If you wondered what playoff baseball would be like at Coca Cola Park, you got a pretty good idea of what it will be tonight. By a close margin, I am saying that this is thee best game I have seen played there. This game edges out the night Michael Taylor hit for the cycle followed by a walkoff hit by JJ Furmaniak.
I started off the afternoon with a Jesse Barfield sighting at a local store. Cool enough. Got to the park and got a few more bobbleheads passed on to me for charity causes. (EWSL Softball marathon this week and Charity Yardsale at Applebees Cedar Crest on Sunday)
Some folks from Fox Philly stopped by the Noise Nation early on in the game and spoke with us for a few minutes. They told us to watch their morning show sometime next week. When I find out when so shall you.
The Pawsox went up early in the game scoring once in the first and twice in the second off of starter Ryan Feierabend. The Pigs came back in the fourth scoring 4 times adding in one more in the 5th.
Feierabend lasted 6 innings tonight allowing 3 run on 9 hits. Then came Heilman… In one inning the Heilman experiment allowed 3 runs on 4 hits giving Pawtucket a 6 to 5 lead. Joe Savery tossed one uneventful inning and the Pigs scored a run to tie the game in the 8th. Then came Michael “Phear the Phro” Schwimer in the 9th. He got out of the 9th unscathed but the Pigs failed to score in their half of the inning. On the first pitch of the 10th inning, Nate Spears hit a solo home run putting Pawtucket up 7 to 6. Schwimer easily finished the rest of the inning.
Then came the Pigs in the 10th. Pete Orr came up and hit what we thought would be a single but he hustled into second base and set up the inning. Young then hit a ground ball to shortstop Iglesias who chose to go to third after Orr but was late with the throw resulting in a 1st and 3rd with no outs. Brandon Moss Hogg then singled scoring Orr and leaving it at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. (Tagg Bozied strikes out here.. it happens)
And here is the historic IronPig moment, the statement that the Pigs have been shouting from the mountain top since day one of the 2011 season. Josh Barfield singled to left and although a very close play at home plate, pinch runner Frandsen slid under the tag and scored the winning run on a phenominal walk off victory.
I can not overstate the atmosphere at the park tonight. It was playoff baseball. The first and second place teams duking it out late in the season. The fans roared for every positive moment and it felt like The Coke was shaking when Frandsen scored the winning run. Incredible!
Go crazy Pig Fans! Go CRAZY!!!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
I am going CRAZY!!! I agree this was by far the best game I’ve seen at the Coke in the 4 years I’ve been coming out. This team NEVER quits and how bout that hustle Pete Orr showed in that 10 inning and that incredible slide by Frandsen to score the winning run??!! Also enjoyed Fox Philly 29 coming out to talk and film us. How bout the exposure for Noise Nation!! The Pigs have made it clear, we are in 1st place and we are NOT going to give it up!!!
Let’s go CRAZY!!!
FUN
I missed the Waldrond strikeout game, maybe the best MOMENT ever? BUT, this was the most exciting, edge of your seat(if you were sitting) game ever. AND, well after 10 and a lot of fans left. I think Richie T has rubbed off on Pete Orr. Memo to Noise Nation: I sit behind home plate and could hear the bells. You need even more bells. Oh yeah, to hell with the Sox fans!!!
I just ordered another dozen bells. Perhaps this could be a playoff giveaway? Let’s hear from the sponsors!
Free Advice Department:
Here’s what I do, if I’m the IronPigs (read:management):
Get in touch with the big-boy sponsors (coca cola, LVHN, etc.) and the bobble company and get started on a Rich Thompson bobble head giveaway for the playoffs. Get the money and the production lined up and on hold until the last minute, pending the standings. If production starts and the game is not to be, then it gets pushed to April–even if Richie leaves us, it’s a nice honor for a guy who’s given us 4 years of quality play.
Plus, bobble nights fill seats and sell tickets, and special things happen: Michael Taylor’s cycle happened on a bobble night as well (JAHapp).
The Pawtucket catcher left the plate wide open for Frandsen. All he did was slide straight forward with his foot crossing the plate well before the tag was applied to the area around his hip. Kudos to the umpires because many times they call a runner out when the ball beats the runner by so much. They got this one right. Same situation with Orr at third in the 10th inning. The throw from the shortstop to Luna was just a little too far to the left and Orr just beat the tag. Much closer play there than Frandsen at home.
My still camera takes terrible video (especially the audio) but I tried recording the ceremonial first pitch with Pat Gillick. Here’s a link to my video on youtube in case anyone wants to check it out. It runs just over 2 minutes. Keep the audio low as it can be annoying at high levels.
Let’s hope Roy is sharp on Wednesday.
Thanks for getting this video. I read about it on Twitter or something and thought it was awfully cool that they had Sandberg set up behind the plate so one HoFer could pitch to another. (Maybe not as cool as that 2005 Opening Day pitch in Arizona, but cool nonetheless.)
Another great outing for Jason Grilli with the Pirates tonight vs. Atlanta. He threw a scoreless 11th, 12th and 13th innings in a game that’s currently still tied 3-3 in inning #15.
Truly a remarkable game – the best the ‘Pigs have ever played. This was a test of wills all the way, and the ‘Pigs won it loud and clear. The PawSox won’t recover from this one easily, because the ‘Pigs sent them a message: We’re real, we’re better than you, we never give up and we’re gonna whup your @ss!
It was indeed a great night at the park. I’m so glad that we made it. There was some debate about even going last night–I’m currently the only driver in the family and we had a soccer practice at 6:30 in preparation for a tournament this weekend.
During practice I was following the early innings on the iPhone app. 3-0 Sox. Seems like Feierabend was loading the bases every inning. I figured we’d get there and it’d be 8-0. Light rain starts and I’m thinking of bagging it. I don’t need another bobble head, anyway. But, the sun comes out and practice is over and the kids were up for it so off we went straight from the field near Alburtis, kids changing into dry clothes in the car. Finally turned on the radio and it was 4-3. We pulled into the parking lot just as the CF lost Dweezy’s ball via the Dusk Monster.
That’s one of the great things about baseball–you just never know when one of those great, magical games is gonna happen.
On that fly ball, It looked as if he saw the ball and from our angle we could tell the wind was carrying it. I’ve never seen a fly ball that drifted like that one did.