General Sports Water Cooler

Yes.

when do people plan on sleeping?

Phone is about to die, guess I just lie here for a while until I fall asleep. Might be another 30 min at least

LOL, sorry Keegz

In my defense, the Rays game was 7-0 at the start of the movie and even you said, "The game isn't over, but it might as well be"

Seriously. It took me almost an hour to calm down enough to the point where I felt like I had a legit shot of going to sleep.

Yeah- working on 3 hours sleep right now. So far, so good.

Nice piece from Howard Bryant.

Then it started raining in Baltimore, and an amazing night of baseball began to take shape. The Red Sox went into the clubhouse, watched the Doppler unconcerned because entering the eighth inning the Rays had two (two!) hits, and as they watched Luis Ayala walk in the first Rays run, then hit Sean Rodriguez for the second, 7-2.

Then, while it rained in Baltimore and the Red Sox watched, B.J. Upton singled to make it 7-3 and Longoria hit a three-run homer.

That made it 7-6. The Red Sox watched the comeback. And then it stopped raining in Baltimore.

"I was just thinking it was my last at-bat of the season," Longoria said.

In the bottom of the ninth with no one on and two out, Maddon sent Dan Johnson to the plate. Johnson has played 993 games in the minor leagues. "Who's counting," he would say later, after being doused with champagne. He was hitting .108. He hadn't had a hit since April 27.

But Johnson has a knack for magic, like that time three years ago in September when he was called up and faced Papelbon in Boston and homered. Here, one strike away from vacation against Corey Wade, Johnson ripped a line-drive over the right-field wall for a home run.

"It was a rerun of 2008," Longoria said. "There's no specific explanation."

Watch the clock. It is the 12th inning in St. Petersburg, the ninth in Baltimore. Almost simultaneously Big Money was about to win out again. The Red Sox were an inning away from a flight to Texas. Gomes gave up a single to Greg Golson. McGee replaces him and gives up another to Eric Chavez. Runners at the corners, none out.

Then Golson was caught off third by Longoria on Jorge Posada's grounder. Chris Dickerson struck out and Brett Gardner grounded out, setting the stage for the bottom of the 12th.

In Baltimore, Papelbon, breathing fire and purpose, struck out Adam Jones and then Mark Reynolds, who had no chance. In the press box at Tropicana Field, Orioles-Red Sox is on the television and the two games are synched nearly perfectly, pitchers moving into their windups in tandem. With two out, Papelbon gives up a double to Chris Davis. One strike away from victory, he then gives up a run-scoring double to Nolan Reimold. Tie game in Baltimore.

In St. Pete, Upton steps in to hit against Scott Proctor. Then he steps out because the crowd is roaring over Reimold's double. Then he struck out.

Longoria was next, and he stepped out twice because the crowd was reacting to the Andino's game-winner in Baltimore, a base hit to left that finishes Boston. The Red Sox players walk into the visitor's clubhouse at Camden Yards just in time to see Longoria take Proctor's 2-2 pitch over the short fence in left.

It was over. In the span of two minutes, 1,000 miles away, what couldn't be settled for 161 games was settled. The Red Sox were one strike away from the playoffs; the Rays one from extinction. All was reversed. Even in the clubhouse, professionals who have seen it all, stood and stared at each other because they had never seen this, a virtual split-screened pennant race.

It felt unnatural, the season ending on a Wednesday instead of Sunday. Without that quirk of scheduling the nation would have been divided on Sunday, people each watching their particular thing - football, golf, NASCAR etc. and going on with their business. Instead the entire country saw baseball and was invested in one way or another. It really can be the best sporting drama ever

This night of baseball needs a nickname, so we can easily refer to it for the next 20 years...something that conveys the midnight 9/28 hand of God reaching down into the chests of all Red Sox fans and ripping their hearts out, arteries and veins dangling and dripping blood. Have at it guys...

Of all days, why did the power company have to shut off my electricity yesterday?

Didn't realize the bill hadn't been paid nor that the power had been shut off till I got home at 9:30 last night. Damn roomates.

Another strong read on last night.

I went to bed around 11:50 last night but i sleep with the tv on espn. Unfortunately my vision is about 20/800 so I couldn't see what was going on, only hear it. I thought I was dreaming because none of it made sense.

There's no doubt in my mind that every other ballpark except Miami would be full