#97. Halladay vs. Carpenter (Friday, October 7, 2011)
What was your best day…of seeing someone succeed after they had moved on from you (or your team/institution)?
I have always liked to think of myself as a Blue Jays fan first (#107, #99), and a baseball fan second (#104). But for the majority of my baseball-watching life, it was the second part of that fandom that would have to move to the forefront.
This Friday was going to be an exciting day. There were not one, but two winner-take-all Game 5’s for the National League Division Series. In the afternoon, was the Brewers vs. Diamondbacks. At night, was Phillies vs. Cardinals. It all started at 3 p.m. today; and that excitement was doubled by the fact that the Yankees had gotten knocked out by the Tigers in their Game 5 the night before.
So I did my morning classes, cut short the usual Friday afternoon badminton with my best friend Masato (thus skipping the usual Friday-night Napoleon), then got home and vegetated in front of the TV.
The first game was pretty thrilling, ending with Tony Plush getting a hit of J.J. Putz (yes, those are real names1) in extra-innings to win the series for the Brewers.
The second game was a bittersweet one for me as a Jays fan, as the two aces facing off against each other – Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter – had both been young (and at the time, pretty ineffective) players for the Blue Jays when I first got into baseball circa 19982, who had been dealt away either during (Halladay) or before (Carpenter) their primes.
I actually didn’t see the Cardinals score the first and, as it turns out, only run of the game, because of the extra innings in the previous game. So from the moment I tuned in to the moment Ryan Howard tore his Achilles on the last play to signal the end of the great Phillies dynasty, I was in a permanent state of being on the edge of my seat, seeing eight innings of masterful run-less pitching by two guys I grew up rooting for.
Confining myself in a space and staring at six straight hours of amazing, dramatic baseball was an unforgettable experience. Seeing this all as an incredibly proud but also incredibly regretful Jays fan, is what made it something special.