Jamie Moyer: Playing The Game The Right Way

Most 45-year-old men would be at home watching last night's game on tv with their family or even in the stands cheering the team on. Most Major Leaguers are long retired by the time they reach 45. They are broadcasters, scouts, coaches, or managers by the time they reach that esteemed age. Jamie Moyer is different. At 45, he is at the top of his game pitching a gem to help win Game 3 of the 2008 World Series. On guts, guile and pure determination, Moyer shut down a young Rays lineup with the same stuff he's had for his entire career. His fastball never topped 82 mph but that didn't matter. Moyer took the team on his back and propelled them to a crucial Game 3 victory on a brisk rain-soaked field in South Philly. Moyer proves that its more about hard work and determination than pure ability. He has never thrown over 90 in his career or been the guy that will repeatedly strikeout the side with fireball after fireball. Moyer made perhaps the best defensive play of his career in the top of the 7th inning last night on a running bunt by LF Carl Crawford. Crawford, well known as one of the fastest players in the league, bunted towards 1B and took off running. Moyer, displaying the speed and agility that some 21-year-olds don't have, bounded off the mound, gloved the ball and quickly shoveled it too a waiting Ryan Howard who barehanded it just before Crawford's foot hit the base. This was a crucial play that would kill a potential rally right after the Phillies had taken a commanding 4-1 lead on the strength of back-to-back homeruns by sluggers Chase Utley and the previously mentioned Howard. Moyer showed that he was there to win and was gonna leave everything on the field in what may be his final game as a professional. But it was not to be. The 1B ump, who admitted after the fact that he relied on the sound of the ball hitting the glove instead of his own eyes, called Crawford safe in an absolute travesty of a call for the game's biggest stage. The Rays went on to chase Moyer from the game scoring two runs that should never have been on base in the first place. Instead of going into the 8th with a commanding 4-1 lead to hand off to the dominating Madson/Lidge 1-2 punch, they had a shaky 4-3 lead with the very dangerous B.J. Upton leading things off. The Phillies won in the end on the most spectacular infield hit in the history of Citizen's Bank Park by C Carlos Ruiz but that doesn't matter. The officiating in this World Series had been questionable at times and downright scary on occasion. Jamie Moyer has been robbed of his place in history by losing both his Win and place on every highlight reel for the next 20 years. The team won and that is all that is important. That is what Jamie would tell us if he were asked and it wouldn't be just another line from a spoiled athlete. It would be the truth. A truth founded deep down in the heart of a man who plays the game the right way, the way the game deserves to be played. Moyer goes out there every 5th day, takes the ball for his team, and honors the game he plays. He honors it with his work ethic. He honors it with the reverence for the respect he shows for the history of the game. He understands that baseball is not just a game. Baseball is a part of our cultural history and our lives. He realizes that 45,000 fans come to the stadium to watch something that is far more important than a mere game to them. It is a part of their life, something they will tell their kids and grandkids. Moyer again proved that respect with his spectacular play last night and his constant mentoring of the players around him. There's a good chance that Jamie Moyer will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown but that doesn't matter. He's the first to tell you that the accolades aren't important. It's about winning and winning the right way.