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Monday, July 18, 2011

The Late Scene / Instant Karma

In the top of the sixteenth inning at Tropicana this morning, Dustin Pedroia singled in Josh Reddick to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. 

I was there at the end, pondering re how many fans in the range of ESPN Radio Sunday Night Baseball had stayed up until 1:54 AM Eastern time to hear the last out. No one in Lakeport, I'll bet; everyone here being exhausted from a day at the beach or in the company of power tools. Maybe an accidental handful in Port Huron, and a sprinkling closer to Detroit.

They got to hear the very rare and collectible WXYT AM-only legal ID, and a historic game. 

The Red Sox had five hits, and the D-Rays three; the lowest hit total for two teams in a game longer than 13 innings since 1920. Josh Beckett allowed one base runner through eight, Evan Longoria's first inning infield single. Jeff Niemann gave up two hits in his eight innings.Each team's bullpen pitched seven scoreless frames, further establishing 2011 as the new millennium's Year Of The Pitcher

I'm sure it was also the longest Sunday night game in innings (16) and elapsed time (5 hours 44 minutes). I remember only a handful of games lasting past midnight and into Monday morning.

No one likes to play on Sunday night. Most teams avoid scheduling night games on getaway days. The Red Sox were so worn out from the long game and late travel that they managed only 15 runs tonight in Baltimore. 

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The Twins got a taste of Instant Karma this afternoon in Minneapolis.

They lost the makeup game (all players had to wear makeup) of today's day-night doubleheader with the Indians; the rescheduling of a game they pulled the plug on early, in May when they were struggling. The rain stopped that night, and conditions became very playable.

And, just for that, they lost the night game as well. (It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.)

Two Tribe wins give them a one game lead over the idle Pretenders, who begin a three game series with the Athletics tomorrow night at Comerica.

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