Just enjoy this one
posted in 2007 season, Toronto Blue Jays |Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4
You’d just like to capture the celebration afterwards, save it and enjoy it for awhile. Detroit rallied from three runs down with two outs and no baserunners to win the game in walkoff fashion, and Jim Leyland was the second man up the steps of the dugout. He was jumping up and down in the celebration huddle; he was giddy like a little kid. And weren’t we all?
This game was left for dead. It was over. Roy Halladay owned the Tigers, and Kenny Rogers’ two allowed runs were going to be the only ones the Blue Jays needed, even if they did add two more. Joel Zumaya left the game holding his hand — giving instant fear and relief that it was “only” a finger nail. Pudge left the game with dizzyness. Jeremy Bonderman learned he probably wouldn’t be back this year. The season was left for dead, just as the game. But the Tigers didn’t see it that way.
Two outs. A hit and a double play. That’s how it started. Four straight hits. A walk. And a walkoff single by Magglio Ordonez between first and second base that made me leap from dread the second baseman would glove it to celebration for the victory. And I was happy, but I was no Jim Leyland.
There was a lot of postgame talk and maybe some people think the same. If the Tigers make the post season, you can look back at the ninth inning of this game and point to that.
And I suppose that’s fine. Maybe even true. And yet, a line we have heard so many times before, I’m kinda tired of it.
I’m just going to enjoy this improbably comeback for what it is. And that’s an incredibly fun moment after all the dread we’ve experienced. Even if the Tigers may be out of the playoff hunt — in all likelyhood — you can’t let that get you down. It’s still a fun game that grabs you and makes you a little kid for a few minutes, despite everything.
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