Wild Night, Reyes Weasels, Bartman Praised

• Absolutely amazing night of baseball. Both wild cards decided in dramatic, improbable fashion. It's too bad most kids were in bed, because this kind of night will make you a fan for life
• The Red Sox blow a 3-2 ninth inning lead at Baltimore, while the Rays overcome a 7-run deficit against the Yankees. True, it seemed like the Yankees might have the bat boy pitch at some point, but credit the Rays. Wild card to Tampa Bay.
• The Cardinals blanked the Astros, and the Phillies outlasted the Braves in extra innings. Andy Fales looked more relieved than jubilant. Wild card to St. Louis.
• The Braves and Red Sox had two of the worst September collapses in baseball history. I've gone to Red Sox games my whole life, and I wanted them in the playoffs, but they didn't deserve to be there. Many people enjoyed the Sox and their huge payroll losing. I understand.
• Jeremy Hellickson, welcome to the playoffs. It will be fun to watch Hellboy pitch.
• Jose Reyes should be ashamed himself. Bunting for a hit, then taking himself out of the lineup to win the batting title? Weak. Somewhere, Ted Williams is rolling over in his freezer.
• The Sports Illustrated story on Walter Payton left me sad and deflated. One of my friends said he thought it humanized Sweetness. By now, we're used to our sports heroes being revealed as flawed, just like the rest of us. I still didn't enjoy the story, though it's well written, and excerpted from Jeff Pearlman's upcoming book.

• I thought the ESPN documentary "Catching Hell", the story of the Steve Bartman incident, was excellent. Ultimately, it left me disgusted by the mob mentality of thousands of Cubs fans angrily searching for a scapegoat for their team's complete collapse. It also made me appreciate the integrity of Steve Bartman himself. There is no doubt he comes out looking better than anyone else. Guy made an honest mistake, apologized for it, and then showed honor when nearly everyone around him showed none. To this day, Bartman refuses to dance for people. Good for him.