{"id":1960,"date":"2011-05-27T16:54:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T20:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=1960"},"modified":"2011-05-27T17:02:03","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T21:02:03","slug":"one-for-the-history-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=1960","title":{"rendered":"19 Innings We May Never Forget"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had surgery on my ruptured Achilles’ tendon at the end of March, so I missed about of month of work.\u00a0 I ended up back at work right at one of our busiest times, so I have been digging out of the absence for a couple weeks now and just was not back into the BSB mindset…and, then it<\/em> happened.\u00a0 And, to steal a line from just about every baseball writer who ever lived (and the title of a fantastic book<\/a>\u00a0by the perpetually likeable Tim Kurkjian), Is This a Great Game of What?<\/p>\n

\"\"

In baseball, you never know what will happen, when it will happen, and who will be involved...and that is why we love it!<\/p><\/div>\n

Baseball.\u00a0 There is no other sport like it.\u00a0 Its rich statistical and anecdotal history beautifully colors its fascinating present adding layers of intrigue and complexity to every game, every inning, and every at-bat from April to October.\u00a0 Don’t miss a game or you just might miss something that you will never forget.<\/p>\n

And, that was Wednesday night.\u00a0 A seemingly benign regular-season game in the middle of a 4-game series sitting with still over 100 games left until any legitimate talk of the postseason suddenly and without warning became a moment that will live on with us for, well, forever.<\/p>\n

Wednesday night is why baseball is great.\u00a0 Every night is a stage on which there is the potential for something that will last in our minds forever.\u00a0 And, we never know when, where, or how it will play out.\u00a0 And, even more intriguing, we never know who will play the defining roles.\u00a0 So, let us take a moment to honor those that gave us that incredible Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Wilson Valdez<\/em>
\nIf we are talking memorable moments, there is nowhere else to start but with Wilson Valdez.\u00a0 Prior to Wednesday, Valdez was known (and mostly beloved) by Phillies fans as the 32-year old utility guy who stepped in amidst injuries to play over 150 games for the Phils since the beginning of 2010.\u00a0 I never jumped on the Valdez love train because I always saw him as a AAAA player that we were unfortunately stuck using.\u00a0 But, everyone’s view of Valdez changed in the 19th inning on Wednesday when he took the mound, threw some <\/em>strikes, hit\u00a090 on the gun (even shook off Dane Sardinha as if he had a whole array of pitches from which to choose), and got through a hitless, scoreless inning that included facing the reigning NL MVP, one of the best hitters (and biggest wusses) of a generation, and arguably the league’s hottest hitter.\u00a0 After the game, the DelCo Times beat reporter, Ryan Lawrence, asked him (tongue-in-cheek, presumably) how many pitches he had, and Valdez replied, dead serious, something to the effect of “I’m not sure, I haven’t counted them.”\u00a0 My favorite part, other than him shaking off the catcher, was the array of various camera shots of Valdez in the dugout in the bottom of the 19th with a serious look on his face and an icepack on his arm, like a starting pitcher, trying to make sure he has enough left for the 8th inning.\u00a0 My other favorite part was Valdez becoming the first guy since Babe Ruth to get the win in a game he started as a position player.\u00a0 Any sentence with “Wilson Valdez became the first player since Babe Ruth to _____” is a great sentence – and why baseball is so fantastic.<\/p>\n

Ryan Howard
\n<\/em>Howard’s 10th inning home run to tie the game and keep it going (a blown save by Reds closer Francisco Cordero that cost his team the game and his bullpen-mates NINE MORE INNINGS) seemed like just an exciting clutch hit.\u00a0 But, in the end, it opened the door for memories.\u00a0 But, Howard has plenty of nights to shine.\u00a0 This night was for the little guys.<\/p>\n

