Name me one more obvious win-win situation for your team in the bottom of the ninth than having a) the game tied; b) the bases loaded; c) the infield and the outfield in; d) nothing more arduous than a soft fly, a soft grounder, or a suicide squeeze needed to win the game right then and there — and, above all else, nobody out. Especially when you're being managed by a fellow who won a division championship with that precise ninth-inning scenario, almost.
The Pittsburgh Pirates Monday afternoon had it even better than the Los Angeles Dodgers had it two Octobers ago. And the Dodgers had it simple enough. All Steve Finley had to do, with one out and the Giants pulling everyone short of the bullpens in, was get something, anything in the air. All he did was get it in the air, over everyone's head, and over the right field fence, and the 2004 National League West was theirs.
The Pirates didn't have anything that important on the line, not having been 7-10 on the month before game time. But when you're given an even bigger gift than the Giants gave the Dodgers in that arduous game, especially in a makeup game from an May 11th rain-out, looking the Arizona gift horses in the mouth was the last advice Jim Tracy (then the Dodgers' manager, now the Pirates' keeper) would have given his men.
Not with the Diamondbacks a) entering the game 1-12 since the Jason Grimsley search and strike; and, b) having a man with a five-plus ERA on the mound (Greg Aquino), especially since said man gave Jason Bay a pass on the house after Jack Wilson and Sean Casey opened with back-to-back singles.
Up came Jeromy Burnitz, who may be getting older and whose bat may not be able to leap fences in single swings at will, but who does have enough left to get something over shallow heads. And swish he went.
Up came Freddy Sanchez, 2-for-5 to that point with a handsome .353 batting average on his season's resume. And swish he went.
Up came Jose Castillo, who had already left five men on base while taking an 0-for-4 to this point but still carrying a .283 average with 11 bombs, 39 RBI, a reasonable .339 on-base percentage, and a .478 slugging average. And swish he went.
Up came Arizona's Johnny Estrada to swat home Orlando Hudson with the tiebreaker in in the top of the 11th. And out to the mount went Jorge Julio — whose change of scenery is doing him at least as much good as is that of the man for whom the Snakes obtained him, Orlando Hernandez with the Mets — to get one groundout and two punchouts in the bottom, to save the 5-4 win the Diamondbacks couldn't give away if they had snoozed through the ninth after the Pirates loaded them up.
And up, very likely, went Tracy's blood pressure. This he didn't need, after fuming over a pair of Sunday plays that could have been called tough — and did get the Minnesota Twins a four-run eighth — but were called doable by Tracy, based on his own experience and observations.
"I saw two sliders for strikes. The rest were balls in the dirt," said Tracy after Monday's surreality. "We didn't show good patience there. The onus isn't on the hitter there, it's on the pitcher. You have everything in your favor there."
In theory, in Pittsburgh.
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