(Are you bored yet?)
It was the bottom of the 8th inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri when Ryan Howard stepped up to bat for the National League. There were 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd. On the mound was Joe Nathan, closer for the Minnesota Twins, trying to protect a 4-3 American League lead.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “this story sucks.” Just hear me out and try not to be a jerk about it, because what you should be thinking is “why does this matter?” That’s a question I can answer.
In real time, this moment had a lot of potential to become significant down the road. In order to give more significance to the game in general, the MLB and the Player’s Union agreed to award home field advantage in the World Series to whichever team wins the pennant in the league that won the all-star game (the American League has won every year since this rule’s inception in 2003).
The Phillies entered this season fairly confident as defending champions and had a 4 game lead over the Marlins in their division. It’s reasonable to believe that when Ryan Howard went up to bat in the bottom of the 8th, with the go-ahead run on 2nd base and home field advantage on the line, he was thinking about the fact that the outcome of this game might really matter to his own team come October. And with the Phillies now set to face the Yankees in the World Series, he was right (assuming he and I were thinking the same thing, which we usually are).
Howard fouled off a first pitch fastball, then swung and missed at another. Three more fastballs: Foul, Ball 1, Ball 2.
With an even count (2 balls, 2 strikes), after 4 straight 4-seamers in the mid-90s, Nathan threw a curve ball that Howard caught breaking out of the strike zone a little too late. He tried to check his swing, but he was called out. Swung-on strike 3 to end the inning, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
That was Howard at the All-Star break, but look at him now. Look at what he’s done this post-season. He tied Lou Gehrig’s record for 8 straight post-season games with an RBI. He has come up with clutch hits and home runs late in games to keep the Phillies alive. He has turned into a post-season monster.
And now comes his final test. He must go to play the first two games of the World Series under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium partly because of his 8th inning strikeout in Mid-July. Everything he has conquered this post-season will suffer a tinge of disappointment if he cannot overcome this final obstacle. He fought off the Marlins and the Braves, he beat the Rockies, and he beat the Dodgers. Now, when he steps up to the plate in Yankee Stadium, he will have to beat the situation he helped create. In his final test, Ryan Howard will have to overcome himself.
The same thing happened to Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat.
Look, I know this isn’t the series everyone wanted, but it’s the one we’re stuck with. The least we can do is find some stuff to like about it. I like the emergence of young stars like Ryan Howard (even though I hate the Phillies with the fire of 1,000 suns and hope they get DESTROYED by the Yanks). But something I find even more interesting is the fact that the MLB playoffs, which have been criticized in the last few years for being too random, have given us a World Series match-up of what appear to be without question the two best teams in baseball. You might hate one or both of these teams, but you can’t say either one doesn’t deserve to be there.