Just thought I'd give a different perspective of "the Game." I'm a longtime lurker of this forum and saw all the other game recaps and thought I'd post mine. Don't know if it'll be interesting or not.
Background: I'm currently in the Air Force and located at Osan AB, South Korea for the second time in 3 years. My wife and son are back in Florida where I will eventually be next June.
The day started for me at 6 pm, Sunday when I woke up from a 4 hour nap and was hoping that it was game time. The next 8 hours saw me killing time any way I could to try and stay awake and make sure that I was up for the game. Little did I know that the adrenaline flowing through me would make sleep impossible.
I didn't get to see Game 6 of '86 due to other commitments (ended up listening to the game off and on throughout the day before standing in a parking lot, listening on the radio for the last four innings).
"The game" started at 2 am for me, and I thank god every day for the Armed Forces Network. Got to see the whole thing and learned a little about American and military history at the same time.
When LaRoche hit the slam, I now worried that I was going to have to watch Game 5 while working. I already had to go through Game 2 at work, and I had to miss a lot of it running around. I really didn't want to have to go through with that during a Game 5. By the bottom of the 5th, I was hoping for one run at all off of Hudson so I wouldn't have to hear how about how bad the Astros offense is for the next 24 hours. Luckily, they got the one run (should have been more, bases loaded with one out) and all I kept thinking to myself was that they just needed to score a run an inning to tie it up.
Of course, then it went to the 8th and became 6-1 after Wandy gave up the homer to McCann. At this point, I thought it was just about over and started getting ready for bed so that I could get up in the morning and go run. Bottom of the inning was just a train wreck of emotions. I didn't want to get pulled back in, but the way things unfolded, I couldn't help it. The two runners getting on base made me start feeling that something important was happening. I got out of bed and started pacing, Scott's walk was maddening as I kept expecting him to K. Then Berkman came up, and you just knew what was coming next. 6-5 and I was expecting Ensberg or Lamb to tie it up. Lamb almost did with a warning track shot.
At this point, I couldn't watch the top of the ninth and went out for a smoke. Came back in to see the end of the inning. Started thinking about the lineup with Lane, Everett, and Ausmus. Was hoping Lane would tie it up quickly like he had been doing over the past month. Nope, Vizcaino up, strange, guess they pulled Everett. 2 outs. Ausmus, its the right thing to do here. Hope he gets a hit and bring up Bagwell. Ausmus has hit well since the break, maybe he can come through here. Holy crap, he hit that solid but Andruw should be able to get to it. Wow, that keeps going, wow, Andruw isn't going to catch it, wow, go three Brad, wow, home run. Brad Ausmus just hit a game tying home run?
Most of the rest of the game was just a blur due to the stress, the fatigue, and the fact that no runs were scored. Berkman's double brought on Burke in the 10th and I was really hoping the Astros would score there since the lineup was looking pretty weak. Ensberg's double play ended that though. Seemed like a classic "Houston's going to lose this game, Houston always loses this game" type game. Lidge came on and scared the crap out of me at first. Always tough to watch him pitch in a non-save situation. Got two. Started worrying about Monday again as bullpen was getting worked.
Wheeler on in the 13th, another smoke for me. Had 2 just in case I wouldn't make it back out there for awhile. Came back in and Dan already had 2 outs. Started instant messaging my wife and friend at this point, giving updates on the game. Wife was doing homework, told her to turn on the game. Priorities, dear, priorities.
Wheeler somehow made it through the 15th on fumes. He just looked tired, like he knew that he didn't have anything left. Come on Danny, just get through this inning. Offense wasn't doing crap. Kept hoping Biggio would end it, nope.
Roger in the 16th, you just knew that he would keep it scoreless. However, you knew it would only be for a few innings. If it went 20, Braves were probably going to win. 17th, I started begging for a run. 18th, Clemens wants to end this, he knows he can't go much longer. After he K's, Burke's up. Just a hit Burke, we need base runners. WOOOOOOOO!!!!!
I'm jumping, I'm delirious, it's 8 am, I'm sitting down on the floor watching the celebration, I'm starting to get tears in my eyes. Astros never win games like this. Watch Sportscenter with a big smile on my face. Takes about an hour for the adrenaline to finally leave my body. Wake up 4 hours later, read all the articles, watch Sportscenter again, watch the video on MLB.com, go back to sleep. Can't wait for Thursday.
