Playoff Pulse: Wild Game 3 Delivers Thrills

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

It took two whole games, then another two hours for the World Series to really get interesting. Boy, was it ever worth the wait.

The upshot of Game 3 is that the Phillies are suddenly looking extremely formidable, needing just two wins to capture a championship and with at least one more start from Cole Hamels -- a seemingly guaranteed win -- still in the offing. But that's just the fallout from the first real classic of this series, and maybe the best World Series game outright in the last five years.

The devil is, of course, in the details.

We should have known right from the get-go that this was going to be wild one. It had the latest start time of any game in World Series history. Jamie Moyer threw the first pitch at 10:06 PM ET, and right from the start he was painting corners.

Part of what makes October baseball so great is that it can crown the unlikeliest of heroes. Moyer -- 45 years old, topping out at 83 or 84 mph and, as it turns out, pitching with a severe stomach virus -- is about as unlikely as they come.

But there he was, killing the Rays with kindness, bewildering their aggressive hitters with his 82 mph lukewarm.

Moyer, pitching in his first World Series ever, certainly deserved to win, considering Carl Crawford's bunt single in the seventh should have been an out instead of the spark for a two-run rally. In the end, Moyer's mastery was just the appetizer.

B.J. Upton legged out an infield single in the eighth, stole second and third base and scored on an errant throw by Carlos Ruiz to tie the game at 4-all. Well after midnight, the see-saw seemed to be tilting toward Tampa Bay. It appeared even moreso when Jayson Werth was picked off second base in the bottom of the inning, but then the Rays made miscues of their own.


A hit by pitch, a wild pitch and a wild throw later, Eric Bruntlett was on third ready to dash home and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the series. Even the winning run couldn't cross the plate without some weirdness -- a swinging bunt by Ruiz down the third base line brought Bruntlett home, beating Joe Maddon's five-man infield of all things and a wild scoop throw by Evan Longoria that failed to cut him down.

Other than the borderline barbaric start time, this is what playoff baseball is supposed to be: close plays, comebacks and plenty of wild uncertainty.

The ALCS MVP (Matt Garza) vs. Old Man Moyer looked like a mismatch of epic proportions coming into Game 3. It turned out just the opposite, and now it's the Rays who find themselves in big trouble and facing even more of the uncertainty that makes playoff baseball must-see television, even in the dead of night. They'll send Andy Sonnanstine to the mound Sunday against Joe Blanton in the biggest toss up this series has to offer.

There's no such thing as a must-win game until a team is actually facing elimination, but Tampa Bay would be wise to even the series in Game 4 so as to avoid facing Hamels with its playoff life on the line.

Games 1 and 2 of the World Series played to form, but Game 3 was a different matter entirely. Even if no one was watching Saturday night, the Rays and Phillies showed why this could be the best Fall Classic in years.

Competitiveness breeds unpredictability, and that's just what lies ahead in this series.

Yesterday's Hero: Carlos Ruiz, who continues to be a pleasant surprise at the plate. Honorable mention to Jamie Moyer, Chase Utley and B.J. Upton.

Yesterday's Goat: The trio of J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour and Dioner Navarro who combined to put Eric Bruntlett on third base in the decisive ninth inning. Honorable mention to Jayson Werth.