With the ‘Pigs trailing 3-2 tonight in the seventh inning–our ace Tyler Cloyd having been knocked out–I leaned over to Matt and said, “I don’t know why, but I am very confident that we will win this game.”
His Response?
“What?!?”
Let’s go back to Tuesday:
In a teen-league baseball game (I’m an assistant coach/statistician/agitator) Matt’s team was ahead 4-2 in the 4th inning of a game scheduled to go 7. The bases were loaded for the other team, with no outs. The batter hit a soft tapper to the pitcher, who threw home for the easy force. The catcher (not Matt) stepped forward into the field of play and fired the ball towards first to get the batter. Somehow, the first baseman missed the ball, and it rolled into right field. Three runs came around to score, and next thing you know–we’re down 5-4.
Fast forward to tonight:
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, still down 3-2: “Speedy” Pete Orr doubles to right. Jake Fox then got hit by a pitch. With runners at first and second, Jason Pridie hit a soft tapper in front of the plate. Mud Hens starting pitcher Thad Weber fielded the ball and threw high to first, pulling the first baseman off the bag. Pridie safe. Speedy Petey came around to score. Just like that it’s 3-3 and all the momentum shifts to the IronPigs.
Ninth inning: Aumont on to pitch. He strikes out the first two, while the third batter hits a long drive to right caught by Susdorf up against the wall. Bottom of the ninth:
Lefty reliever on.
Mitchell pinch hits for Susdorf and strikes out. 1 out.
Suomi “the money” singles to center.
“Let’s Go” Blanco hit by a pitch. First and second one out.
Kyle Hudson down 0-2, comes back to walk. Bases loaded one out. Score tied at 3.
Infield in. Outfield in. Cesar Hernandez to the plate. Mud Hens manager to the mound. Ryno with a word for Cesar.
TALL fly to left. Fielder has a chance to get back, but NO chance to make a throw (unless his name’s Dave Parker).
Pigs Fly!
baseball’s funny that way…
Epilogue:
Pigs win in walk-off fashion for the THIRTEENTH time this season. We figured on the way home that we’ve been present for 12 of the 13, having left early on Blanco’s first walk-off homer.
Pawtucky lost tonight, with a Trolley Frog win, putting the IronPigs 4 games back in the IL North, but tied for the wild card. Rochester, Columbus, and Norfolk can only await a collapse.
‘Pigs player of the game? I go Pridie, with two hits and the crucial game-tying RBI (could have been an error, but…). Ramirez, Diekman and Aumont all with clean innings out of the ‘pen to give the team a chance.
Tomorrow:
Brummett to start. He has a 1.06 ERA in four games started this year. He will face off against lefty Adam Wilk, 5-11 with a 2.96 ERA. It’s Domonic Brown jersey shirt day for the kids, and pre-game party for the IronHeads. 5:35PM first pitch.
See you at the park,
@Kram209
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Actually, I think Kyle Hudson’s at bat went ball 1, ball 2, ball 3, strike 1, strike 2, ball 4. Then Hernandez went down 0-2 and fouled off 4 of the next 5 pitches before his game winning sacrifice fly. I like seeing the kids come through.
I think my lips are bleeding from eating the salty sunflower seeds they handed out after the game. I don’t know who is going to clean all the shells that I spit on the living room carpet.
Unlike some Phillies writers, I won’t fix my mistakes and delete the comments. I’ll leave the errors intact above, but:
Decal is of course correct. Hudson was 3-0 and not 0-2. I remember now talking with Matt about the ‘take’ sign for Hudson at 3-0 as well as 3-1.
In my haste to finish the piece, I didn’t detail Hernandez’ at bat. It was rather dramatic, but with the infield in, I kind of felt like even if he couldn’t get the run in, we’d at least have Orr up with two outs. I felt like they weren’t going to get the double play unless the ball was hit perfectly–otherwise they’d go home with it.
By memory, the first pitch was a called strike, On the second, Cesar swung so hard that he corkscrewed himself into the ground. (Cheryl Pursell had a great picture of it; follow her Twitter feed @CherylPursell. I was likewise too tired last night to insert the pictures above.) He then fouled off two pitches, took a ball, and fouled off two more before hitting the sac fly.
The reason I remembered Hudson’s AB is because I said almost exactly the same thing to the person sitting next to me. When it was 3-0 I turned to him and said “take two”.
Hey, and how about those ballgirls on Sunday night? Oh how it makes me yearn for the days of Mary Sue Stiles down the third base line at the Vet.
Rain, rain go away…