But it wasn’t meant to be. Miggy Tejada made a sweet defensive play to leave ’em loaded in the bottom of the tenth. Somewhere, Bud Selig is on the floor in the fetal position, flashbacks of the 2002 disaster replaying in his mind. Next to him, a half-written thank you letter to Dan Uggla who almost single-handedly gave the game to the AL in the tenth. In the top of the inning, Uggla grounded into a double play with a man on third. In the bottom of the frame, he made back-to-back errors on ground balls to put the first two batters on base. Aaron Cook and the defense bailed him out with three consecutive ground balls to escape the inning.

Confession time: after watching the opening ceremony, I didn’t watch a minute of the game until I turned it on in the tenth. I know it’s the last midsummer classic to be played in Ruth’s house, but I think leaving King George out of the festivities might have been a wise choice.

While Teddy Ballgame was physically debilitated in the 1999 celebration at Fenway, he was lucid and articulate chatting with the players, particularly his goosebump-inducing comments to Nomar. Steinbrenner, on the other hand, looked like an understudy in Weekend At Bernies III: A Day At The Park. It was hard to tell if he was crying while taking his victory lap around the park in a golf cart, or unloading in his Depends.
Speaking of Ted Williams, with all of the overdone fanfare and the Steinbrenner trot-out, I half expected them to unveil Number 9’s head during the pregame, Seven-style.
And with that, even though IT MATTERS!, I’m off to bed.