Willie Mays robbing Vic Wertz?  Ho hum.  Mazeroski’s walk-off before they called such things a walk-off? Whatevah.   Carton Fisk’s game-winning shot down the leftfield line in 1975? Fuck off.  All of the above pale in comparison to  the not-so-idiotic Johnny Damon’s most astonishing of accomplishments ;  running another 90 feet to claim an uncovered 3rd base. The dust had barely cleared from the Yankees’ 7-4 defeat of the Phillies in last night’s Game 4 of the World Series before pundits reputed (and otherwise) fell over themselves hailing the former caveman’s presence of mind ;

“While you could argue that he would have scored just as easily from second on an A-Rod double (predetermined-destiny alert!), it doesn’t change the fact that Damon made one of the all-time great heads-up base-running decisions, on the biggest stage imaginable, on the heels of a terrific nine-pitch at-bat.” – Joe DeLessio, New York Magazine

“We’ve seen a lot of baseball games. We’ve seen a lot of postseason games. We’ve seen a lot of World Series games. But we’ve never seen anything quite like Johnny Damon, racing the baseball to second base in the ninth inning of a tied World Series game — and then picking himself up and stampeding all the way to third, as 46,000 occupants of a stunned ballpark turned and asked each other: What just happened?” – Jayson Stark, ESPN.com

“Last night, there was no Ken Huckaby, no Carlos Ruiz, no Brad Lidge awaiting Johnny Damon at third base. The Yanks™ left fielder caught everyone off guard, and as the Yankee bench, millions of fans, and Carlos Ruiz watched the play unfold, Damon beat Feliz in a dash to third. It was a race for ages.” – Benjamin Krabak, River Ave. Blues

“Damon joins Enos Slaughter in the annals of great World Series baserunning plays tonight, stealing second and then third base on one play. One of the first baseball proverbs I recall was ‘in every game you see one thing you’ve never seen before,’ and after thirty years of idling away hours watching baseball games, tonight was the first time I’ve seen anything like it…A similar play I’ve always imagined happening one day is a runner on third stealing home during an intentional walk to a righthanded batter — with a usually-immobile catcher stepping the customary several yards to his right, seems like it would be very hard to get a tag on the runner.]” -Shayana Kadidal, Huffington Post