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Wow. Wow wow wow. If you didn't see any of the magic of #WalkoffWednesday, you have another chance to redeem yourself today on the third (and last) quadrupleheader of the playoffs.
Cardinals 8, Nationals 0 - St. Louis took a quick 1-run lead, added a 3-run home run off of Edwin Jackson in the 2nd inning, and basically didn't look back. Chris Carpenter pitched 5.2 scoreless innings in his postseason return. Sorry for the short treatment, but this game was boring compared to what came later... Cardinals lead series 2-1.
Giants 8, Reds 3 - Angel Pagan led off the game with a home run, but Barry Zito gave that right back in the bottom of the 1st inning with two outs by walking three, including walking in the tying run. But the Giants got the lead back in the 2nd and added on in the 4th and 7th innings. Tim Lincecum pitched 4.1 innings in relief and allowed just one run. The Giants have pushed the Reds right back to the brink of elimination. Series tied 2-2.
Orioles 2, Yankees 3 (12) - Game one of two crazy walk-offs tonight. It was 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th inning - Orioles rookies Ryan Flaherty and Manny Machado hit solo home runs for their two runs - when Joe Girardi pinch hit Raul Ibanez for Alex Rodriguez. He said he did it because his gut told him to. Well, Ibanez goes ahead and hits a solo home run to tie the game. Three innings later, he hits a solo home run to win the game. Yeah, he's the first baseball player to do that, and he didn't even start the game. Lost in the excitement are the great starts by both Miguel Gonzalez (7 IP / 1 R) and Hiroki Kuroda (8.1 IP / 2 R). Yankees lead series 2-1.
Tigers 3, Athletics 4 - Game two of the crazy walk-off magic. While the Tigers got two runs off of rookie A.J. Griffin, the A's were struggling mightily against Max Scherzer, who struck out eight. Stephen Drew's run-scoring double with no outs in the sixth inning was the first hit Max gave up. However, the third base coach waved Drew around to third base, where he was so totally out. And that lost opportunity was the focus of the game (or at least the television cameras) until the bottom of the 9th. Back to a two-run deficit in the very definition of a must-win game, facing closer Jose Valverde, the A's somehow made it happen. A single-double-double tied it up at 3-all, and with two outs Coco Crisp singled to right to bring in Seth Smith and send the A's and Tigers to Game 5.
And because the Giants and A's both won yesterday, that brings us to another day of wall-to-wall baseball.
NLCS Game 5: San Francisco Giants @ Cincinnati Reds, 10:07am on MLBN: Matt Cain vs Mat Latos
NLCS Game 4: St. Louis Cardinals @ Washington Nationals, 1:07pm on TBS: Kyle Lohse vs Ross Detwiler
ALCS Game 4: Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees, 4:37pm on TBS: Joe Saunders vs Phil Hughes
ALCS Game 5: Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics, 6:37pm on TNT: Justin Verlander vs Jarrod Parker
October baseball, folks. I know the Diamondbacks aren't in it, but it is exciting stuff! (Plus, some of our former players are key pieces on these teams!)