In yesterday's post, I linked to a post from last season where I weakly threatened not to watch another Phillies game for the rest of the season due to frustration:
I'm done, I can't watch another game. It's too frustrating. It's a situation I can't control. There are better things I can do with my time. Now that I am free of the Phillies, I can play more golf, work on my new house, socialize, watch episode after episode of CSI and Law & Order with The Missus, maybe even have a conversation with her.
I'm going to treat the Phillies the way Terrell Owens treats the media. I'll don some camouflage and over-size headphones, shoot some hoops, and pretend they aren't even there.
I'm finished. Finito. No more, nada.
Sigh.
Until tonight at seven o'clock.
And lately, I've been starting to feel the same way I felt then. The day after I wrote that post, Jimmy Rollins stole home to win a game, reminded us as to why we give in and watch just one more game no matter how frustrated we are.
Last night, in an eerily similar turn of events, Rollins semi-stole home (technically it was a fielder's choice) all the way from first on a Shane Victorino single to shallow right field. The run was the fourth the Phillies scored in the top of the seventh inning against Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis, and tied the game at 5-5.
The Phightin Phils would go ahead in the top of the eighth on a leadoff homerun by Pat Burrell. They would tack on three more in the inning, and Tom Gordon would come in to pitch the bottom of the ninth for the save, Phils win, 8-5.
No doubt, it was the kind of game that keeps a phan coming back.
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Even more reminiscing about the good old days: This isn't the first time Willis blew a game late to the Phillies. On September 17th, 2005, his last start against the Phils prior to last night, the Phillies scored ten runs in the top of the ninth to win 10-2. Like last evening, Willis was cruising and it looked as if the Phillies had no answer.
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You didn't think I could let a win like this go without posting a win probability graph do you?
[courtesy of Fangraphs.com]
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