 minute delay to clean it all up, Jays players, as pissed as they were as well, beg fans to stop
- after what was about a 30 minute delay, Sanchez in two more pitches strikes out Choo to end the inning (so run wouldn't have counted if not for the crazy play)
Bottom of the 7th - Rangers lead 3-2
- first batter is C (Martin), hits a weak grounder up the middle; Andrus (SS) boots it on a little weird hop at the end, error to SS, safe at first
- next batter is CF (Pillar), hits a well-hit grounder to Moreland (1B); as he's about to throw it, Martin moves a little to his left, forcing him in to a more difficult throw and 1B makes an error by throwing it into the ground (actually luck it hit the SS's leg or it woulda gone out into left field); another error, men on 1st and 2nd, no one out. prior to at bat, backup 1B (Smoak) comes out to on-deck circle to pinch hit for the following batter
- before being called into the game, backup 1B goes back and SS (Goins) bats for self since it's an obvious bunting situation; backup CF (Pompey) comes in to pinch run for C; SS bunts it, 3B (Beltre) gets to it fast and tosses it to the SS who drops the ball and makes his second error in the last 3 batters. Bases loaded, no one out
- next batter is LF (Revere), hits sharp grounder to 1B, goes home for the force out where backup CF takes the C (Giminez) out with a slide; manager complains, no one care
- next batter is 3B (MVP!), hits the slowest bloop flare in the history of baseball to 2B (Odor) who misjudges it. It falls in behind him off his glove, run scores to tie the game. It was such a crazy bloop that the 2B is still able to get the runner going from first to second (LF) because the runner had to go back to tag up
- next batter is RF (Jose), who smacks a long 3-run homer to put the Jays up 6-3. He watches the ball fly for 2 or 3 seconds then flips the bat in a "FUCK THAT, AIN'T NO WAY THE GAME WAS GONNA END ON THAT SHIT" way (seriously, look at the millions of little videos or pics or memes out there that show the flip), rounds the bases at normal speed, then celebrates with his teammates at home; relief pitcher (Dyson) takes exception to flip (called it "bush league") and bitches out on the next hitter (DH - Encarnacion), benches clear
- next two batters (DH and 1B - Colabello) get singles, no one cares
- next batter is SS (Tulowitzki), pops out to end the inning. As he does this, relief pitcher comes by and pats him on the ass and says some shit to him. Benches clear again, nothing comes of it
And that's how a 53-minute inning (it felt longer) went. The game ended and the Jays won the game (6-3 was the final score) and the series, one in which they were down 0-2 them came back and won the last three games. A little later I was watching the highlights and went to the MLB network and even the commentators there (the US guys) couldn't believe what just happened. Un-fucking-real inning and not just for the fans of the teams (I can't imagine how shitty the Rangers' fans feel). Karma is an evil, super-vindictive bitch and she shows up in full Jays' gear that night....WOW.
And it's not just great for us fans of the team that they won but you just don't want any series to end on a play like that. I'm willing to bet they take a long look at that in the off-season and make a determination if they should change anything. If that game ended like that Toronto would still be burning....
I was there on that fateful day, were you?
