Red Sox pitchers who clinched a post season Series: From Dinneen to Papelbon

When doing my salute to Jed Lowrie, I made a note that of the 16 post season series won by the Red Sox, three ended on an offensive walk off play by the Red Sox.

Larry Gardner hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of Game 8 to end the 1912 World Series.
David Ortiz hit a walk off 2 run homer in the 10th of Game 3 to clinch the 2004 Division Series.
And Jed Lowrie slapped a series ending single in Game 4 of the 2008 Division Series.

But in double checking that fact, I reviewed the end of each series the Sox won and saw the names of each pitcher who threw the last pitch to clinch a post season series for Boston.

Some were names forgotten by all but the most studious baseball historian.
One is one of the biggest names in Red Sox history.

Two of the great clutch relievers in Boston history are on the list.
And two relievers usually associated with blowing games had a moment of glory on the mound.

Those of you who know me know I am mildly obsessed with the pitchers who are on the mound when a series ends.

And in case any other Red Sox fan is out there wondering "Who are all the pitchers to clinch a post season series for my team?" consider your question answered.

Here are the pitchers, the game they pitched, and how was the last out recorded.


BILL DINNEEN
1903 World Series – Game 8
Red Sox 3, Pirates 0

October 13, 1903
At Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston.

Complete Game 4 hit shutout.
LAST OUT: Strikeout of Honus Wagner.




RUBE FOSTER
1915 World Series - Game 5
Red Sox 5, Phillies 4

October 13, 1915
At Baker Bowl, Philadelphia.

Complete Game victory.
LAST OUT: Pinch hitter Bill Killefer grounds out to shortstop Everett Scott who throws to first baseman Del Gainer for the out.



ERINIE SHORE
1916 World Series - Game 5
Red Sox 4, Robins (Dodgers) 1

October 12, 1916
At Braves Field, Boston.

Complete Game victory with no earned runs.
LAST OUT: Brooklyn third baseman Mike Mowrey popped up to shortstop Everett Scott.



CARL MAYS
1918 World Series - Game 5
Red Sox 2, Cubs 1

September 11, 1918
At Fenway Park, Boston.

Complete Game victory.
LAST OUT: Cubs left fielder Les Mann hit a grounder to second baseman Dave Shean who threw to first baseman Stuffy McInnes for the out.



DICK DRAGO
1975 American League Championship Series - Game 3
Red Sox 5, A's 3

October 7, 1975
At Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

1 2/3 innings to save the game for winner Rick Wise.
LAST OUT: Pinch hitter Jim Holt grounded to second baseman Denny Doyle who threw to first baseman Cecil Cooper for the out.



CALVIN SCHIRALDI
1985 American League Championship Series - Game 7
Red Sox 8, Angels 1

October 15, 1986
At Fenway Park, Boston

2 innings to save the game for winner Roger Clemens.
LAST OUT: Three pitch strike out of pinch hitter Jerry Narron.




PEDRO MARTINEZ
1999 American League Division Series - Game 5
Red Sox 12, Indians 8

October 11, 1999
At Jacobs Field, Cleveland.

Out of the bullpen for 6 no hit innings in relief of starter Bret Saberhagen and reliever Derek Lowe.
LAST OUT: Strikeout of Omar Vizquel.


DEREK LOWE
2003 American League Division Series - Game 5
Red Sox 4, A's 3

October 6, 2003
At Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland.

1 inning of relief to save the game for winner Pedro Martinez.
LAST OUT: Called third strike of pinch hitter Terrence Long.




ALAN EMBREE
2004 American League Championship Series - Game 7
Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

October 20, 2004
At Yankee Stadium, New York.

1/3 of an inning of relief for winner Derek Lowe and relievers Pedro Martinez and Mike Timlin.
LAST OUT: Pinch hitter Ruben Sierra grounded to second baseman Pokey Reese who threw to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz for the out.


KEITH FOULKE
2004 World Series - Game 4.
Red Sox 3, Cardinals 0

October 27, 2004
At Busch Stadium, St. Louis

1 inning of relief to save the game for winner Derek Lowe.
LAST OUT: St. Louis shortstop Edgar Renteria grounded back to Foulke who threw to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz for the out.


ERIC GAGNE
2007 American League Division Series - Game 3
Red Sox 9, Angels 1

October 7, 2007
Angel Stadium, Anaheim

1 inning of relief for winner Curt Schilling
LAST OUT: Pinch hitter Robb Quinlan flies out to right fielder J. D. Drew.


