Whew (wipes sweat from brow). Hot enough for you? Heart racing? Did you have to change undies (don’t worry, I won’t tell)? Allow me to paint a mental picture for you. It’s the top of the ninth inning, as your team clings to a 3-2 lead, and your normally rock-solid closer has loaded the bases with just a single out to his credit. To add to that, you have the best hitter in the American League stepping to the plate, looking to wipe away the happy memories of last night’s no-hit emotional rollercoaster. Do you a) fold under pressure and go home to cry about it; b) give it a whirl and hope for the best; or c) pick your pitcher up and take care of business with a highlight-reel-inspired, around-the-clock, 5-4-3 double play? Baseball fans that watched the Tampa Bay Rays tame the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night know that the Bay-area boys didn’t have options “a” or “b” in their test booklets, so “c” was just the natural choice.
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2010.