The most exciting three minutes of baseball

The ending of the Sept. 28 right-to-a-wild-card games between the Boston Red Sox and the Orioles, and between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees, belongs in the Guinness Book of Records. After nearly six months of baseball, the race boiled down to an exciting three-minute interval.

Both teams were vying for a chance to compete for a wild card spot in the playoffs. The Red Sox had a nine-game lead over the Rays at one point, but were tied with them, a situation that would lead to a playoff. But a win by the Sox and a loss by the Rays guaranteed the Sox the wild card spot. So they were no doubt ecstatic when the out-of-town scoreboard showed the Yankees leading the Rays 7-0. However, Red Sox alarm soon set in when the Rays, with home runs and other timely hits, got 7 runs to amazingly tie the Yankees.

The Sox were then enjoying a 3-2 lead over the Orioles, when rain forced a one-hour-twenty-minute delay. After play resumed after midnight, came the grand finale: In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Orioles down to two outs and two strikes, Nolan Reimold and Robert Andino put together two hits with a man on to get a walk-off win over the Red Sox 4-3! Only three minutes later, the Rays' Evan Longoria homered in the bottom of the 12th, beating the Yankees 8-7. The Rays are in, the Red Sox out. The concurrence of this one-two punch against the Sox within a space of three minutes no doubt has them reeling; while the Orioles and Rays have the last incredible victory laughs.

Virginia Bennett, Pasadena