MLB Walk-Off Stories: One Crazy Night in Baseball

[Applause] mike check one two three four five you know there are more than 700 000 pitches in a major league baseball season there's always another pitch there's always another game there's always another chance except tonight tonight's completely different tonight is about nothing like the first 161 or about tonight is about game 162. that one is really deep to left field [Music] [Applause] [Music] season 301 grounded up the middle off the glove of the pitcher meyers this is going to be an infield hit and then you couldn't ask for a better start this was like a solar eclipse to have all of these teams at once on one night in one spot playing for these kinds of stakes [Applause] blocks the plate beautifully there it goes both wild card races tied up both coming down for the final day it was an absolutely crazy epic surreal moment for all of us you think about all the things that came together on that day you know you took in the whole day and you just go sheesh really pretty cool two leagues two wild card ties six months of baseball and it comes down to one night in the american league who's left to pitch for the red sox and what should joe girardi do with his yankees against the rays in the national league the braves are sinking and in houston are the cardinals short-handed again it just so happened that because of the way that the structure of the playoffs were it ended up giving us this one day where there are a million moving pieces going all at the same time we have a tie between the braves and the cardinals to clinch a lone wild card playoff spot each team needs to win and have the other lose some crazy situations in the american league with tampa bay and boston both teams need to win and have the other lose to get into the playoffs it always interested me that you can have 162 game season and then come down to the last game it's part of the beauty and nuance of baseball a perfect setup let's take a look now at how the wild card wednesday came about it's time to play ball batter up tampa bay devil rays well camp today i mean there's no history no tradition no nothing it's the worst ballpark in the big leagues they're basically television programming for the retirement community in florida the czech swing on 3-0 grounded to the pitcher who throws wild past mcgriff it was uh you know kind of embarrassing [Applause] wildly unsuccessful i think the best way to sum them up is that in 2005 they won 70 games for the first time in their history and did a champagne toast to celebrate that so we had to think about things differently joe madden was the perfect fit you know for tampa bay at that time and making sure that everybody is comfortable in their own skin you know that's joe's biggest thing we didn't have a dress code and he said if you think you look sexy then wear it he kind of came to the ballpark with the same mentality every day basically anything was possible andrew he was really good about going out and acquiring guys that weren't big money guys but you know somehow always made an impact [Applause] in the air the right field struck well back goes kante towards the bullpen dan johnson welcomes himself to the big leagues with the raise and ties the game four to four in the night me and rocco baldelli were standing in an elevator and some of the boston fans were in the um elevator one of the guys in the elevator goes is that dan johnson dan johnson johnson and he pointed at me and then so rocco obviously lost it i lost it in the rocco he went and made t-shirts and had them all printed out for the team and from that time on it it kind of stuck to left field at the wall that ball is going to be off the wall elsewhere [Applause] the boston herald had a front page proclaiming this team as the best team ever for four months that summer the red sox played the best baseball in the major leagues i think they were 39 games over 500. we were all kind of just riding the wave and it was super successful but as september continued i think our pitching got tired our bullpen was was taxed [Music] it down the right field it's a fair ball primal is going to try and score he will second blown save for pamplebond [Music] i thought no way anybody catches the red sox ground ball back to johnson he throws to first and the ball game is over the baltimore orioles come into fenway park and they take three out of four games from the red sox and it was amazing how much it changed in two weeks again the 3-2 delivery jones and there is still a tie in the wild card the wild card to the american league dead even 1971 the rays and the red sox i grew up a braze fan and you know loving chipper and glavin and smolty and you know javi and everybody i somehow made it to the big leagues and then of all teams that get traded to get traded to atlanta [Applause] swing and a higher the braves were sort of a surprise story they had chipper jones kind of making his last hurrah and then they got these unexpected contributions from all of these gifted rookies freddie freeman at first base craig kimbrell coming out of the bullpen they were a young exciting team that maybe played a little bit over their head in september some of that weight on those rookies may have manifested itself because that lead started to dwindle then next thing you know the the ball just kept rolling in the other direction from us kimbo ready not running [Applause] as a cardinal by the time i got here in 2003 every year coming into spring training our expectation was to win so coming into 2011 was nothing different but we had a real bit of adversity early in our camp when adam wainwright he developed some elbow discomfort turned on having surgery we lost him high throw and bottle comes down on the fools had his worst season as a cardinal this is a really difficult year for the team but the most unusual one that i forget about most time is the shingles i felt something in in arizona i just thought i had some kind of discomfort he was a mess i mean like he had things on his face and i didn't realize how much pain that was caused but there was points for you i mean