Two extra-innings nail-biters in 25 hours

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. There's nothing in baseball that says

a club needs "the best offense I've ever seen," or even a good one, to win a game. The Dodgers of my first season (1965) averaged about 3½ runs per game, yet won tphe World Series with pitching, fielding and baserunning, and just plain old smarts. There're several ways to win; one is to take advantage of opponents' mistakes. That, nor any of the other ways, take anything away from a win.

As I wrote earlier, I sincerely feel bad for the guy. I've sincerely felt bad for a lot of guys over the last 61seasons, even when we were the beneficiaries of their mistakes or their bad luck, or even our better play. (Dennis Eckersley in the first game of the1988 World Series comes immediately to mind. I can still see the stunned look on his face after he gave up Kirk Gibson's "impossible" homer as if it hapened five minutes ago.)

But, that's baseball. Always has been.over 156 years. And, win or lose, I hope it always will be, because without human nature, it'd be pointless.