Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
October 17, 2003, Washington Post

Touching All the Bases

You can have the World Cup, the Super Bowl and even the NCAA tournament. They are all great sports events, but nothing beats playoff baseball. Especially this autumn, when game after game is played down to the last, nail-biting out in legendary old ball parks including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.

Just think about all the crazy, improbable action that has happened since the regular season ended and the second season, the playoffs, began.

• Upsets? We got 'em. Say a quick goodbye to the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants. These two National League powerhouses each won more than 100 games this year but couldn't win three games in the division series.

• We should have known things were going to be a little weird when the first game in the series between the Oakland A's and the Boston Red Sox was won by a two-out, bases-loaded bunt in extra innings. By a catcher!

The Red Sox were given up for dead after they lost their first two games to the A's. But the Bosox took the advice of their Texas-bred first baseman, Kevin Millar, and they "cowboyed up" and came back to beat the A's three straight times.

• Talk about comebacks . . . how about those Marlins! The Wrigley Field faithful were dreaming of the Cubs' first World Series appearance in 58 years when Chicago had a 3-0 lead in the top of the eighth inning of Game 6. But the never-say-die Marlins scored eight runs to shock the cursed Cubbies and then went on to win Game 7 to head to the World Series.

Of course, the Marlins might never have come back, if a fan -- a Cubs fan! -- hadn't reached up and knocked a foul ball away from the glove of Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. Come on, Cubs fans, you're supposed to help your team. Unbelievable.

• And who would believe that little-used New York Yankees outfielder Karim Garcia would have as much impact as star slugger Jason Giambi? Or that Red Sox second baseman Todd Walker would have more than twice as many home runs as Sammy Sosa? Or that Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood would outslug Nomar Garciaparra?

Maybe Nomar should forget about looking good for his wedding to soccer star Mia Hamm and shave his head for good luck as some of his Red Sox teammates have done.

• The 2003 playoffs have announced the arrival of some great young pitchers. The Cubs' Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and the Marlins' Josh Beckett are all blessed with blazing fastballs and knee-buckling curveballs.

But the most surprising pitcher of the playoffs has been Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Even though he throws barely hard enough to make a high school team, Wakefield won two early games by bamboozling the Yankees with his trademark pitch that floats to home plate like a butterfly.

• Not every Red Sox hurler has made Boston proud. Pedro Martinez, probably the best pitcher in baseball, touched off a bench-clearing brawl by throwing a fastball near the head of Garcia. Being a great pitcher doesn't make him a good sport or a good person. There is no excuse for throwing at another player's head.

• The beanball made Yankees coach Don Zimmer so furious that the 72-year-old grandpa later rumbled across the field and tried to punch Pedro. Zimmer apologized the next day for his behavior.

Comebacks. Home runs. Upsets. Surprise stars. Even the fans and the coaches are getting in on the action. There's nothing like playoff baseball.

And the World Series hasn't even started yet. That part of the fun begins tomorrow night.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids.