Five years ago today I attended my greatest sporting event of all time. Now, I've been to a Final Four, a World Series, a BCS National Championship Game, an All Star Game, and various other regular season and playoff games for all major sports. But this game was by far the best and the most memorable.
It was Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, Phillies versus Dodgers. I went out to LA to go to the game with my dad. We went to Game 3 the night before as well. That game didn't go so well for the Phillies. But we had a 2-1 series lead and could put the clamps down with a win in Game 4. The game started off great. The Phillies put up two quick runs in the first inning, silencing the sold out Dodger Stadium crowd. Unfortunately, the Dodgers responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. The middle innings saw both teams trade some runs, and going into the sixth inning the game was tied at 3. In the bottom of the sixth, Casey Blake hit a leadoff home run for the Dodgers to put them up 4-3. The place was going crazy and suddenly I felt really out of place wearing red. The Dodgers would put up another run in the inning to take a 5-3 lead into the seventh. Things were not looking good for my Phillies. The seventh inning was uneventful which brought us to the top of the eighth, the inning that changed everything.
Ryan Howard lead off the inning with a single off a tough left-handed pitcher in Hung-Chih Kuo. We had some life now. The Dodgers made a pitching change and brought in Corey Wade. He got Pat Burrell to pop out for the first out. Then Shane Victorino stepped up to the plate. He lined the first pitch he saw over the fence into the right field bullpen to tie the game! My dad and I were going nuts, as were the other random Phillies fans spread throughout the stadium. On a side note, Corey Wade was the answer to a trivia question on a Phillies broadcast last year. I, of course, remembered who gave up the home run to Victorino, but the Phils announcers did not. I was proud of myself. Now back to the game. With the game now tied, Wade recorded the second out and then gave up a single to Carlos Ruiz. The Dodgers decided to make another pitching change and bring in their closer, Jonathan Broxton. The Phillies countered by sending in Matt Stairs to pinch hit. Stairs worked a 3-1 count and then did this:
I immediately stood up and said, "Oh god!" I knew as soon as he hit it that it was out. I've been to a lot of games at Dodger Stadium and that might be the furthest ball I've seen hit there. The stadium was dead quiet afterwards as Dodger fans sat in stunned silence. But my dad and I were cheering loudly. That was the single greatest sports moment I have ever witnessed live. I still remember it vividly to this day. The Phillies would go on to win the game, win the series and advance to the World Series, where they would defeat the Rays in five games. None of that might have happened without the heroics of Matt Stairs. Even he remembers it fondly as he tweeted earlier today, "5 years ago today is when I started drinking free in Philly. Love homeruns!!!!" I love it!
And that is my greatest sporting event. I remember it like yesterday and always will. Hopefully the Phillies will give me some more memorable moments in the future.
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