I understand CC pitched his best game of the season. I know A-Rod's hit was the biggest hit of the night. I don't care. This guy stole the show. He Slade em'. It was a heath-shot from Heathcott. One of the biggest hits of the year from a guy wearing #72
This game was over. Kaput. When Ellsbury grounded out into that double play I felt the life sucked out of me. To fall a game back in the loss column while the Blue Jays were idle would have been an absolute back-breaker. Then Gardner kept it alive with a four pitch walk and finally, FINALLY stole a base in a big spot to set up the A-Rod RBI double. In took just two batters and about three minutes for the outlook on the entire season to change. The Rays would walk McCann to get to Heathcott who was brought in as a defensive replacement and he promptly drilled the first pitch he saw into the left field seats for a go-ahead three-run home run. Unfuckingbelievable.
Like this game, this season has been maddening. There have been so many moments like last night that make you think this team is special. That make you think they're capable of making a run. A-Rod's three homer game in Minnesota. The 11-run comeback inning in Texas. Beltran's home run in Toronto. Miller striking out Tulo. McCann and A-Rod's back-to-back homers off Chris Archer. The list goes on. But there have been just as many deflating moments, none more grueling than what happened this past weekend. At this point there's no sense in analyzing what this team does well and what they don't. They're pretty much two different teams. When they hit they hit in bunches. They can score with anyone and look resilient. When they aren't hitting they look like they did all night against Erasmo Ramirez. Stiff and lifeless. You just have to hope if/when they make it to the postseason that they're the team that staged a comeback in the ninth inning yesterday and not the one that didn't show up for the first eight.
Back to Heathcott. Nobody in the world needed a moment like that in his life quite like Slade. There haven't been too many guys in the big leagues that have been through as much adversity, self-inflicted or not, as he has. The beleaugered former first-round pick hasn't been able to get out of his own way or stay on the field long enough to develop into the player the Yankees hoped he would be back in 2009. I had always heard about him having some problems with alcohol in the past but I never read too much into it. Then I find this article today and it turns out Heathcott is basically like a real life Tim Riggins. Have you ever felt like you were a big drinker or a real party animal? Well Slade Heathcott is that kid who when you meet him you realize that you're actually a huge pussy. When he was a senior in high school he blacked out and wondered five miles into the woods to punch a hole in the front door of some crack dealer's house. That might seem funny but his story is actually pretty sad. He almost shot his dad with a shotgun when he was a junior in high school. He was basically homeless his senior year, jumping from couch to couch at his friends' houses. All the while he was like a four-star recruit in both football and baseball. The whole thing is pretty fascinating if you have a few minutes.
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