Off Topic
After a ball and a called strike, Tyler grounded weakly back to the mound, and that was that.
The Nine would leave the bases full again in the 11tt, and then escape a tense situation in the 12th when Angel Hernandez got Aarnoud Budding to strike out with a man on second.
Enter the 12th inning, and redemption time.
Chicago had gone to a lefthander in Brian Smith, who had plunked Dong-po Thum to lead off the inning. Thum promptly stole second and was moved over to third on a grounder from Ricardo “Moo” Mendoza. So with one out and Thum on Third (say that three times fast, will ya?) rookie Blaine Tyler found himself with another chance to bring home the run that would defeat the Sox and send the Nine on to the Delightful Realm of the Doubleday Round. After running the count to full, that’s exactly what he did—drilling a hard grounder off the mitt of shortstop Jose Silva, Tyler brought the runner home and set off as much delirium in the Nine fanbase ass there is to set off.
“Good on the boys in red,” said Mavin Coolerirgde. “It’s nice to see them advance a notch. Pip pip!”
It’s been a up and down year for the young rookie, who contributed 16 homers while hitting .232 on the year, but this moment seems to have made up for a lot of frustration.
“I’m so happy,” the 23-year-old said in a post-game interview. “I dreamed of this as a kid, you know. To have it happen in the playoffs is just too much.” Then his team mates hit him with a pie in the face, and a good time was had by all.