JONATHAN PAPELBON
2007 American League Championship Series - Game 7
Red Sox 11, Indians 2

October 21, 2007
Fenway Park, Boston
2 innings of relief to save the game for starter Daisuke Matsuzaka
LAST OUT: Casey Blake hits a long drive to centerfield where Coco Crisp crashes into the wall for the catch

2007 World Series - Game 4
Red Sox 4, Rockies 3

October 28, 2007
Coors Field, Denver
1 2/3 innings relief to save the game for starter Jon Lester.
LAST OUT: Strikeout of pinch hitter Seth Smith.



So there you have it.
Papelbon is the only one to have done it twice. And I am sure Calvin Schiraldi and Eric Gagne are honored to be on a list with Pedro Martinez.

I love that Pedro relieved Lowe in 1999...
Lowe saved Pedro's clincher in 2003...
And Pedro came out of the bullpen to relieve Lowe in 2004.

There is a nice circle of life there.

And I'm glad to see solid veterans like Dick Drago and Alan Embree here.

All of them deserve Red Sox fan's respect (yes even Calvin and Gagne.)

Hopefully I can add to this list soon.

Until then, enjoy 2007 again.

I'm glad that Ortiz will be with the Red Sox for 10 years

David Ortiz will be the DH for the Boston Red Sox in 2012.
At least there will be THAT stability and reminder of the championship seasons.

And he'll be a member of the Red Sox for at least part of 10 seasons.
It's a nice round number and a lot of great Red Sox players recently never got to 10.

Mo Vaughn lasted 8 seasons in Boston.
Pedro Martinez was with the Red Sox for 7 seasons.
Nomar Garciaparra was traded during his 9th season.
Manny Ramirez was dealt in the middle of his 8th.
Jonathan Papelbon gave the Red Sox 7 seasons.
Derek Lowe pitched all of or part of 8 seasons.

10 is nice.
Nice round number.
And with Varitek and Wakefield not guaranteed to come back, Ortiz could become the longest tenured Red Sox player.

And hey, he's still kind of productive if not all pumped up the way he used to be.

Flaws and all, I will always love Big Papi.
Glad it has been a decade.

TITO!!! CALL ST. LOUIS NOW!!!

The World Champion St. Louis Cardinals have a job opening!
Their Hall of Fame manager is leaving on top.
They have the foundation of a great team being left behind.

They can hand the reigns of the team over to a coach like Jose Oquendo or Dave McKay or Joe Pettini.

Maybe long time pitching coach guru Dave Duncan can manage the team.

Or 800 pound gorilla Mark McGwire.

OR they can insert a respected manager who happened to have a bad month.
Someone with two World Series titles of his own... including one at the expense of the Cardinals.

Terry Francona... Cardinals manager.
St. Louis is just as great a baseball city as Boston without the grief or inferiority complex.

The inferiority complex is in Chicago... and who is running the Cubs now? THEO!

Oh this could be a NEW wrinkle in the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry!!!

Become the Cardinals manager, win a World Series title in St. Louis... be beloved forever and rehearse your Cooperstown speech.

Give them a call.

Terry Francona... the greatest manager in Red Sox history

That's the only way Francona should EVER be referred to by a Red Sox fan.
Yes he inherited a good team that could have won the 2003 pennant had Grady Little not been the manager.

Sometimes, despite what Billy Beane and the producers of Moneyball think, the manager DOES matter.

Sometimes part of a managers job isn't to check up the latest VORP or WAR or whatever algebra is trendy now. Sometimes it is managing the egos, the pressure and the media market.

Little wasn't the guy. He proved that not with the Red Sox but when the Dodgers fell apart under his watch.

Francona learned from his rocky tenure managing the Phillies and became Joe Torre lite in Boston. Doesn't get too high or low. Manages the insane Boston media and a fan base that was literally about to commit mass suicide in the wake of 2003.

And the city was going to burn to the ground when they were down 0-3 to the Yankees with Rivera on the mound. And Francona had the calmness and peace of mind to give Dave Roberts a wink when he came in to pinch run for Millar.

This guy was different.
He didn't bring in Jim Burton instead of Dick Drago in the 9th inning of Game 7 like Darrell Johnson did in 1975.
He didn't bench Bill Lee in favor of Bobby Sprowl and wear Butch Hobson and Carlton Fisk down the stretch like Don Zimmer did in 1978.
He didn't bring Calvin Schraldi into every pressure situation in 1986 like John McNamara did.
He didn't make a series of absolutely bizarre decisions long before he left Pedro in too long like Grady Little did.

