The Last Out of the Season

Last night at work, at my Evanston job, they had a television on, which is a rarity there. One of the owners is a big baseball fan. The only odd thing about this is that he's Irish. He's obviously assimilated very well into his adopted country.

In any event, I kept peeking over to see what was going on in the game, which was the fourth playoff game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago White Sox. The Rays were up 2-1 in the best-of-five series. They got off to an early lead and never gave it up.

The ninth inning arrived and the White Sox got two outs. Future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, a midseason acquisition for the White Sox, came to bat.

I was suddenly transported to past little seasons for Adam. At least two of his six baseball seasons, he ended up in that situation in his little league playoffs-- at-bat with two outs in the last inning, the last chance that his team had to stay alive. I remember that each time, my ex- and I would look over at one another, and each of us knew that the other was thinking the same thing:

"Please, please, PLEASE don't let him get the last out of the season..."

Both times, he drew walks, and my ex- and I breathed sighs of relief. We knew he'd have been really upset with himself if he'd gotten the last out of the season.

Ken Griffey wasn't so lucky last night. He got the last out, and the Sox were eliminated from the playoffs.