he could not get out of his office the whole side of my face was all ugly colors and and scabby looking and kids start screaming and crying man it was scary i know after that happened everybody in the clubhouse was worried about shingles they're out of it september 1st no one thinks they have a shot we had a team meeting and spoke up and we were just like screw it let's go out and and take one day play like we can play we're a good team and just see what happens so we won the series and we knocked three games off then we felt that we had a real shot for all intents and purposes the playoffs have begun they begun they've already started here we are in game number 162 and the red sox need a win so much at stake for the tampa bay rays if the rays win and the orioles beat the red sox and the razer enters the wild card if the rays win and the red sox win there's a one game playoff tomorrow to see who is the wild card red sox and rays braze and cardinals this is baseball history oh it's awesome very frank kona says this is great for baseball but it sure isn't good for my stomach my name is uh john hamm and i'm a st louis cardinals fan [Music] suffered through the indignities of the cardinals in the 70s and then in 1982 that team went to the world series and i never thought that would happen in my life and got to go to game one and game seven to the [Applause] fighter there's obviously more important life moments than your team winning something because you won what your team won but that's how we identify what it becomes very personal it becomes very real here it is it could be all in the line for the saint louis cardinals as they take on the astros here in minute may part the final game of the 2011 season for houston it may or may not be for the cardinals for the very first time the last day of the year we are actually tied with atlanta i was hoping that they came down to me being able to get the ball and have a chance to dictate where we're going and what we were doing i enjoyed that pressure i enjoyed those situations i remember i was nervous you know you're in a position where your season's over or you get a chance to do some cool stuff the one-two curveballs hit hard to left and this is over the head of the left field of martinez and john jay will score rbi base hit for albert's one-nothing st louis [Applause] [Music] deep left [Music] [Applause] i was at work i remember sitting on the steps of my trailer away from my whole cast i'm in character i'm in costume i'm in hair and makeup my phone had it on the game day app because i remember watching a lot of games that way which is torture because you're watching pitches come in like a little animated thing of a pitch and it's either a strike or a ball it was hard to keep tabs but i do remember thinking like what's gonna happen schumacher running again [Applause] wow we were sure if we could win atlanta would win let's go to atlanta now phillies and braves vitally important for the braves to hang in there it's been a rough september for the atlanta ball club can't worry about that tonight you only worry about what you can do in a one-game must-win situation for atlanta let's see hudson can have an easy time now with utley we had a lot of respect for the braves two guys i liked a few guys i didn't i remember that i'd probably despise the mets a little bit more i think charlie mania would love nothing better than to try to knock atlanta out if charlie manuel was in the cardinals position and they needed the braves to lose to get the postseason he would want the other team to play his guys and not just full [Applause] inside ball four and the phillies have their first base runner you would want the other team to at least give their best and we did howard the opposite way that's going to drop for a base set it's going to head to the corner and pence might head on home he's already around third samwell's waving him home jack wilson's throw cut off by jeffrey jones and the phillies take the early lead if the atlanta braves were to lose that game in atlanta then this could potentially be a celebration there are times throughout that game where you're looking over your shoulder scoreboard watching i mean i think everybody was right we needed a lot of things to happen so we're looking around to make sure that we still had the chance the 2-2 swung out of this good curveball from carpenter one two three inning [Music] cardinals putting pressure on the braves both teams vying for the last nl playoff spot let's go back to the action in atlanta and now chipper bats with the tying run 90 feet away scored four runs in their last four games and are won for their last 19 with a man at second base or third base [Applause] [Music] there's the catch born tags the throw to the plate is going to [Music] [Applause] [Music] at that point in time i was always school board watching because every game meant something the greatest crash in the history of baseball is that going to be the story for boston well so far this month it's a mess here we are in game number 162 and the red sox need a win somewhat tense around the ballpark this afternoon kind of felt that way in the red sox clubhouse i think a little bit uptight about this ball game tonight if you're a baseball fan this is really something if you're the red sox manager or red sox fan it's not so good nothing more buck showalter would like to do than beat the red sox tonight nobody feels sorry for you in the big leagues they had beat up on us like a stepchild they had all the pieces they were all there and let's face it we had no business competing with them we fed off the david goliath you know the little engine that could we had to you know we had to figure out how are we going to do it from baltimore we go to saint petersburg the yankees and the rays of course the red sox and the rays are tied up after 161 games young david price is on the hill david price's you know david bryson was david price then and so we felt pretty confident going into the game and then looper in the center that's going to drop for a base hit granderson is aboard making the turn i approach that game