Did the Damn Thing: Blue Jays and Rangers in a Seventh Inning for the Ages
Unpacking what happened in the seventh inning last night is not an easy task.
- It lasted almost an hour.
- It featured one of the most bizarre errors ever committed by a catcher.
- It featured routine plays not made.
- It featured what felt like 75 calls to New York.
- It featured rule checking, indicating maybe that no one actually knows what the rules of this insane game are.
- It featured a clean slide at home, though protested.
- It featured managerial yelling and pleading.
- It featured two bench clearings: one due to a player trying to calm the crowd down, the other due to a little too much grab ass.
- It featured the crowd getting angry and throwing things.
- It featured a baby getting hit by beer.
- It featured the crowd elated in joy.
- It featured one of the greatest homeruns in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays.
- And it featured, uncontested, the greatest bat flip in the history of bat flips.
MLB.com, sensing a chance to capture a moment, has put the entire seventh inning online. It's 53 minutes and 51 seconds.
Watch it and remember it. It's....something.
I'm so relieved that Russell Martin's bizarre error wasn't the deciding run in this contest. Not because the Rangers didn't somehow deserve to lose but because it would've been such a sour way to end the season. You can't start the season crying at your dad saxophoning the anthem in Montreal and end it having your return throw bounce off the batter's bat. That just doesn't work for me.
I've read the rule. It was posted everywhere. I admit Dale Scott and company did actually get the call right and overall navigated that inning pretty well considering the atmosphere. The issue I had was that Dale Scott waved his arms and verbally indicated the ball was dead after the ball bounced off Choo's bat and before Odor scored the run (he looked about halfway down the line, give or take a stride). So Donaldson, Martin and Sanchez were just standing there gawping. I'm not saying that anyone was going to make a play on that, but there wasn't even an effort to move because Dale Scott called the ball dead.
It was heads up on Odor's part, who was an annoying pest all series. Did it not seem that that kid was involved in every play that went the Rangers' way in this series?
Gibby protested quite vehemently. (I saw white Nicorette in Gibby's mouth in all the yelling. I'm really impressed he's stayed off tobacco during all this stress.)
This is what Dale Scott said post game. Again, I'll give him, as crew chief, a lot of credit for trying to get this right.
In the aftermath and confusion after the run counted, the fans got really, really ugly. Stuff was thrown on the field. The Jays were trying to get the crowd to calm down. There were rumours that a baby got hit with a beer can, but apparently just sprayed with beer.
I just want to say throwing stuff from the upper levels on to the field is never cool, particularly something that could hurt someone else, like a beer can. Especially a full beer can. Don't spray with booze. Don't dump beer on someone else's head when they aren't expecting it. Just no. Think about the people around you. Don't make Russell Martin's work space smell like a brewery. Does Russell Martin come to your office and throw beer all over your desk?
And I might just sound like history's greatest monster here, but I would never bring a baby to a playoff baseball game. It's insanely loud. There are a lot of people, many of whom are crazy and/or drunk. Things like getting beer sprayed on your baby is more likely to happen. I have tripped and been pushed in big crowds like that. I remember being a little kid in the early 90s and it feeling a little insane and overwhelming. It's the same reason I wouldn't bring a baby to a bar or a club. Too many variables.
Moving on from my victim blaming to the bottom half of the inning. The Rangers lost the ability to field the baseball. They had three errors on plays that were maybe just a little on the difficult side of routine. Then with two out, with two on, Sam Dyson played Dennis Eckersley to Jose Bautista's Roberto Alomar. A homerun that will live on in our hearts and minds for a long, long time.
Watch it and remember it. It's....something.
I'm so relieved that Russell Martin's bizarre error wasn't the deciding run in this contest. Not because the Rangers didn't somehow deserve to lose but because it would've been such a sour way to end the season. You can't start the season crying at your dad saxophoning the anthem in Montreal and end it having your return throw bounce off the batter's bat. That just doesn't work for me.
I've read the rule. It was posted everywhere. I admit Dale Scott and company did actually get the call right and overall navigated that inning pretty well considering the atmosphere. The issue I had was that Dale Scott waved his arms and verbally indicated the ball was dead after the ball bounced off Choo's bat and before Odor scored the run (he looked about halfway down the line, give or take a stride). So Donaldson, Martin and Sanchez were just standing there gawping. I'm not saying that anyone was going to make a play on that, but there wasn't even an effort to move because Dale Scott called the ball dead.
