May 31: This Is What Makes the Game so Exciting

It was one of those games that reminds us all why we listen to baseball on the radio. It certainly was a game that assures the die-hard fan why he listens until the final out. It was a game that you’ll never forget, even though you didn’t see one pitch, one base hit or one throw from short.

Sunday evening in Rockford, Ill., the Winnipeg Goldeyes proved that Yogi Berra was right, “It isn’t over ’till it’s over.” And even though I didn’t see it, I had my radio friend Paul Edmonds to paint the picture of a comeback for the ages.

Early on Sunday evening, the Goldeyes were done. Through six innings, the Rockford RiverHawks had this one in the bag. Starter Mike Wood had allowed only two runs on five hits through the first six and when Rockford manager Bob Koopmann went to his bullpen, the RiverHawks had an 8-2 lead and I figured I’d turn on 60 Minutes. After all, it was 8-2, the Fish had barely put up a fight and what the heck, 6-5 isn’t a bad record early in the season, is it?

But hey, we’d come this far, one more inning couldn’t hurt.

And in the seventh, the Goldeyes appeared to have some life. Kevin West came up with two-on and belted a three-run homer off reliever Alex Thieroff and suddenly it was 8-5. If the Goldeyes bullpen could shut down the home side for three innings then maybe there was a chance.

In the bottom of the seventh, reliever Andrew Barb came in for the Fish and after walking a man, suffered an apparent injury (the second Goldeyes pitcher to hurt himself on Sunday as starter Matt Kniginyzky was felled by a shoulder problem earlier in the game) and he had to be replaced. Manager Rick Forney went to lefty Ian Thomas and Thomas went to work.

He got out of the seventh unscathed and that allowed the Fish to come back up in the eighth trailing by only three.

Now, if this were anything but a fairy tale, I’d tell you that the Rockford bullpen took care of Winnipeg in the eighth and ninth and everybody in Illinois went home to watch Sunday Night Baseball, but then it wouldn’t be a comeback would it? And my pal Edmonds would not have had a minor vocal coronary.

In the top of the eighth, with Edmonds along for every swing of the bat, the Goldeyes exploded. Wes Long drove in a run with a single to cut the Rockford lead to 8-6 and then big Juan Diaz drove in two more with a double. West, who had three hits in four trips, drove home pinch-runner Luis Alen (West’s fourth RBI of the game) with a single as the Goldeyes took a 9-8 lead.

Wow! The Comeback was complete. Or was it? This is baseball, after all and against professional hitters nothing is easy.

In the bottom of the eighth, RiverHawks outfielder Kevin House tied the game at 9-9 with a solo homer off Thomas, but heck, it’s still tied and that will just make the Goldeyes comeback all the more rewarding. Won’t it?

Indeed. In the top of the ninth, first baseman Jeremy Hamilton, who already had two hits in the game and four in the series, came up with a runner on third and one out and hit a sacrifice fly to give Winnipeg a 10-9 advantage. It was hard to imagine that the Fish were headed to the bottom of the ninth with the lead, but it did remind an old baseball fan why we listen until the final out.

In the bottom of the ninth, young Philip Roy, a reliever who simply beats up the strike zone, came in and allowed one hit before retiring the side and notched his third save of the season. It was mind-boggling, thrilling and even gut-wrenching at times, but it was exactly why Pete Rose once said, “Man invented all the other games, but God invented baseball.”

If today’s series opener in Gary is half as good, it will be another three hours well spent. I just hope Paul has recovered enough to get back on that mic by 3 o’clock.