Danys Baez<\/em>
\nNot exactly the greatest Phillie to ever wear pinstripes, Danys Baez was probably on his way to the waiver wire and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs when he inevitably clears waivers.\u00a0 And, he was left as the last man in the bullpen and took the proverbial “one for the team.”\u00a0 Baez, a short reliever his whole career, threw SEVENTY-THREE pitches over 5 one-hit, scoreless innings against one of the best offenses in baseball.\u00a0 In fact, the whole bullpen combined for this line:\u00a0 12.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 10 K.\u00a0 Oh, and that does include Wilson Valdez…<\/p>\n

Carlos Ruiz
\n<\/em>On May 8, the Phillies placed catcher Carlos Ruiz on the disabled list with an inflammation in his lower back.\u00a0 On Wednesday – 17 days later – Ruiz crouched down and received 298 pitches over the course of his 18 innings.\u00a0 Now, I don’t know if any of you have ever caught – or even gotten into the catcher’s position – but, to put it bluntly,\u00a0it sucks.\u00a0 It is painful just about everywhere, but particularly your knees and your back.\u00a0 And, after these 18 innings behind the dish, what did Chooch do?\u00a0 Well, since the nine remaining Phillies in the game included backup catcher Dane Sardinha, Chooch grabbed a tiny little infielder’s glove and made his way to his new position – third base – for the 19th innings, as his good buddy (the starting secondbaseman) took the mound for his first ever pitching appearance in a game with an umpire.\u00a0 The first pitch that Valdez threw to NL MVP Joey Votto was a foul pop up down the thirdbase line.\u00a0 All you see as the cameras scroll to the ball is the back of the #51 jersey as Ruiz is high-tailing after the popup.\u00a0 He even dove into the stands, like a graceful infielder, as the ball landed harmlessly three rows deep.\u00a0 This is the stuff this new era Phillies team is built on.\u00a0 And, it is amazing.<\/p>\n

Brandon Phillips (via Jimmy Rollins)
\n<\/em>Gotta give a shoutout here to one of the most underrated players of our generation, who doesn’t get enough positive attention paid to his ability and production and doesn’t get enough negative attention paid to the lackluster effort with which he seems to approach the game (maybe on is the reason for the other…).\u00a0 In the 11th inning, four Reds hitters, in succession, went HBP-walk-walk-walk, and yet they did not score because Phillips was picked off second base by J.C. Romero.\u00a0 In an unconfirmed observation, many people think that Jimmy Rollins (who is friends with Phillips off the field) knew the pickoff play was on and started talking to Phillips right before Romero wheeled and fired.\u00a0 You can definitely see Phillips turn toward Rollins (away from the base) just as Romero is turning – and Phillips is out by a mile.\u00a0 Pure Jimmy, pure awesomeness.<\/p>\n

Scott Frantzke
\n<\/em>And, finally, I have to give one small bit of recognition to Phillies play-by-play guy Scott Frantzke, who was spectacular (as always) over the entire 19 innings.\u00a0 Frantzke has such a natural ease to him when calling a game.\u00a0 He seems to just intuitively know when to be serious and when to add levity, when to be brief to let the pictures tell the story and when to be detailed and thorough, and particularly, when to elicit a listener’s emotions and when to elicit his intellect.\u00a0 He really shined during those 19 innings.\u00a0 He appreciated the moment without trying to be a part of it whatsoever.\u00a0 He made all of us that were still awake in the wee hours of the morning on a “school night” feel glad that we fought off the yawns to witness history on this random Wednesday in May.<\/p>\n

And, that is what it was – history.\u00a0 That is what we saw that night – the kind of history that forges memories.\u00a0 And, in the end, the only thing that truly lives forever is our collection of memories.\u00a0 Well, friends, we added one this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had surgery on my ruptured Achilles’ tendon at the end of March, so I missed about of month of work.\u00a0 I ended up back at work right at one of our busiest times, so I have been digging out … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[377,30,1214,16,695,309,218,1043],"class_list":["post-1960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-carlos-ruiz","tag-chase-utley","tag-danny-baez","tag-phillies","tag-reds","tag-roy-halladay","tag-ryan-howard","tag-wilson-valdez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1960"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1963,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960\/revisions\/1963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}