It was heads up on Odor's part, who was an annoying pest all series. Did it not seem that that kid was involved in every play that went the Rangers' way in this series?
Gibby protested quite vehemently. (I saw white Nicorette in Gibby's mouth in all the yelling. I'm really impressed he's stayed off tobacco during all this stress.)
This is what Dale Scott said post game. Again, I'll give him, as crew chief, a lot of credit for trying to get this right.
Dale Scott's view of the Russell Martin error: pic.twitter.com/d9NRqOOb9a
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) October 15, 2015
In the aftermath and confusion after the run counted, the fans got really, really ugly. Stuff was thrown on the field. The Jays were trying to get the crowd to calm down. There were rumours that a baby got hit with a beer can, but apparently just sprayed with beer.
I just want to say throwing stuff from the upper levels on to the field is never cool, particularly something that could hurt someone else, like a beer can. Especially a full beer can. Don't spray with booze. Don't dump beer on someone else's head when they aren't expecting it. Just no. Think about the people around you. Don't make Russell Martin's work space smell like a brewery. Does Russell Martin come to your office and throw beer all over your desk?
And I might just sound like history's greatest monster here, but I would never bring a baby to a playoff baseball game. It's insanely loud. There are a lot of people, many of whom are crazy and/or drunk. Things like getting beer sprayed on your baby is more likely to happen. I have tripped and been pushed in big crowds like that. I remember being a little kid in the early 90s and it feeling a little insane and overwhelming. It's the same reason I wouldn't bring a baby to a bar or a club. Too many variables.
Moving on from my victim blaming to the bottom half of the inning. The Rangers lost the ability to field the baseball. They had three errors on plays that were maybe just a little on the difficult side of routine. Then with two out, with two on, Sam Dyson played Dennis Eckersley to Jose Bautista's Roberto Alomar. A homerun that will live on in our hearts and minds for a long, long time.
This bat flip is amazing. It was cathartic. It was so beautiful, so of course, people bitched about it on Twitter.
I got into an epic discussion with some dude over Twitter who was trying to tell me that Bautista is seen as classless by players around the league. That baseball doesn't like him. Which annoyed me because this is one of the most beautiful moments in Jays' history. Also, Bautista is one of the best players in the league, why should he care what the other players think?
Sam Dyson had some issues with it post game.
The Rangers reliever who gave up Jose Bautista's monster HR wasn't happy with that bat flip. http://t.co/6hrP0IFnuS pic.twitter.com/6N5ezH0kqj
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 15, 2015
Sam has a sad, guys. There was also some talk about whether Bautista was going to get one in the ribs next season for that, but I sense he'll get over it.
Follow-up question: will the Rangers still be piss soaked or will their pants have dried? https://t.co/qVlildahlW
— Drew Fairservice (@DrewGROF) October 15, 2015
Drew Fairservice, guys.
The crowd, of course, went bananas. Edwin Encarnacion, who was next up, looked out over the crowd and put his hands up trying to calm people down. To get them to stop throwing things on the field. Sam Dyson, possibly because he's terrible, took offense to that and told Encarnacion off. Benches cleared.
Encarnacion had homered earlier in the game, with a beautiful drive and bat flip of his own that I have to pay homage to.
Order was restored until Dyson popped Tulowitzki up for the final out of the inning. For whatever idiotic reason, Dyson, coming off the mound, went directly to Tulowitzki and tapped his behind. Because emotions are frayed, Tulowitzki was not in the mood for any sort of grab ass and benches cleared again.
Mark Buehrle was the only ejection, apparently because he went on the field and isn't on the roster. It appeared in the video that he was trying to keep those vital to winning the game in the game, so he got right into the centre of it all. Sure enough, here's a picture of Papa being a good Papa:
Ryan Goins came up and was hugging Tulo from behind, taking him away from the centre. Navarro, also, was trying to calm the crowd and Bautista down in the first melee.
Rangers' manager Jeff Banister got some fans ejected. The Rangers looked completely dejected. And the most insane seventh inning came to an end.