What a game 4

Phil Gurnee ♦ October 25, 2020 ♦ 2 Comments

The Dodgers lost last night but baseball won with the most entertaining postseason game of 2020. If the Rays go on to win the World Series the walk play in Game 4 will become historical, if they don’t it will merely be a footnote, but what a footnote.

So much had to to happen for Randy Arozarena to tap home plate for the winning run. If Chris Taylor fields the ball cleanly, Azorarena is held up at 3rd and the score is tied with two out and runners on 1st and 3rd but because Taylor bobbled the throw, Arozarena tried to score and after tumbling to the ground would have been dead meat if one of two things had happened. Max Muncy could have made a better throw, he knew Arozarena had fallen down, the play was in front of him but his throw was hurried and on the 1st base side of the plate. Will Smith could have caught the ball and easily tagged Arozarena but he didn’t. When I first saw the play at normal speed I thought that Smith had caught the ball but that when he wheeled to tag the runner the ball had flown out of his glove, it wasn’t until they replayed it in slow mo that I realized that Smith had simply pulled his glove to soon in anticipation of having to tag a runner that wasn’t there.

I can’t even imagine the thoughts that were going through Arozarena’s head as he tumbled to the ground, thinking he’d really screwed up, only to find out as he gathered his feet back under him that he was going to score the winning run. In the blink of an eye he went from a goat to a hero. And now the series is tied at 2 – 2.

Kenley Jansen didn’t do much wrong in the 9th last night except get to much of the plate on a 1 – 2 to a hitter who might have chased something out of the strike zone. A broken bat single in – between two outs. It made sense to pitch around the hottest hitter on the planet and all he had to do was get the worst player on the Rays out, but on a 1 – 2 count he got to much of the plate, and Brett Phillips became part of the small Tampa Bay World Series folklore.

This game had so many hitters come through with big moments it was insane. The Dodgers scored all seven runs with two outs. The Rays just kept coming back. This is what a baseball dogfight looks like, and it was beautiful.