another 9th, another 7

no sooner do we conjure up 7-run 9th-inning rallies here in the curveblog than the cardinals repeat the feat. their late comeback from a six-run deficit ranks as the greatest 9th-inning uprising in franchise history — which means "roger freed game I," in which they erased a five-run deficit in the 9th, must have held the honor heretofore. i didn’t know that when i wrote the post.

the game also stirred memories in redblogland — bad memories. throughout the long rally, posters there kept referring to something called "the mother’s day massacre" — a game from 2002 that i had completely forgotten about. anybody remember this?

reds fans sure do. and it haunted every hit, run, and error in the top of the 9th last night, making the experience all the more painful and surreal to them — a recurring nightmare. it gives me no pleasure to read, ex post facto, the real-time grief of great fans as they watched their tradition-rich team go to pot. . . . .

JD at the red reporter had opened his game thread with this prayer: "All that matters tonight, and for the next two days, is heart. How bad do the Reds want to turn things around? How much do they want to avoid playing out the string for the next five months? . . . Let's go Reds. Give us a reason to hope."

such (ie reason to hope) had already departed before the first pitch for Falls City Beer, who posted at the redszone: "Honest question here: will you feel better if the Reds sweep this series? Will that change your opinion? I only ask because I have no hope that even a sweep of the Cards in this series will make a bit of difference."

in the 5th over at red reporter, a reader calling himself paul householder idly observed: "The Reds are currently down 1-0 in the bottom of the 5th. I predict that the Reds will get to Carpenter for three runs by the end of the 6th. Miley will send one of the following out to try to hold the lead: Joe Valentine, Ben Weber, or David Weathers. Some combination of the above will blow the lead, and Graves will give up the winning run in the top of the 9th via a home run."

memo to householder: please e-mail me whatever you’re betting at pimlico today.

in the bottom of the 8th, with the reds leading 9-3, Super Barry 11 entered the reds zone and declared gleefully: "I KNEW that if I skipped my bio final exam review session to watch the game, then the Reds would lose miserably, because that's just my luck. So I went to the review session, missing almost the entire game. But look at what I got to come home to!! YAYEE!!"

"I'd say you better be doing some serious studying the rest of the year then," quoth redsfan 30.

Virginia Beach Reds said: "First 'blowout' win of the season. Boy, only took a month." redsfan 30: "We really needed a night like this for our morale. A win will help things around here. May not make the Reds instant playoff contenders, but it will help the tone of things."

at red reporter, paul householder was backing off his earlier forecast of doom: "OK. Even David Weathers could not blow a six-run lead." but they were still edgy in the redszone as the 9th got underway:
Fullboat: "6-run lead — I'm o.k. with bringing in Graves in now." — but after the leadoff walk to molina: "Why is graves not out there?"
KronoRed: "Because we want to win?"
redsfan30: "Not a save situation." — and, after eckstein’s single loaded the bases: "Guess what guys....It is now a save situation."
Fullboat: "He can't blow a 6 run lead can he?"
KronoRed: "Weathers is sure trying to."

after cedeno’s whiff, a sigh of relief from MWM: "I'm very glad [Aurilia] played well tonight. He contributed significantly to the win and I'll take that any time he can give it." and an immediate rebuke from Raisor: "Do NOT tempt the baseball gods with calling this game a ‘win’ before the last out. Thou shallt receive one billion negative points if the Reds lose."

two batters later, after edmonds’ homer made it 9-8:
Raisor: "I blame MWM."
redsfan30: "good lord."
Virginia Beach Reds: "I spoke to soon. Oh my gosh."
Raisor: "I guess it's a save situation now."
Rosie Red: "Super Barry, go back to the library! Quick!"

after mabry’s dinger:
Reds Fanatic: "I can't believe it. I don't know how we will ever recover from this."
wheels: "Oh. My. Dear. Lord."
Mitri: "oh man oh man oh man"
Raisor: "MWM, prepare for a billion million negative points." `
MWM: "This is the single worst loss I can remember in my years of following the Reds."
Mutaman: "I've been a reds fan for a long, long time. This may be the low point."
Super Barry: "I'm sorry!!! I HAD to come home!! The review session was over, and I was too scared to walk all the way to the library in the dark!!! I'm sorry, guys!!!"

it stung no less at red reporter:
Greg in Atl: "I've been following the Reds for 38 years, and I can't remember an uglier loss. More painful yes, but not uglier."
pw: "The season's over, if not for the Reds, then for me. I'm not wasting any more time watching this crap."
jgoodfri: "Goodbye, cruel world, it's over... How many think we'll ever see the Reds have a seven run comback in the 9th against the Cardinals in our lifetime?"

this at redszone:
ws1990reds: "You know what brought back the Cardinals? PUJOLS. He busted his ass down the first base line on that grounder, and there isn't a single Reds player that would have done that."

at red reporter, JD ref’nced paul householder’s cynical 5th-inning prediction of doom: "I laughed when I saw it. And then it came true. . . . . . And yet I was still stunned."

i give the last word to redmachine2003, who summed up in redszone: "This was a very sad game."