How Joe Girardi May Have Saved the Red Sox and Major League Baseball

OK, so it goes without saying that I love baseball.

I love baseball because there are certain little idiosyncrasies in the sport that make it all the worth watching. There are certain moments in a game that make all of the patience of watching balls and strikes, innings and outs, worth every minute of what other people who love football and basketball call boring. Furthermore, there are moments in the long 162 game season that come to define a team's success, their failure, their grit and overall dedication to winning. 

There was such a moment last night, 9/25/2011, where Joe Girardi had the opportunity to stand up with such conviction to the Yankees' most hated nemesis in the struggling Boston Red Sox. 

Now, bear in mind that this is going to end up being one man's conspiracy theory. But, it's baseball, it's the end of a season in a sport that is lacking luster, with more and more people finding it hard to follow. Even me sometimes. 

So, here we are, bottom of the ninth, game tied and Boston's playoff chances getting slimmer with each pitch. They are on their heels, and all they need is a tiny little push, and you could end up letting Buck Showalter and the Orioles finish them off. 

All of Girardi's moves in that inning appeared as though he was playing to win in that moment. He pinch runs for Teixeira, brings in Posada to pinch hit...then all of a sudden, the bases are loaded, Francona goes to the bullpen for one of the best closers in the game the last few years, and everyone in the stadium, watching on TV and listening on the radio are thinking, "Who's coming out of the dugout to pinch hit for Romine?" 

Am I the only one in America whose jaw dropped when his feet began to dig in against Papelbon? The poor kid, a rookie September call up, batting .200 in his brief 15 at bats (at that time, I believe), playing in Yankee Stadium against the most hated rival of a team that many players dream of playing for.

Everybody who is tuned into the game knows that Alex Rodriguez is on the bench and hasn't played much in the second half of the season. He probably could use some extra at-bats before the playoffs. Mr. Clutch in Derek Jeter is also a pencil away.

Andruw Jones is not the Andruw Jones who hit 50 home runs in 2005, but he has been a very good long ball option off of the bench. There is also Russell Martin, who disclosed before the Red Sox/Yankees last series of the season commenced that "I hate the Red Sox." 

4-4, bottom of the ninth, your hated nemesis, all of these juicy options, and Austin Romine? Really? Do you think Papelbon and the Red Sox were smiling deep down inside? Do you think Papelbon breathed a sigh of relief in that moment?

One may have been holding out hope that maybe the kid could pull something off, but, the strikeout that ended the bottom of the ninth didn't need to be foreseen by a psychic. 

All that maneuvering, and they end up playing five more innings with what is essentially a farm team, minus Granderson, Cano and Swisher. Sad. 

Now, everyone is applauding the Red Sox and Jacoby Ellsbury with coming through with such a huge victory. So much so that Jeff Passan writes this ridiculous ego stroking article claiming that "this reminded the Red Sox of who they are."

Really? A fat and juicy fastball down the middle from a pitcher who now carries a 7.41 ERA? Get out of here with that nonsense. He should have hit that ball exactly where he did. If he had missed it, we may have been reading a different article today. 

As a baseball loyalist who continues to love the sport even when most people could care less until Game 7 of the World Series, I questioned Joe Girardi's integrity. I know that this statement is heavy weighted, and most people will brush it off by saying, "They're already in the playoffs; it doesn't matter." 

They might even chime in by saying, "Rodriguez et. al. played the first game and Girardi is resting them for the playoffs." 

To the naysayers, I only have this to say: "This is baseball, dammit!!"

Baseball is a sport that continues to lose popularity, and here, you have two of the most prominent teams in baseball within one of the most historical rivalries in all of sports. It's the last game of the regular season between the two, you have your foot on their neck and you give 'em hand to pick them up? 

What kind of craziness is this? What has happened to this sport? What a major disappointment that was to witness. After Romine struck out, I turned the game off, tuned out and checked NFL scores. I don't even watch the NFL until baseball season is over, but Girardi told me and all pure baseball fans that baseball's regular season only lasts until you make the playoffs. Sad. 

I'm glad he got thrown out of the game last night; his integrity wasn't really there anyway. I know that's a heavy weighted charge, but listen, baseball does not need any of this "preparing for the playoffs" stuff. Play to win or don't play at all. 

Where's my conspiracy theory? Don't you think that Bud Selig was just hoping and praying that Joe didn't go to the bench for one of his bigger bats? Don't you imagine that when Jacoby Ellsbury hit that three-run home run that Selig, FOX and TBS were happy that Boston stayed one game up on the lackluster, but playing brilliant, Tampa Bay Rays? 

Money and television ratings come before baseball's principled, integral ethics. Conspiracy theories are just that...theories. But, everyone who watches baseball knows and understands that the billion dollar business of baseball, along with their billion dollar media outlets, are very happy today.

Let me say that should the Red Sox make it to the playoffs and get the opportunity to play the Yankees and the Red Sox win, Yankee nation, and maybe even Joe Girardi (doubt it), will be thinking differently about those bottom of the 9th decisions. 

Well, in the end, as it is the end of the regular season and baseball's "unwritten rules," at least Buck Showalter takes these last games seriously, and he and his small market, low budget Baltimore Orioles have nothing to lose.