He made the right ones.
He pushed Keith Foulke and Curt Schilling.
He out managed Joe Torre BADLY in 2004.

He won 95 games the next season without a reliable 3, 4 or 5 starter nor a decent closer.

He came back from 3-1 AGAIN in 2007, never losing faith in struggling J. D. Drew and having it pay off with his series turning Grand Slam in Game 6 against Cleveland.

And he nearly came back from ANOTHER 3-1 hole against Tampa in 2008.

Yes Joe Cronin won more games as a Red Sox manager, but Cronin never had to manage with the pressure of the 24 hour media.

Cronin never had the burden of the Curse.

And Cronin never won ONE World Series, let alone TWO!

Francona's main job was to manage the clubhouse and the media. And he felt he couldn't do it anymore and he is gone.

The 2011 collapse wasn't Francona's fault. The blame should lie on the front office who assembled this mismatch of players.

But Francona, oozing with class right until the end, took responsibility and blamed nobody but himself.

He will wind up somewhere else. (Baltimore? The White Sox? The Cubs? The Astros?) But he should have been a Red Sox lifer.

I really thought a third pennant would put him in a Hall of Fame discussion. Maybe it will.

But when he returns to Fenway in another uniform, there had better be a 20 minute standing ovation for him.

We wanted one title before we died.
Tito made sure we had two.

I for one will miss our manager.

I'm glad I saw the Red Sox win 2 World Series before the Rapture

I guess I am a glass half full kind of guy.

Sucks for Indians and Cubs fans.

I can't tell what I love most about the Lakers 3-0 hole

There are so many wonderful things about this Lakers collapse, I can't pick what is the best part.

- The Lakers are a loss away from a monumental face plant and doing it because the team is imploding from within.

- The Lakers are a loss away from having Phil Jackson's career end with a whimper. Red Auerbach's coaching career ended with the 1966 NBA Title. See the difference?

- The Lakers are a loss away from forever ending any talk of Kobe Bryant being on the same level as Michael Jordan. Kobe is a great player. A Hall of Famer. But would Jordan be swept out of the playoffs like this?

- The Lakers are a loss on Sunday away from making last Wednesday's 93-81 fiasco their last home game of the year. That would mean the last game Phil Jackson coached at home, the Lakers got booed by the remaining fans in Staples at the end of the game.

- The Lakers call in show on 710 ESPN are filled with fans complaining about refs calls and intense denial. Schadenfreude is fun.

- Because the Lakers are down 0-3 in the series, there is talk about how no NBA team has ever come back from that. But guess what other team they brought up? What other team came back from an 0-3 hole? I'll give you a hint... they don't bring up the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers.

That's right. My 2004 Red Sox! So I get to hear about Laker misery and how they probably won't match Red Sox heroics.

It doesn't get any better than that!

My my my... the AL East just got a bit more fun

Manny and Damon reunited?
Someone cue up Maroon 5. It is 2004 all over again.

Hey, Gabe Kapler was on the Rays last year. If they bring HIM back they will have all three outfielders who were on the field when the Sox won the World Series in St. Louis.

This off season has gotten so strange that the Rays have added more famous players than the Yankees.

Actually, even before the Rays decided to bring aboard two of the three biggest idiots, I hadn’t written off Tampa Bay.

Yeah losing Carl Crawford was bad… as was Rafael Soriano… and Carlos Pena….and Matt Garza…and Jason Bartlett…and Dan Wheeler…… and Joaquin Benoit…and Grant Balfour

But there is so much talent on that team that I can’t help but think that they might actually (dare I say it?) be better?

They still have a starting rotation of David Price, Wade Davis, James Shields and Wade Davis.

They still have Evan Longoria in the middle of their lineup and B. J. Upton who could still put it all together.

Reid Brignac could play short in Barlett’s place.
Jeremy Hellickson can start in Garza’s place.
Jake McGee is ready to take a role in the bullpen.
Desmond Jennings should be ready to play the outfield.

Some combination of Willy Aybar, Ben Zobrist and maybe even Damon could play first.

Adam Russell and Cesar Ramos both have some big league experience out of the bullpen with San Diego and will be in Tampa next year after the Bartlett trade.

Hak Ju Lee could give the Rays depth in the infield after the deal with Chicago.

Now you add a sparkplug like Johnny Damon to the top of the lineup.
And yeah, Manny is no longer Manny. But he still gets on base, has some pop and always has a little peak when he arrives with a new team.

