Thursday, December 29, 2011

No Washington pitcher has ever clinched a post season series














Anyone who reads this blog knows I have a mild obsession with pitchers who throw the last out of a playoff series and get mobbed by their teammates on the mound.

I've written about it many times including this gem.

And I'm working on a blog series on that topic. I already posted one about the Red Sox.

So going through the other teams I realized that baseball fans of the city of Washington D.C. have never experienced the site of a pitcher throwing his hands in the air and being mobbed at the end of a post season series.


Never once.

Not a World Series, LCS or Division Series.

Every other big league city has had that experience at least once. Even the two places where big league baseball doesn't exist anymore had that moment. Johnny Podres was in the middle of a mob for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Steve Rogers clinched a series for the Montreal Expos.


But three different franchises have played in Washington DC in the 20th and 21st centuries. One became the Twins. One became the Rangers. One used to be the Expos.

And in all of those years and teams they have combined for one post season series win. The 1924 World Series. But that one ended with a walk off hit: Earl McNeely's bad hop single that scored Muddy Ruel in the bottom of the 12th in Game 7.

Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher but the celebration was at the plate.

So take note Washington pitchers Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Tyler Clippard or Drew Storen. If you get to play October and you find yourself on the mound with a chance to win a series, you'll be giving Washington fans a sight that they have NEVER seen.

Unless of course you consider most Washington fans were Baltimore fans and they saw a lot of post season celebrations. But that's quibbling.





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1 comment:

  1. I have read many of your posts on this blog and I have noticed that mild obsession with pitchers you talked about, but I do not mind about it at all, I actually like it because I have a similar obsession lol

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