Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS. I'm watching it at Lizard's Liquid Lesbian Lounge on Irving Park (Liz lived above the bar, so she had awesome internet inside the bar). Tigers won game 1 (in Boston) and are up 5-1 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th....but bases loaded for Boston and David Ortiz coming up to bat. I get up and go to the men's room cuz I know what's about to happen and don't wanna watch this shit go down. Put one in Papi's ribs, roll the ball across the plate 4 times and walk in 1 run. But do fucking not throw anything close to a strike to Ortiz in Fenway with bases loaded this late in the game. Of course, first pitch is up and out over the plate. Ortiz deposits it on the other side of the RF fence.
Tiger's rotation that year featured 3 of the last 6 Cy Young winners (Verlander (2011), Scherzer (2013) and Porcello (2016)) and still Jimmy Smokes couldn't win a fucking World Series::
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The tragic setup for Motown unfolded like this: Max Scherzer was spent after seven innings in Game 2 of the ALCS. The AL Cy Young winner gave up one earned run and struck out 13 in a 108-pitch outing. What a bum. He turned over that work and a 5-1 lead to the bullpen.
Yep, a 5-1 lead with six outs to go and a win-probability of 97.2 percent wasn't enough for a team that featured the AL Cy Young and AL MVP. Jose Veras, Drew Smyly, Al Alburquerque and Joaquin Benoit would each be charged one earned run after the carnage. But the bull's-eye is permanently on Benoit, who got handed the baseball with the bases loaded and two outs.
If Papi singles, the Tigers still lead. If Papi doubles, the Tigers still lead. If Papi hits that rare triple, something he did once at Fenway that season, then the Tigers still lead. But the inevitable happened. In retrospect, the only surprise is that it happened so fast -- in one bleeping pitch.
[Previously in Homer History: Bill Mazeroski's great walk-off World Series winner]
"David Ortiz walks to the plate with the bases loaded, you’re thinking grand slam,” Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said.
"There were 24 guys in the dugout and 40,000 here that knew he was gonna hit a granny," Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes said.
The upside was Ortiz's grand slam and the Red Sox subsequent taking of the ALCS in six games knocked Jim Leyland right into retirement a week later.
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