Folks, the A.L. East is going to be fun again. People who hate to see either the Red Sox or the Yankees in the playoffs may get their wish for the fourth time in six seasons to see one of them play golf this October.

There will be LOTS of reasons to circle the Rays arrival in Fenway AND Yankee Stadium in red.

Remember Red Sox fans… it’s OK to cheer Manny and Johnny when they play the Yankees. In fact, I think it will be a nice nostalgic feeling.

Haven’t you earned this, Giants fans?

I remember when my Red Sox won the 2004 and 2007 World Series, I got flack from a few of my Giant fan friends.

One of them, let’s call him Greg Lee… because that is his name… said “You couldn’t have been excited by those World Series. They were blow outs.”

I responded “Don’t blame the Red Sox for making those World Series boring. Blame the Cardinals and Rockies for not winning a game.”

The person we will call Greg Lee responded “Wouldn’t you rather have the games be dramatic?”

And I replied “I had enough drama as a Red Sox fan. Between 1986 and 2003 I had enough drama to last a lifetime. In 2004 I had to live through the 3-0 hole and facing elimination with Mariano Rivera on the mound. In 2007, the Sox came back from another 3-1 hole. I HAD DRAMA! I wanted a title.”

Then the hypothetical person I have dubbed Greg Lee asked “Wouldn’t you rather win the series at HOME?”

I responded “That would mean I would have to root AGAINST the Red Sox in a few games. I root for the Sox in every game. The celebration was sweet on the road.”

So now let me turn the question around.

If the Giants win big tonight… would you be excited? Wouldn’t you rather have a close series? Don’t you want the games to be dramatic? Wouldn’t you want to clinch the series at home?

Or have you earned a blow out?
Have you seen enough close calls that you just want to win it as fast as possible?

The brand of baseball the Giants have played has been called torture.

If the Giants win the next two games with ease, I have a feeling Giant fans will be quite happy… just like I was in 2004 and 2007.

Cash was fine... but where's Dougie?

Seriously, if the Sox are going to bring back an old friend who can catch a knuckle ball, who did it better than Doug Mirabelli?

He's got the two World Series rings to prove it and seemed to have a job forever with the Red Sox provided that Tim Wakefield was there.

In fact when the Red Sox started the 2004 World Series, captain Jason Varitek was introduced with the "other players and pitchers" instead of the starting lineup. Dougie caught game 1 for Wakes. He went 1 for 3 with a run scored.

He played for the 2007 World Champs and received a police escort to Fenway Park when he was reacquired in 2005 from San Diego.

He doesn't deserve to be on my All Ungraceful Red Sox Exit Team.

Bring him back! Just for a few games at least.

Right now he's a baseball coach at St. Francis High School in Traverse City, Michigan and also sells real estate there.

While it is great to see Doug moving on and settling down... I want him back with the Sox!

Maybe the Sox can buy a few properties in the deal. Heck, how could that be a worse investment than Julio Lugo?

My fellow Boston fans... the 2000's are over

When the game ended at the Staples Center Thursday night and Kobe and company were crowned as repeat champions, a thought crept into my head:

This wouldn't have happened in the 2000s.
If this were the 2000s, the Celtics would have drained a bunch of threes in the last minute and the Lakers would come up just short.

That's the way the 2000s were for Boston teams it felt like.
But it is 2010 now... and despite some nitwits insistence that it isn't a new decade yet, the results on the field, on the court and in the rink suggest otherwise.

For so long, the Boston sports scene was a place of futility. And after the 1986 Celtics title it was barren of titles.

After the Celtics beat the Rockets that year you had the 1986 World Series and the legacy THAT gave Boston.

You had Magic's hook shot over the Celtics. That along with the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, the breakdown of Bird and the M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino years turned the once proud Celtics into just another team on the schedule.

You had the two Stanley Cup Finals where Edmonton waxed the Bruins (and the lights were shut off in the Garden during one of the games.)

You had the Patriots in the Super Bowl against the Packers, only to lose and the Bill Parcells/Robert Kraft Soap Opera hanging over the entire game. And let's face it, the Patriots were an afterthought in New England.

For 16 years that was it. The 1990s saw each Boston team sinking into irrelevance and the Yankees AND Lakers transformed themselves into dynasties by the beginning of the 21st Century.

It was tough being a Boston fan. We thought Drew Bledsoe, Joe Thornton, Antoine Walker, Mo Vaughn and Nomar Garciaparra would be the next great Boston sports hero... but all fell short.

Then came the 2000s.