the same as as every other every time i step on that mound you know i expect to pitch you know really well and uh and help our team win [Music] to talk with david price meanwhile the droid back up the middle into center field to base hit kabila's being waved around no throw in the red sox strike first on top one nothing let's go to saint petersburg right now again bases are loaded from mark to shara [Music] that ball's and the yankees get four with one swing of the bat from tashera what damn all right like what's boston doing you know and then boston was winning so i was like we got our work cut out for us you know what i remember about the last day of the 2011 season was that there were all of these crazy things that had to happen and they all had to happen at once if they lose and they win and they lose then this you know and there was so much time during that day where everything was in the air cole hamill's first career relief appearance the braves are getting base runners of plenty in the early innings but they've only scored once let's see if bugler can pick up prado two outs he talked about somebody that i really struggled against was cole i mean i think there's about a three year stretch to where i didn't get a hit off of him like seriously for me to hit a homer in that situation i just was like holy crap that just happened a two-run homer and the braves have their first lead of the night it's 3-1 atlanta after three the braves doing their best to avoid an epic collapse and sneak into the playoffs let's go to houston and see what the cardinals are doing there's a ground ball base hit for carpenter very hitterish like i said you got to get some offensive production out of carpenter everything stays as is the cardinals will play the braves tomorrow and how exciting will that game be in saint louis like i said six nothing cardinals beating up on the astros and leaving very little doubt that at the very least they'll be playing tomorrow well unless the philadelphia phillies have a rally in them baltimore's red sox looking to avoid the worst september collapse in baseball history now the red sox have not named a starter for the play-in game tomorrow if one is needed terry francona said they have about eight different scenarios depending on what happens tonight if it comes to that [Applause] [Music] [Applause] got so many games that means something in game 162 of the season both in the american league and the national league back to st petersburg yankees and rays down by five to sheriff it's a long one deep to left and jennings will watch it sail out to sheriff on a 1-0 pitch hits a fastball out of here a grand slam in the second and a solo shot in the fourth and that makes it six to nothing one hit by the rays one hit you're not gonna win getting one hit they have their eyes right now on the orioles please baltimore one down in the fifth for dustin pedroia here's a drive to left for pedroia rimel going back and that is out of the yard dustin petroya willing his way to the post season as the red sox take a 3-2 lead albedroyer again gets one of those high fast balls and has a home run swing on it this time he makes contact and takes it out of the ballpark i felt that we were gonna stumble into the playoffs but that we were definitely gonna make it welcome back to camden yards in baltimore 3-2 red sox on top of the orioles and as you can see they are pulling out the tarp here at camden yards the thunder showers were expected throughout the night and here they are the last thing the red sox really want right now and the red sox all go into their clubhouse and they're watching and listening to greg amsinger on mlb tonight saying is you're a fan of the red sox do me a favor next time you see a fan of the yankees just give them a hug say thank you i think that's an order after this seven nothing everything just spews out of me verbal diarrhea is always my best stuff of course keeping an eye on that situation there in tampa you know they they are desperate so they could rally at any point i'm joined now by dan shaughnessy from the boston globe i hate sweating on television and i knew this is this potential for you know albert brooks and broadcast news here just the flop sweats what do you think the odds are that the rays rally in this game i think the rays are not going to win tonight i think that the one thing that we have eliminated tonight is the red sox season is not going down tonight they live to play another day and i'm just dismissing the whole thing like heidi they are in they're in don't even discuss them not being in the worst thing that could happen you'd have to play that game in tampa tomorrow you got to hold on to this 3-2 lead tonight but the rays aren't going to come back from seven nothing with two inning and a half to go on we go from tropicana field we head into the bottom of the eighth new york took control early and they have maintained that control logan the latest new york pitcher i felt we were in a good spot i felt i did what was right for the game of baseball so i took a lot of my guys out seven nothing yankees derek jeter a spectator for the rest of the game it was not a game that we had to have the yankees they have that right their managers should be preparing their team for the playoffs and whatever that means to the teams that they're playing hang with them play better david with a little new burn that ball is going to fall for a base hit sobrist he lines one into the left and that one falls in [Applause] davis [Music] the most important part for us was setting up our relievers and our starters to be in a great spot going into the playoffs we had a seven to nothing lead they've been waiting for something to cheer about making some noise now and they're the ball four now the ray's gonna run as damon crosses the plate on the base and loaded walk at that point everybody when you got to the plate you were just trying to get the next guy up to the plate the one-two pitch and he's hit that's gonna force homer run we go into the rain delay and i think theo and ben sharington were in my office it's a little office in baltimore