EPIC NIGHT...

Last night was one for the ages in more ways than one.  First off, it was Pub Trivia Night at the bar and while most of us expected a quiet night thanks to the Jewish holidays, we actually ended up with a good crowd.  And the folks that were there for Trivia definitely made the most of the evening.

And if that wasn't enough to keep the folks at the bar happy, you had not one, not two, but THREE epic baseball games, all with MAJOR playoff implications, all going on at the same time.  Four teams were battling for two wild card spots.

 In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals had already won their game earlier in the evening to claim a "tie" for the Wild Card; meaning that if Atlanta Braves won their game with Philadelphia, they would play each other in a one-game playoff with the National League Wild Card berth on the line.  As luck would have it,  Atlanta would go into the top of the ninth with a 3-2 lead, needing only 3 more outs to win the game.  And of course, Murphy's Law kicked in, when Philadelphia loaded up the bases and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly.

The game went into extra innings and the two teams went tit-for-tat until Philadelphia took the lead in the 13th inning.  Going into the bottom of the 13th, Atlanta managed to get a runner on base but it ended up coming up short, thus ending their season on a 4-3 loss and giving St. Louis a bid into the playoffs.

Meanwhile in the American League, Boston and Tampa Bay had their own battles to gain a Wild Card spot.

The Red Sox, in the midst of a searing freefall during the month of September, found themselves needing a win over the Baltimore Orioles to secure at least a tie for the Wild Card.  Boston had the game well in hand before a rain delay and their continued streak of bad luck allowed Baltimore to come back.  And in the bottom of the ninth, with their ace closer on the mound ready to close out a 3-2 victory, not only does he allow the tying run to score, but the winning run to score right after that.  Boston loses 4-3.

But there's still a glimmer of hope for the Red Sox.  In the other game of note, Tampa Bay was playing against the NY Yankees.  The Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead, only to have the Rays climb back into the game, tying it with a two out-two strike home run.  All kinds of scoreboard watching was taking place and when Tampa Bay fans realized that Boston had lost their game, all eyes turned to Evan Longoria, who promptly hit a home run, crushing Red Sox Nation's hopes and dreams in one fell swoop.

It was a great night to be a baseball fan as most of the folks sticking around the bar would attest.


TONIGHT: Catch some great Pre-season NHL Hockey as the Montreal Canadiens face off vs Tampa Bay, followed by Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks.  It's also "Flavorful Thursdays", with $5 flavored vodka drinks and $20 buckets of Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue or Alexander Keith's Nova Scotia Pale Ale (5-10pm).

Cheers!