I know the Belli-to-Belly Monster Mash homers won the game for the Sox, but Mike Timlin’s been the one reliever who’s been dependable this season, and it was good to see him get the save yesterday. I was having this debate with people about Timlin as a closer - I could see some team next season paying a high price to get him as a closer, given how he closed in the late 90s…
Of course, perhaps influencing my opinion of Mike Timlin is the fact that the first baseball game I can recall watching anywhere featured Timlin. A great game for a first game - Game 6 of the 1992 World Series, perhaps one of the finest non-Sox postseason games I’ve seen, with Timlin getting the 1-out save in the 11th. Here’s Retrosheet’s fine description of that last half-inning:
BRAVES 11TH: Blauser singled to left; Berryhill reached on an
error by Griffin [Blauser to third]; SMOLTZ RAN FOR BERRYHILL;
Belliard out on a sacrifice bunt (pitcher to second) [Smoltz to
second]; HUNTER BATTED FOR LEIBRANDT; Hunter grounded out (first
unassisted) [Blauser scored (unearned), Smoltz to third]; TIMLIN
REPLACED KEY (PITCHING); Nixon grounded out (pitcher to first);
1 R, 1 H, 1 E, 1 LOB. Blue Jays 4, Braves 3. (Link)
Looking back, why did Belliard bunt? First and third, down by two, nobody out, a groundout would’ve been just as good for the one run. At worst you end up with a man on first, 1 run in, one out. And the whole idea of Smoltz being a pinch-runner is just part of what made this such a great game.
And Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli - what a team. 19 2/3 scoreless innings, and clearly Doug handles the knuckler way better than Tek.