Tanya: Hey, look at that.
Steve: Joba survives his long layoff, Nunez survives his first chance.
Tanya: Now win it here so we don't have to worry about either thing again.
Steve: Until the next series. Which I'm not ready for. This one has been exhausting.
Tanya: Pedro Strop! So there's a chance!
Steve: As we've been waiting patiently here, Justin Verlander is working on a two-hit shutout with one out in the sixth. It's just unfair that you battle back to tie a series and the other guy responds with the MVP/Cy Young winner in the next game. Stop had a 6.48 ERA in September, opponents hit .333.
Tanya: Wonder when the media will get sick of highlighting A-Rod's failures even when he's far from the only one coming up short.
Steve: He gets the big money, so he'll always be the magnet.
Tanya: Obligatory Maier reference, there.
Steve: I thought you said "Mauer" for a moment and was confused. And on we go to the 12th. Seriously, what has Joe Mauer ever done to you?
Tanya: Nothing, I can safely say.
Steve: Goodness. Look out, Joba!
Tanya: What is this game? What is this series?
Steve: Poor Joba. In the back of the elbow. He really has had some kind of year.
Tanya: He's not the guy you want to be next to in a thunderstorm.
Steve: They should not let him pitch at this point. You don't want to second-guess this. ...Good choice.
Tanya: I agree.
Steve: Talk about a fluke play. Imagine if they lose on that -- like the 1960 World Series play when Tony Kubek got hit in the throat by a bad-hop grounder.
Tanya: Only Joba.
Steve: I hope we hear the results of the "precautionary X-Ray" before this is over. I will not mention David Phelps' home run rate. I will not mention...
Tanya: You had to...
Steve: It hasn't hurt anything so far...
Tanya: Which means it's due!
Steve: True. The game will hit it's fourth hour sometime soon... I have a doctor's appointment in 12 hours. Think this game will be over by then?
Tanya: It doesn't seem like it. Is it too late to offer my kingdom for that ground ball at someone...again?
Steve: How many times can you give away the same kingdom?
Tanya: I haven't had to yet! I just want a win. Getting desperate. That wasn't the pitch for the ground ball, David.
Steve: He was just a touch below average in DP rate. For what it's worth. Great job by Phelps in the top of the 12th. ...I was just looking at the schedule. If the Yankees don't win tonight, they play tomorrow at 5, and then the ALCS starts Saturday, no break.
Tanya: And burn CC in the process.
Steve: Yes'm.
Tanya: Sounds like a good reason to end this thing now.
Steve: Half the audience's bladders have probably burst at this point. Granderson was finally ahead in the count and I thought, another non-K at-bat! This is his chance! But then he went to 3-2, and then he swung at a pitch in the dirt.
Tanya: Oh, wow. That...was exactly what I expected.
Steve: You were more cynical than I that time.
Tanya: He wanted to swing at Ball 1. I knew it was going to be ugly.
Steve: Good arm by Machado there. Bringing him up really made a huge difference to the Orioles defensively. The Captain with a walk-off?
Tanya: I hope, but I don't expect.
Steve: Hope for the best, expect the worst. Looks like Detroit is about to put that series on ice. Will it be Tigers-Orioles or Tigers-Yankees? When I was growing up in the 1980s, Tigers-Yankees was not something that ever went well for New York. Not a walk-off, but a hit!
Tanya: Can't really depend on Ichiro for the long ball.
Steve: No you can't, and so we go to the 13th.