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5:15pm Arizona time, Fox. Cardinals lead 2-1.
First things first: the call that ended yesterday's game was absolutely, indisputably, entirely correct. Middlebrooks impeded the runner on third from reaching home, and the rules explicitly say that there is absolutely no need for any "intent" to be shown. Once you're no longer in the actual act of fielding the ball, the runner has the right of way. Even there's literally nothing you can do, if you slow him down, it's obstruction. The rules are startlingly clear on this point; you could hardly have a better textbook example of obstruction than this. But, man: there's about five billion Sawx fans on teh Interwebz this morning, who apparently lost all reading comprehension skills overnight.
Their problems could be compounded tonight, with Buchholz nursing a bad right shoulder which makes his start likely to be a game-time decision. His last start was on October 19, but he also missed three months in the regular season with an issue in the same shoulder, though everyone is saying this is not the same thing. In the event Buchholz can't start, or has to be yanked from the game early, the Red Sox will likely turn to Ryan Dempster, who mopped up in Game One for Boston, allowing a solo home-run to Matt Holliday. Will last night's "controversial" (at least, in Massachusetts) finale fire up the Red Sox or discourage them?
We'll be at Zipps for this one, as noted previously. I wonder if they have wi-fi?