and the game's on and tampa's kind of creeping back and i'm like don't relax they're okay relax they're okay and kevin longoria will match it would be fun just for fun if he hit along with oh i guess i just felt let me just try and get aggressive and um attack this fastball early [Applause] little by little they weren't being okay [Music] [Applause] it went from oh my gosh this insurmountable lead we there's no way we can catch up to all of a sudden here we are we're one run down oh my oh my so what's going on in baltimore [Applause] look at all the fans in the concourse they're not leaving this that's the red sox nation oh yeah undercover and they're ready there they want to finish this thing it's kimbrell time folks he'll try to protect a 3-2 atlanta lead and a chance to play on tomorrow three outs to get he has not pitched in five days but for the year he's got good numbers against the phillies five for five in saves seven innings only one unearned run i was completely confident with kimbrough coming in i was like all right we're gonna lock this thing down live drive polanco into right field a lead-off single what was the words you used about the phillies relentless they just they're not gonna make it easy for you and then all of a sudden he gets a hit it's like man i can't let him get the second but what kind of pitch are they going to throw best pitch of the fastball he's throwing at 98. ball four and the bases are loaded i just definitely see kimbrough kind of kimbrell's giving up a single in two walks with one out in the ninth and now you've got to face huntley with the bases loaded one out kimberly was tough he was young and just kind of up and coming at that time and i mean he threw extremely hard chase is the last guy you want up in that situation with a guy on third fly toward left that's gonna be deep enough four tags going to come home and score it's a 3-3 game here in the 9th look at the fans in atlanta they're in shock so we'll keep you posted back to houston cardinals up big the latest from minuteman park the one-two from carpenter ground ball back to chris he's got it he flips to first and the cardinals that picked up a big win here in houston a shutout for chris carpenter 11 strikeouts on the night the cardinals know that they've done their part to win this ball game now it's up to atlanta we won our game we did our work we're waiting on somebody else we were not in control of our own destiny as they say that whole day we were shooting and everybody was on their phones trying to trying to find the scores and john slattery who plays roger sterling was good friend of mine is the boston guy and slattery's thinking he's got this made so uh while we have suspense in atlanta we've got a live cam shot from camden yards uh man the tarp is on and the rain looks like it's eased up a bit but it was coming down immensely they had a rain delay in baltimore and now all of a sudden the tampa game is lined up perfectly with the game in baltimore and the red sox had to watch that game it put so much more pressure on them to st pete this is where everyone should be watching corey wade is in the game to close things out for the yankees not mariano rivera on the bottom of the ninth hitting the yankees lead the race 7-6 cory wade has never had a save in the major leagues the bigger story in that moment was that mariano revere didn't close the game no disrespect to corey wade you know nobody is is mariana revere if it's a game that you have to have i probably use soriano rivera but it was not a game that we had to have i mean they're running out of time they know that the red sox are leading the orioles and everything's up in the air it's all going to be decided tonight we're down by one joe came over to me and said hey listen you're going to be about fifth next inning so go get loose so i went up into the cage and i'm stretching kind of getting loose watching the game on tv it was a school night at the time we had a six-year-old and a three-year-old and i was pregnant with our third child i mean we really kind of were expecting him to come home that next day major league record for pitchers in a nine-inning game is ten and the yankees have mad staff fly ball center field it's brett gardner who's in the game here in the ninth one out the kids were eating and i took them upstairs and gave them a bath and put them in bed a little tamper toward third chavez up with a throw to first is in time two up two down here in the bottom of the night for the raise all of a sudden the security guys standing at the door saying hey you're up and i was looking at him i was like no it's sam folds up i got i got two more batters and then i'm up sam fold is due up but they're calling him back and he's like hey you're up now and i was like for sure and i hear the announcer say dan's name and i sit up and i'm like what but dan johnson emerges from the dugout dan johnson is coming up for one reason and one reason only hit the ball out of the ballpark all of a sudden it was just like whoa here we go this is it season's on the line well ironically corey wade and dan johnson were teammates in durham weighed in camp this spring with a raise he was a great teammate just watching him day in day out pitch i mean he was nasty listen i watched this guy strike out a ton of guys and watch all these lefties have no success against him slipped the fastball honestly i'm just hoping that he puts it in play this is a heavy situation to come into and potentially either continue the season or end the season two outs down to their final out i remember feeling like oddly confident with him walking up to the plate and then with two strikes it totally dissipated and felt resigned to the fact that we were going to lose that game to the plate that takes it to two and two the only thing i could say is like i was going up there looking for a certain spot looking for something in until you got to two strikes and then that's when you get to the battle mode johnson does it again [Applause] [Music] oh my goodness incredible the race he did it he did it [Music] dan johnson [Applause] the red sox have a 3-2 