What do Raul Ibanez, Coco Crisp and Jayson Werth all have in common? They have all had walk-off hits within the past 24 hours to push their teams closer to the Fall Classic.
Wednesday night, Ibanez came in as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth, hit a game-tying bomb, then a game-winning shot in the twelfth to take a 2-1 series lead over Baltimore. Crisp, with his team down 3-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, capped the three run comeback off with an RBI single to force Game 5 against Justin Verlander and the Tigers.
Thursday night, with a close game at 1-1 going into the ninth between the defending World Champion Cardinals and the Nationals, Werth led off the bottom of the frame. The Nats were feeling it on defense, with the pitchers collecting eight of the last nine outs by way of the K. Werth saw 12 pitches against starter-turned-reliever Lance Lynn, and with a full count, the 13th pitch came, and it sure did go. Werth slammed a line drive home run over the left field fence to force another Game 5 in the 2012 MLB postseason.
"I was sitting at home watching my boy Raul Ibanez do it, and he gave me something to do today," Werth said after the game, still catching his breath from the celebration.
Thursday afternoon, the Giants won their Game 5 against the Reds, becoming the fifth team to ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in a five game series. Game 4 of the Orioles-Yankees series is set to begin at 7:37, with Phil Hughes taking on Joe Saunders. For the nightcap, the amazing story of the Oakland A's continues with Game 5 from O.co Coliseum.
As for my picks? 0-for-3. I picked the Braves to win the now Cards-Nats series, so there goes another one, and my World Series winners, the Reds, were eliminated in their hometown today. Awful news.
But man, do I love baseball.
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