Both sets of Sox got laundered last night, each a little more pale this morning---and in Chicago, that's saying something.
I like the best of 5's, though. They really put a lot of pressure on both teams to play their best baseball.
The All-time greatest best of 5 series, for any fan of real baseball was the 1980 Phillies-Astros NLCS, with Game 5 being one of the best play-off games ever to be played.
The Phillies series featured 4 extra inning games, all of which took considerably less time to play than the LAD/Cardinals game the other night.
Game 5, an 8-7 Championship clinching win for the Phillies, was a 10 inning affair, lasting 3 hours and 38 minutes, well less than that Dodgers 9 inning game the other night. The Astros had won a one-game play-off against those Dodgers, btw, to get into the play-offs. Nolan Ryan started the game vs rookie Marty Bystrom, at home in the Dome, and it certainly looked like Houston would have the edge going into the game.
The game was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 7th, when the Astros scored 3 runs to take a 5-2 lead. Ryan was still pitching when the Phillies answered in the top of the 8th, loading the bases and getting a walk by Rose off Ryan to make it 5-3. Then relievers Joe Sambito and Ken Frosch failed to hold the Phils down, and they scored 4 more runs to take a 7-5 lead.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Astros came right back and scored 2 to tie it off of Tug McGraw (who was being asked to get a two inning save, having already pitched in the previous 4 games).
At 7-7, in the 10th, Del Unser and Garry Maddox both doubled to give the Phils an 8-7 lead. Dick Ruthven retired three Astros hitters in the 10th, and the Phils went off to the World Series, their second in franchise history, and the first they'd ever win since 1888, when the losingest franchise in all of sports began it's strange history.
Nolan Ryan called the game the biggest loss I've ever had...and...more emotional than any game I have ever been in.
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