If you like your baseball with a side of anxiety, this is your weekend. Buckle up.
As infuriating as the Red Sox' play has been over the last week, you have to give them this: they've sure made it interesting, likely all the way through Game No. 162 on Sunday.
We've already seen that the quality of opponent doesn't matter this time of year. If it did, the Red Sox would have swept the rebuilding Orioles in Baltimore earlier this week and moved close to wrapping up a playoff spot. Instead, either the Red Sox are playing down to the level of the teams they're facing, or, the out-of-contention teams, with nothing to lose, have made it their business to make life miserable and play like their own seasons depend on the outcome of these otherwise meaningless games.
The postseason doesn't start until Tuesday. Unless, of course, a play-in game is needed Monday. In which case, those are still considered regular season games, anyway. And.....never mind. It feels like the playoffs are underway already, and the Sox have drawn two of the lowest possible first-round seeds who have decided to play spoiler.
There's no time to breathe. The tension starts right from the first batter. In the case of Eduardo Rodriguez, that was literally true when leadoff hitter Lane Thomas roped a double to left. And right away, the Sox had to contend with a baserunner in scoring position.
That, however, was a veritable cakewalk compared to the fourth inning when the Nationals used a walk to Juan Soto and two straight singles to load the bases with no outs.
"I just told myself, 'Don't miss the spot on the next pitch,' '' recounted Rodriguez, "and just know that the next pitch you're going to throw is the right pitch. That's what I'm thinking every time.''
That power of positive thinking seemed to be the proper approach when Rodriguez wiggled out of the inning without allowing a run. First came a strikeout, then a foul pop-up. And finally, Kike Hernandez, situated near the outfield grass, raced in to glove a slow chopper by Andrew Stevenson. It involved quick glovework, and a shovel to first, just nabbing the baserunner. Not bad for a guy who's played almost no infield for the past two months.
"That's something you don't see every day,'' marveled Rodriguez in a massive bit of understatement.
The Sox finally got around to scoring some runs in the sixth, using the longball twice in the span of two hitters -- Hunter Renfroe and Bobby Dalbec -- to microwave four quick runs.
Then came the parade of relievers from the bullpen. Ryan Brasier was sharp, Matt Barnes was not. Darwinzon Hernandez was lucky more than anything, failing to retire either of the two hitters he faced, but benefiting from an ill-advised decision by Soto to go first-to-third while trailing by three runs and ultimately bailed out by J.D. Martinez, who started in right field.
After Adam Ottavino endured yet another shaky inning (homer, long double), it fell to Hansel Robles to close things out. It's come to that: Robles as the closer in Game 160 was a little like the team turning to Ryan Lavarnway to provide some thump in Game 161 in 2011. But whatever gets you through the night.
Say this for Robles: he may not be very consistent throwing strikes (22 pitches, 12 balls), but he's not unnerved by the pressure. As home plate umpire James Hoye refused to give him pitches on the outside corner with the tying run on first and the go-ahead run at the plate, Robles mostly smiled a lot as he got the baseball back from Christian Vazquez.
Eventually, he got rookie Keibert Ruiz to fly to right, putting everybody out of their misery, with the Sox holding on, however precariously, to a 4-2 victory.
"That roller coaster -- it's fun, but it's not fun,'' said Alex Cora. "It's stressful, but it's not stressful. Of course, you really want it in a different way, so you can breathe and get ready for next week, like some of the teams that have clinched already. But this is where we're at. We've got to take advantage of every day. You've got to try to enjoy it as much as possible. We just have to keep going, keep grinding and get ready for the playoffs.''
Send in the playoffs.
Oh. Don't bother. They're here.