Trevor Hoffman spewed a playoff berth for the second time in three days in a blown save far more tragic than the previous one. I actually feel sorry for him. And the final play of the season was as bizarre a play as I've seen in years, and topped a thrilling 13 inning game. The wild-card winning sacrifice fly involved three individuals at the plate. Would be Rockie scorer Matt Holliday, Padres catcher Michael Barrett and ump Tim McClelland. Each one acted in a mysterious way.
Holliday slid (slud?) head first into Barrett's foot, which blocked the plate. Holliday missed the plate completely, but Barrett dropped the ball, and it squirted out. Holliday lay dazed in the dirt without the slightest attempt to return to tag the plate. Actaully, though, this may have been a wise move, proving to the ump that he touched the plate. Or he could have been laying there too injured to care about a possible World Series victory. McClelland saw the ball squirt away, and in body language that is only used when both the tag isn't made and the runner misses the plate, McClelland did nothing, indicating that the play was still on. Barrett knew that Holliday missed the plate because he retrieved the ball and tagged Holliday. But McClelland signalled a weak, non-challant safe sign just before Barrett tagged him. Barrett let up in his effort as McClelland made his call. Why didn't McClelland make the call right away? And why didn't Barrett protest the blown call? Or at least tag Holliday vigorously in celebration of the out? After all, the season was on the line. Holliday was attended to by medical personnel as the rest of the team celebrated wildly, completely ignorant of Holliday's injury.
And by the way, TBS's coverage of the game was the weirdest, and least interesting I've ever seen. Who were those clowns in the booth and why were those guys so bizarre? Anyway, it should be a great set of playoff series.
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