1841

Matt Kemp just hit his 39th home run in the 7th. He bats third so there’s a chance he could come up in the 9th. He already has the 40 stolen bases so who knows. Frankly the other guys who have done it are tainted with steroid allegations so even if he doesn’t get the 40, it’s still quite an accomplishment.

1842

See you Saturday, trigger.

1843

Braves are out, wow.

So if I have this right, Phils will host Cards, Brewers will host the DBacks.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have 1st and 3rd, none out in the 9th, and they can’t score.

And the Rays have 1st and 2nd and one out, and they can’t score. If either of them lose tonight, those chances will haunt them.

1844

How big of a collapse is this for the Braves?

1845

HAPOMEEIRJDKLJELWKLEKJTJLWLLRE!!!

1846

On August 25th, the Cards were 10.5 behind the Braves for the wild card. Since then, they went 22-9 while the Braves went 10-20.

The O’s are down to their last out with a man on 2nd. The Yankees had 1st and 3rd with no out but a hard grounder down the line got the man on third tagged out, followed by a strikeout. These may have been some of the most entertaining games of the year.

Edit: And down to their last strike against Papelbon, the Orioles TIE THE GAME! Are you kidding!?!

1847

Holy hell. This is the best night of baseball this year.

1848

And the O’s win the game on a walkoff on a ball Crawford couldn’t come up with. Wow.

And now the Rays could, in the next 10 minutes, officially seal the deal and make the playoffs if they can put a run across in the bottom of the 12th. Cra. Zy. The stadium in Tampa is going nuts now as they’re seeing the news.

1849

It’s gone! Longoria wins the game in a walkoff HR! Bye bye Red Sox!!

1850

My hate for Fredi Gonzalez now rivals that of Herb Sendek.

1851

And Matt’s coming up for his final shot at the 40/40. And he strikes out. But he’s still better than those guys who did it since he’s been tested for steroids routinely and has passed his tests. He’s had an awesome year, a stupendous improvement from last year. Just incredible. And no matter what, at least he’ll be back next year. I just hope so much that they keep this team together. The pitching is fine, good enough to get to the playoffs. The hitting could be improved, yes, but the Dodgers and the D-backs have the exact same record since mid August. It was the biggest addition by subtraction I’ve ever seen. They got rid of Broxton, Uribe, and the old hitting coach and they’ve been really good ever since.

More will be known about the ownership on Oct. 12, when MLB’s request to have the bankruptcy court force the sale of the team will be heard. If in fact MLB will never sign a TV rights contract for Frank McCourt then the team will be sold eventually no matter what the divorce proceedings. I really hope the bankruptcy court does force the sale, so the city and the fans can move on, but who knows.

1852

What a crazy finish to the season. Both the teams that at one time had seemingly safe wildcard leads end up losing and the hot teams that chased them down get in. I’m guessing the opponents of the Rays and Cardinals are not really looking forward to seeing them.

Too bad, though, as I would have preferred at least one one game playoff, which is one of the best things in baseball. I’ve almost completely come around to the idea of expanded playoffs now that it looks like that is how it will be implemented, with the two wildcards from each league having one game to decide who goes to the divisional series.

1853

Of course within 3 minutes of me posting what I did, the Dodgers gave up yet another grand slam in the 9th inning. Troncoso has sucked for years, but I guess they wanted to give him one last chance before he leaves the team. Thanks a lot buddy.

1854

Welcome home to you too, Atlanta. Motherfuckers.

1855

Somebody linked Bill Simmons’ twitter for me just now.

http://twitter.com/#!/sportsguy33

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
Is it a bad sign when your team’s starter for the 163rd game of your season isn’t on your team 24 hours before that start?
10 hours ago

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
Guys I’d rather have starting Game 163 than Bruce Chen: 1) Pedro Martinez, 2) Denny Galehouse, 3) Kevin Costner, 4) Me.
10 hours ago

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
This isn’t fun. You can’t tell me this is fun.
3 hours ago

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
My God.
2 hours ago

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
…
1 hour ago

And my son just called, he’s a big Orioles fan. Hates the Red Sox… the entire AL East, in fact. He’s way more into baseball than I am and I couldn’t make out half of what he’s saying he’s so happy.

1856

Simmons will have a 20,000 word novella on Grantland tomorrow explaining why this collapse hurts Red Sox Nation more deeply than any other fanbase can possibly understand.

Then he’ll turn it into a book, and it’ll be a best-seller.

1857

LOL at the Sox.

1858

More feasting for the fucking parasites.

And fuck all the whiny douche bags laughing at the Sox who never once believed in their own team and only pile on after the fact.

1859

Not really. He’s kinda dropped that since they won the World Series twice.

1860

I see the Sox as the lesser of two evils between them and the Yankees, so I would rather of had them be in the playoffs instead. Also it’s not like the Giants didn’t suffer an epic collapse of their own. At least there is next year to look forward to. Going to be a lot of changes, a lot of new face and hopefully lots of young guys instead of a new cast of aging veterans.

Back to the Red Sox again. it’s funny how the Red Sox began the season in crisis mode and ended the season the same way. I remember the pundits bringing up all those stats how teams that start 0-7 or whatever didn’t make the playoffs and in the end it came true for the Red Sox.