September 30, 2005 [LINK]
Oh, what a night!
There were four games with critical playoff implications tonight, and all four of them were genuine humdingers. The highest-tension matchup was in Boston, where the home team capitalized on Yankee miscues to score three runs in the sixth inning, going on to win, 5-3. The AL East is now tied again. Blood feud? Well, at least no one was ejected from the game tonight. Tomorrow: Randy Johnson versus knuckeballer Tim Wakefield; Yanks by two. 
In Washington, Livan Hernandez struggled against the Phillies and was perhaps fortunate that they did not score more than four runs. Meanwhile, the Nationals' offense once again let multiple run-scoring opportunities slip by, and they lost another one-run game, 4-3. 
In Houston, the Astros took a 3-2 lead scoring two runs in the eighth, but then the Cubs came back with two in the ninth, thereby reducing the Astros' lead in the NL wild card race to one game. Finally, in Cleveland, there was a classic pitchers' duel. The Indians tied the game 1-1 in the ninth, and it went to the thirteenth inning, when the White Sox scored two, but the Indians could only score one in the bottom of the inning, falling a game behind the Yankees and Indians in the AL wild card race. Home field advantage?
Camden Yards, and more...
There is a new diagram on the Camden Yards page, at long last showing the outfield dimensions as they have been for every year except for 2001. As is my custom, during October I will concentrate on updating the diagrams of stadiums of those teams that are playing in the postseason. On deck: Turner Field!
Speaking of the perennial NL East champions, my brother Chris, a Braves fan since their days in Milwaukee, has some observations about a former Braves' pitcher:
Now this has to be a rarity in the baseball annals: Tom Glavine, en route last night to his 2nd complete game in 3 starts (the other was an 8 inning stint), hit safely (twice) as many times as he allowed hits. He also scored and had more RBI (1 each) than he allowed. He notched his 275th win, and is the 30th pitcher in MLB history to reach that plateau. He'd be near 290 wins if not for the ... Mets' offense and relief crew! ESPN highlights also showed him snagging a line drive hit right back to him, which he then tossed to 1st base for a double play. Talk about a legitimate triple threat!