And the change in Boston sports came without warning. The tuck rule went the Patriots way, but the Super Bowl was going to be yet another mismatch like the Bears in 1986 and the Packers in 1997. The Rams were going to kill them.

But when Vinatieri's field goal went through, I remember my friend and current workmate Jon Corbett yelling with disbelief "I can't believe the Patriots won the Super Bowl!"

It is hard for young Boston fans to understand how unbelievable this was. Using my theory that you don't really follow a sports team until you are 8 years old, there are 16 year olds who only know Boston sports as a place where championships are expected.

But between the 86 Celtics and the Patriots first Super Bowl win, there was a grand total of zero victory parades in Boston.

That's a 16 year gap. There were 24 year Boston fans where that Super Bowl was the first real memory of one of their teams winning.

Then they did it again... but when Grady left Pedro in too long, it looked like more of the same for the Red Sox. Sure the Pats could win, but the order of the universe was still the same.

Then Dave Roberts stole second... and anything became possible.

Could the Red Sox beat the Yankees?

Yes and in humiliating ways never seen before.

Could the Red Sox win a championship?

You bet... and like the Patriots, they could have MULTIPLE titles.

Could the Celtics be champs again? Why not? And why not have one of the biggest thumpin's in NBA history for a clincher against the Lakers no less?

Could the Patriots go undefeated in a regular season? Check the videotape!

Could the Red Sox win an elimination game where they were down 7-0? Do you even doubt it?

The Duck Boats got a lot of miles on them and we Boston fans showed we could be just as obnoxious in victory as we were in victory.

There were so many new heroes in Boston sports lore that they threatened to push many older legends out of everyone's memory.

Tom Brady! Tedy Bruschi! Richard Seymour! Curt Schilling! Big Papi Ortiz! Josh Beckett! Paul Pierce! Ray Allen! Kevin Garnett!

And cult heroes like Kevin Millar, Ty Law and Big Baby Davis!

But it was more than just victory... remember with every victory there is a team defeated and for a glorious period of time some of the most hated figures in Boston sports kept wetting the bed.

The Yankees had two of their biggest collapses in team history in the 2000s with the 2001 World Series and the 2004 ALCS... and after 2004, they couldn't make it out of the Division Series and missed the playoffs altogether in 2008.

And the pick up of A-Rod seemed to blow up in their face as he kept folding like a tent and slapping wrists in the playoffs.


The Lakers imploded in the 2004 Finals and the team was dismantled to please Kobe... and the titles dried up as Kobe couldn't deliver a title without Shaq.

And Peyton Manning had the stats, but Tom Brady was the CHAMPION.

Phil Jackson and Joe Torre wrote books about how rotten things were behind the scenes.

It was a glorious time and it was a petty time.

It was a time of happiness for our team's victory and for schadenfreude for other fan base's misery.

It was a perfect storm of our ability to celebrate and be pricks.

And it's over now.

Manning? He's a Super Bowl champ now and he's won one more recently than Brady because of the OTHER Manning.

A-Rod? He's a World Champion now and he hit key game tying homers and game winning hits in the Division Series, ALCS and World Series to get his ring.

Kobe? He has back to back titles now, the last one coming at the expense of our Celtics not being able to hold a 13 point second half lead. People are now talking about him in the same breath as Michael Jordan.

Since October 2009, Papelbon let up 3 ninth inning runs to eliminate the Red Sox, the Patriots got blown out at home in the playoffs, the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead and the Celtics blew a shot at the NBA championship with less than 6 minutes to go.

The swagger is gone and that sense of impending doom has sadly crept back into our consciousness.

It's kind of like the movie Awakenings. For a brief moment we were able to come out of our slumber to experience the joys of winning teams, only to slip back into our immobile state.

Now in full disclosure, I am not a Boston Bruins fan. I am a San Jose Sharks fan and they have their OWN issues!

And my devotion to the Patriots is tenuous at best. I would trade all three Super Bowls for J. D. Drew to get a double off of David Price in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS... or for the Celtics to hang on to the 4th quarter lead on Thursday night.

And I am sure my friends who follow the Bruins primarily would trade the 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series titles, and the NBA title for one Stanley Cup.

Maybe it will be good for us Boston fans to take a few lumps. It will help us appreciate what an amazing decade we experienced. What a huge class of water we had after a long thirst.

I'm not saying we shouldn't root hard for our teams. We should.
I'm not saying we won't see our teams win this decade. I bet some will.

But perhaps it was appropriate that Manny showed up t Fenway the day after the NBA Finals loss.