lead and jerry you and i have just watched the tampa bay rays come from behind an amazing story tonight from tropicana field just an incredible comeback by the tampa bay rays i always felt like if we could just keep it close let's see what the baseball guides have in store for us and there's a lot of motion in the ballpark there's an uneasiness i could feel because there were so many red sox fans there it reminded me of the pain that they had inflicted on our organization and rightfully so we weren't very good in stock scenarios tonight with an hour and 28 minute brain delay reynolds holding on scooter at first base and then carl crawford the batter here's the 3-2 there [Applause] [Music] we were just trying to find ways to win games and it was becoming harder and harder let's get back to atlanta the braves must win to keep pace with the cardinals who have beaten the astros and are watching it all right now on tv from their clubhouse jennifer jones at the plate with the winning run on third another 3-2 [Applause] 5-center field and a great running catch by martinez every play was like we were playing for them everybody's like oh yeah oh no oh you know there's all these reactions every time something happened [Applause] and a ground ball through the right side by ugly schneider lost track of the baseball actually stops between second and third but scrambles in safely and he's 90 feet away brian schneider is on third who cannot run a lick so we need the ball to like touch the outfield grasp for schneider to score sorry brian pence breaks his bat loops it over the head of freeman atlas got it the phillies take the lead ugly goes to third it's an rvi for hunter pence he just cue balls one and no man's landing the phillies lead in atlanta now are you kidding me if the braves lose their season is over and the cardinals are going to the playoffs folks freddie freeman at the plate now with a time run on base tampa bay was down to their last strike in the night and got a homer to tie it they're still playing and the braves come up with a big hit in the 13th [Music] to first one to rollins throw to first and the philadelphia phillies have ended the brave season you guys went nuts beer and like out of control crazy it's just a total eruption nobody was having a bad day that day in st louis there's so much energy and you kind of can't believe it [Music] the rays and yankees are tied at seven in extra innings the red sox are clinging to a one-run lead in baltimore will the boston red sox be celebrating their clubhouse tonight bottom of the ninth inning 3-2 red sox on top of the orioles and jonathan papelbon in trying to finish it off here for the red sox in game number 162 on the season the bigger the atmosphere the better i was you know i was just like all right let's rock and roll [Music] [Applause] reynolds strikes out and there's two down in the ninth i love to show up every day going into somebody's city kicking their butt with a bunch of dudes two down in the ninth inning as chris davis is coming up i just remember him at young chris davis like just free swinger kind of man hooked to right this will get in and heads to the corner drew over to play it davis is thinking too the throw from drew cut off and thrown to second late and thrown away but avilas backs it up the orioles are still alive as soon as chris hit the ball down the corner there was a kind of a soft murmur around the ballpark like hmm what's going on here going rimmel coming up here for the orioles one for six against papa bond in his career if he can get the barrel to the ball he's got a chance to travel swing and a miss and it's two and two orioles down to their last strike you tried not to get on the edge of your seat and like get excited it's like okay slow down slow down just you know because you don't want to put the card ahead of the horse delivery right center field nobody's gonna catch it over [Applause] [Music] represents the winning run robert andino old for four in the game from the top spot in the orioles order if you look at his batting gloves and how he's twitching and whatever robertson's element here's the 1-1 delivery they did it they did it they did it the oreos and now they must wait and see what happens in tropicana field in saint pete write down the date september 28th and remember it remember where you were it's now september 29th here on the east coast it's after midnight the greatest day of baseball in my lifetime [Music] [Applause] the players of the rays were pointing at the scoreboard did you see that and even then even they are cheering the heck yeah wow this is incredible this is a moment where like you can't help but be excited [Applause] [Music] and moments after baltimore comes back to beat the red sox [Music] freaking out are you kidding me harold runs away and then he jumps like a kid harold runs away but he comes back he says shucks i remember looking at harold and going are you kidding me holy [Applause] this was the best baseball night ever it was teams overcoming insurmountable deficits and it was teams blowing huge leads this night was everything we love about sports carpenter strikes out his 11th batter [Applause] tonight [Music] [Applause] [Music] trust me everything in my soul wanted to win that game and i did everything i could to do it swinging strike three got him on a low fastball down and away it's amazing how one minute basically can change the fortunes or misfortunes of so many people but that day man to be a part of it is pretty cool do i wish i was on the better end of the stick hell yeah [Applause] most joy i've experienced on a baseball field probably ever believable [Music] what's beautiful about our game is what happens when it gets off script and we were way off script there here was this night where all of these different things had to happen for it to turn into this crazy night and they all did freeze hits it in the air to center we will see you tomorrow night [Music] is [Music] you

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Id: 3wS9u00vZO4

Length: 43min 48sec (2628 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020