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Sucked In To This Thing, A Little
2008-07-15 21:24
by Mark T.R. Donohue

When checked in to see what was going on in the All-Star Game after watching a bunch of "King of the Hill" and "House" reruns off the TiVo, it was tied in extra innings. And Aaron Cook had just come in! So pretty much the only story of possible relevance was about to happen, or not, and now I'm watching. Cook pitched quite well in bailing out Dan Uggla for two errors in the 10th, and as I'm writing he's in the midst of an even more interesting 11th. He's had one runner thrown out trying to steal second (on a pitchout! a good call by Clint Hurdle!!) and another gunned down at the plate.

Some interesting questions come into play this late. What happens if they run out of pitchers? Would they just have a tie again? Doesn't there have to be a winner with home-field in the World Series at stake. Wasn't the tie the reason for that rule being changed? How did that address the problem, exactly?

In a game that it's in no one's interests to elongate any further, and particularly not the Rockies', I'm not sure what it says that Cook and Hurdle are working so hard to keep the National League alive. I'm happy that Cook at least kept the game going long enough for the announcers to acknowledge his entry into the contest; most of his first inning was spent reading the Yankees Stadium visitors' guide.

Comments
2008-07-15 22:19:43
1.   Ali Nagib
I certainly think that the teams need to make sure that they have enough pitchers to go 11 or 12 innings, but once you've gone past the 14th inning stretch, things get a little ridiculous. I assume they'll keep playing until someone wins, or maybe until one of the managers just concedes.

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