The Wrong Way To Win

With the calendar about to flip over to August, we're officially into the heart of the Major League Baseball pennant race.  Last night's 19-inning game between the Atlanta Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates may end up impacting the National League Wild Card picture at season's end; with Atlanta winning the game, the Braves maintained their 3.5 game lead over Arizona, while the Pirates fell out of first place in the NL Central and 4.5 back in the Wild Card.  The result of the game, though, wasn't nearly as interesting as the controversial way in which it ended.  In case you haven't seen it yet, below is the video of Mike McKenry's "missed tag" on Julio Lugo that gave the Braves the victory at around 1:50 AM.

As badly as the Braves needed this win to halt a three-game slide and get back into the win column in a very tight NL race, this wasn't the way anyone wanted it to go down.  I stayed up to watch the game through the 16th inning, glued to MLB Network's MLB Tonight program anxiously awaiting live updates from Turner Field in Atlanta, before finally giving up and going to sleep around 1 AM.  When I woke up this morning and found out what happened (and watched the highlight above), I was actually a little depressed.  While the victory was huge for the Braves - you hate to drop a game in which you played 19 innings and every one of your relievers and position players were used - knowing that the Braves probably (the video evidence isn't 100% conclusive . . .) didn't deserve to win on Scott Proctor's RBI grounder gave me a feeling of regret, not a feeling of satisfaction.

While I feel bad that the Braves won on the above play, I feel worse that this is all people are going to remember from what was otherwise a fantastic and exciting baseball game.  The teams combined for 26 scoreless innings of relief after starters Jeff Karstens and Tommy Hanson exited with the game tied at 3.  Braves reliever Cristhian Martinez came out of the bullpen and gave Atlanta six incredible scoreless innings, and Scott Proctor got the win with three scoreless in addition to his game-winning fielder's choice.  For Pittsburgh, Jason Grilli and Daniel McCutchen were similarly fantastic; despite getting the loss, the latter threw 92 pitches in a game he wasn't even expecting to appear in.

ESPN's David Scoenfield does a good job of explaining why this ordeal was such a shame, but I'll try to explain it in my own words, too.  Long extra inning games are some of the most exciting games in baseball, thanks to the sport's "last licks" format. As a fan, you're always on the edge of your seat, either afraid that your club will surrender the lead at any moment or eagerly anticipating a walkoff win for your Club.  But when a game ends the way the Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh game concluded last night, all of that excitement and fun is replaced by doubt.  After watching the replay this morning, I had a bad taste in my mouth and regretted staying up to watch 16 innings of a 19-inning game that my team might not have deserved to win.