It was a reminder of that glorious decade where everything seemed to go our way.

We may never have a decade like this again.

Think of how lucky we are that we could experience it.

I feel bad for the kids born in 2002 and are 8 years old just following teams now. They missed out on a great decade.

Turn the page and let's give those kids some memories of their own!

He's baaaaack

I know it ended badly... but I really hope Manny gets SOME love tonight.

I can't boo a 2004 Red Sox. I just can't.

Johnny Damon... Hall of Famer?

Now color me as someone who never thought of Johnny Damon as a Hall of Famer. He’s a terrific player and a champion, but not an immortal.

He had statistically three elite seasons, was never among the best in on base percentage and wasn’t exactly a Gold Glove winner.

Yes, he had guts, played hurt, had some big post season moments and would literally crash into walls for his team.

Heck, a team of 25 guys who played as hard as Johnny Damon would be invincible.

You could say the same about Paul O’Neill and he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame either.

But I tip my cap to friend of Sully Baseball, Brad Templeman. In his (great) blog Baseball in Depth he makes the case for Damon as a Hall of Famer. Granted it is in one category… but it is a big one.

Runs scored.

Scoring runs is kinda sorta important. And yes, it relies on other people knocking him in… but if you score 1,500 runs over a career, you can’t chalk it all up to luck.

Damon needs to score 17 runs this year to join the 48 players in history to score 1,500 times.

Of the 48 in that list 38 have been retired long enough to be in the Hall of Fame. 35 of those are.

The three who aren’t are Robbie Alomar (who will be in the Hall next year), Tim Raines (who should be in the Hall of Fame) and Pete Rose (Christ Pete… why didn’t you stick to betting on the ponies!)

And the 10 who are either active or not Hall of Fame eligible yet, they include sure fire Hall of Famers (Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell) juicers (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield) and Kenny Lofton.

Pretty good company (and no doubt a good case will be made for Kenny Lofton as well someday.)

Not 100% sure I am sold yet… but there is time to sway me either way.

But if he does get in, there is a more intriguing question:

Which hat does he wear?

Seriously, the Hall of Fame decides these things and sometimes it goes against the wishes of the player.

Andre Dawson wanted to go in as a Cub, but he’ll have an Expos cap.

Gary Carter is also enshrined as an Expo, even though he wanted to have a Mets cap on.

Wade Boggs wanted to have a Devil Rays cap… I’m serious!

Damon spent 4 years as a Red Sox and became a champion and an icon for Boston fans.
Then he spent 4 years as a Yankee and became a champion and a heart throb in New York.

But knowing the Hall of Fame, they’ll just look at which team he played the longest for and slap that logo on the plaque.

So folks, if he gets elected, I am predicting he’ll go in as a Royal.

That’s a good compromise I think.

It's better like this

I can be wrong.



I can be very wrong.



And I am man enough to admit when I am.



Last off season I begged Curt Schilling, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux to all retire.



I figured their best years were behind them and they should all try to get into the Hall of Fame at once instead of seeing them struggle on for a few reputation crushing season.



Schilling and Maddux obliged.



Both Tom Glavine and John Smoltz pressed on and were eventually cut. Smoltz may have found a new home in St. Louis but Glavine is in Limbo.



The one I was most certain about was Pedro. He was no longer an elite pitcher. Hell he hadn't been elite since 2005, his first year with the Mets.



He was giving the Mets 5 1/3 innings a start with an ERA in the 5's. He was not able to help down the stretch when the Mets desperately needed a starter.



And nobody would sign him in the off season.



I thought he was toast, and I thought it was a horrible decision to go to Philadelphia.



But I was wrong.



In my scenario, the last game Pedro would have ever pitched was on September 25 last year where he let up a first inning homer to Micah Hoffpauir and let up 5 runs in 6 innings.



In reality? This could be his last game.



And where is it?

New Yankee Stadium?



When is it?

Forget September... this is NOVEMBER baseball.



What's at stake?

The Phillies' defense of their World Championship.



This is wonderful drama worthy of one of the most dramatic showmen in recent baseball history.



If he wins, he sends this World Series into the 7th game and possibly into the history books as a great series.



If he wins, it will be put the whole Grady Little 7th game to bed forever.



If he wins, he will do a better job of slaying his daddy than Oedipus ever did!



And if he loses?



Heck, what a way to go. His finale won't be an obscure game in September but a hail of bullets worthy of Tony Montana's demise.



Either way, it makes for great drama.



You were right Pedro to come back.



It's better like this.



Let's play ball.