Snake Bytes 10/25: !@#$%^&*() RAYS WIN!!!

Still trying to find the words to describe what I watched last night. Game 4 of the 2020 World Series is probably only rivaled by Game 7 of the 2001 World series in my lifetime. It is about time that the Los Angeles Dodgers had everything go wrong for them in the bottom of the ninth inning. Dave Roberts’s reaction realizing that he lost the game, and perhaps his job if Los Angeles loses the series, was priceless. Kenley Jansen didn’t do what is taught in Little League which is to back up the play at the plate no matter how bad you feel. Randy Arozarena should have been dead in the water after he fell rounding third base. Brett Phillips?!?! There was a scoring slug fest after the fourth inning. This game had everything.

World Series

[ESPN] World Series 2020: Tampa Bay Rays revel, Los Angeles Dodgers despair as Game 4 delivers baseball bliss - A game like this, jam-packed with the very things that make baseball so addictive, deserved no less than something historic — something even more improbable than Bill Buckner’s infamous gaffe Oct. 25, 1986. The denouement of Game 4 — Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith dropping a ball at home plate that allowed Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena to dash home, pound home plate with his right hand and gift-wrap their breathtaking 8-7 victory — squashed a potential coronation and breathed life into a series that’s again even. How these 4 hours, 10 minutes of pure baseball bliss came together only adds to the implausibility of it all, but then that’s why this game is bound to go down in the annals as one of the most memorable in the 116 World Series that have been played. Even before Brett Phillips looped a two-out, two-strike pitch off Kenley Jansen into center field, even before Chris Taylor committed the other error booting the ball as he tried to field it, even before Arozarena stumbled after rounding third, even before Smith’s howler let him off the hook, this was a righteous ballgame, an emotional vise, squeezing tighter and tighter until the whole thing was too much and burst in spectacular fashion.

[The Athletic] Rosenthal: A thrilling game and memorable finish for Brett Phillips and the Rays - “I saw KK do the airplane run in one of the videos,” he said, referring to teammate Kevin Kiermaier, who started the Rays’ ninth-inning comeback with his one-out, broken-bat single off the Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen. “I thought that was the coolest thing ever. So, after we won I took off like an airplane because I thought it was cool. “Little did I know, I exhausted all my energy doing the airplane. And then all the guys caught up to me and were yelling. The next thing I know, I had no energy or breath to yell. If you see me in the video, I kind of have to get out of the doggie pile. I was literally this close to passing out.”

[Bleacher Report] Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen Deflects Blame After Stunning Blown Game 4 Save vs. Rays - As Kenley Jansen deals with the fallout of his wild blown save in Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers closer was defiant when asked about his failure to seal the deal. “You can’t beat yourself up,” Jansen told reporters. “I didn’t give up one hard hit. What can I do?”

[Fansided] Kenley Jansen gives awful quote on why he didn’t back up catcher in Game 4 loss - All Jansen had to say was it doesn’t matter? Seriously? For everyone who has played baseball, backing up the catcher is one of the first things you learn in little league. Jansen just watching the play unfold as it happened was totally unacceptable, and his response after the loss was even worse. While we’re not saying had he backed up Smith it would have saved the game for LA, but we’ll never know now will we? Jansen has always been clutch for Los Angeles, but in Game 4 of the World Series, he really blew it.

[Yahoo Sports] World Series Game 4: The 5 moments that mattered most in MLB’s latest instant classic - From the fifth inning on, it felt like every half inning provided a new twist. And it all led to one of the wildest endings not only in baseball or even World Series history, but sports history.

[MLB.com] The craziest finishes in World Series history - One stop to find the best endings in World Series history.

[Sporting News] MLB fans react to Rays’ wild walk-off ending in Game 4 of the World Series - MLB fans reacted in several ways, some focusing on the unlikely hit by Phillips and others paying mind to the brutal defeat for a Dodgers team that’s fallen short in the Fall Classic twice before since 2017. Randy Arozarena’s dicey decision to round third when he probably should have held up also drew social media commentary.