2013 Playoffs - Game 5

9:00 p.m.
Ellsbury has hit a solo HR for Brett.  He has 8 points and brings Brett to 45.  Lincecum scored 5 for Tief and brings his total to 41.  Each can still get points from his RP.  It's going to come down to that.  Tief gets Farquhar or 6 points from Melencon.  Brett gets Grilli or Jansen.  His other RP Reed did not play.  If none of these other pitchers pitch, Tief will win.  Stay tuned.

***10:10 p.m.***
Grilli warming up in the bullpen.  Will probably pitch the 8th vs. the Brewers.  Seattle goes up by 2 in top of the 9th.  Farquhar likely to pitch the 9th for the save.  This will wipe out the 6 from Melecon and put Brett up 45-41.  This is for all the marbles.

10:12 p.m.
Farquhar in.  Fly out by Butler.  One out.  Brett up 45-42.  Moustakis flies out.  Two out Brett up 45-43.  Ground out.  Game over.  Farquhar goes 1-2-3 for the save. 8 points.  Tief up 49-45.  Grilli in.  GO BREWERS!!!

10:15 p.m.
Aoki - Base hit.  Tief up 49-44.  Francisco lines out.  Tief up 49-45.  Brett needs two strikeouts.  Lucroy 1-2 count.  Ball.  Another ball.  3-2.  Foul tip.  Ahhhhhh.  Lucroy strikes out.  One more strikeout and Brett wins.  It's all up to Caleb Gindl.  Foul.  Ball.  Foul.  You've got to be kidding me.  Strikeout.  No fucking way.  Brett 50, Tief 49.

10:40 p.m.
Congratulatory text messages have been exchanged.  Brett will face Willi in the 2013 FNFT World Series beginning Friday night.  Preview coming soon as soon as I get the tears out of my beer.
7:20 a.m. Thursday
Postmortem.  I miscalculated Lincecum's points.  He got 4 instead of 5 so Brett beat me by 2 points instead of 1.  But it doesn't change the fact that Grilli needed to strike out BOTH of the last two batters he faced - and he did.  If either Lucroy or Gindl would have hit the ball into play - even into a double play - I would have won.

This is the 4th year in a row that the two teams with the best regular season records have won their playoff series and gone on to meet in the World Series.  In each of the previous three, the team with the worse record of the two has won the championship.

An email I just sent...(Willi:) "Thanks for the condolences. Brett had sent a text to me yesterday morning congratulating me on my win. I sent him back a great quote that was recently said by actress Valerie Harper (Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore who has cancer) – “Don’t die until your dead.” Or as Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” I was sitting there with 98.2% chance (based on Lucroy and Gindl’s strikeout rates) of making the World Series. All I needed is for either of the two of them to hit the flipping ball in play and I would have won. Popout, ground out – ANYTHING but a strikeout. FNFT will break your heart. Good luck in the Series."

A text from Brett last night..."Thank you. Tied I honestly feel horrible but it feels good yet too... I was literally on my hands and knees watching Grilli.  Great friggin series."

Everything has a silver lining.  I have reaffirmed to myself that in the history of civilization, the greatest of all of mankind's inventions is the game of baseball.  Nothing else is even close.  Regardless of how you were rooting, how can you not think that what happened last night isn't one of the coolest things ever?