The turnaround that happened last night was unbelievable! Prior's meltdown is what surprised me the most. Now I know the "fan" is getting all the blame. But the situation before the fan interference was:
Score 3-0, top of the 8th, 1 out, man on second, full count.
The situation after the interference:
Score 3-0, top of the 8th, 1 out, man on second, full count.
So technically nothing changed. But somehow everything changed.
The biggest mistake Prior made was the 0-2 pitch to Rodriguez which drove in the first Marlin run. Now, I think Mark Prior is the best pitcher in baseball. One of the major reasons is that he never seems to make mistakes. But leaving an 0-2 breaking ball over the plate was a big mistake. I guess he might have been trying to induce a double play ball to get out of the inning. Or maybe he was just tired. Who knows.
And the fan interference maybe the best thing to ever happen to Alex Gonzalez. His big error seems to be getting underplayed by local fans and media, even though it was probably more costly than the missed foul ball.
So what's going to happen tonight? I think it'll be a tight ballgame with the Marlins winning late. How could it be any other way?