Hi Everyone —
I’ve been listening to your suggestions for how we can keep making JoeBlogs better and more interactive, and today I’m introducing a new JoeBlogs feature that I’m calling The Breakdown.
Here’s the idea: I will take a sports moment — mostly baseball, sure, but we can do this across sports — and I will break it down JoeBlogs-style, with interludes, historical references, terrible puns, and silliness. You know what we do here.
Today’s Breakdown will be of that crazy finish between the Phillies and Red Sox.
And I’d love for you to be involved. If you see a moment, any moment, that you think deserves The Breakdown treatment, just drop me a line and we’ll put it in the queue!
THE BREAKDOWN: A PHILADELPHIA ENDING
Our first Breakdown is dedicated to our pal Linda Holmes — who got more joy out of this ending than probably anyone in America.
Here is how Monday night’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies ended. Tenth inning. Score tied 2-2.
— Boston sent out Jordan Hicks, who I think is this generation’s Ryne Duren.
— Ryne Duren was a 1950-60s pitcher with a Superman fastball and Clark Kent control. He wore thick glasses and reportedly couldn’t see home plate even with those on. Yankees manager Casey Stengel — who truly was a managerial genius — was able to squeeze two great years from Duren out of the bullpen. Numerous other teams tried to recapture that magic but couldn’t quite do it.
— I’d say some of the Ryne Durens through the years have included: Bruce Berenyi, Jordan Hicks, Calvin Schiraldi, Jerry Spradlin, Turk Wendell, Mitch Williams (of course), Joel Zumaya …
— Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh materialized at second base without doing anything because that’s the extra-inning rule these days.
— Hicks walked Otto Kemp on four pitches. It was listed as an unintentional walk, but it felt pretty intentional.
— I wish they had intentionally walked Kemp because that would have meant it was Ottomatic.
You get the pun for free … now get the rest!
Join now to read the full Breakdown of one of baseball’s wildest-ever endings — and get every future one the second it drops. Also in today’s post: Royals decisions, Shohei joy, and Mike Brown mayhem in Cincinnnati.
Get the rest!