The dying days of a baseball season have their own character. Nobody quite cares, the lineups are frequently strange, and the games have an odd quality born out of a mix of meaninglessness and just a touch of drama. I've always been a sucker for the last game, because, after making baseball a daily part of our lives for so long, when the last out is recorded tonight we won't have any more coming for a long time.
Here was last year's final game lineup, a 3-2 loss to the Rays. Five of these guys are no longer in the organization, and only Gordon and Butler look to be part of the team's future.
Lineup after the jump:
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jarrod Dyson CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .211 | .689 | SB,SH |
| Gregor Blanco PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .283 | .727 | 2B |
| Mike Aviles 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .304 | .748 | SB |
| Billy Butler DH | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .318 | .857 | |
| Kila Ka'aihue 1B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .217 | .702 | |
| Wilson Betemit 3B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .297 | .889 | |
| Alex Gordon LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .215 | .671 | HR |
| Yuniesky Betancourt SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .259 | .692 | CS |
| Brayan Pena C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .253 | .642 | |
| Mitch Maier RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .263 | .709 | SB |
The pitchers from that game were:
| Pitching | IP | H | R | BB | SO | HR | BF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean O'Sullivan | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5.49 | 22 |
| Rob Tejeda, H (12) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.54 | 4 |
| Gil Meche, H (6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.69 | 3 |
| Joakim Soria, BS (3) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.78 | 6 |
| Blake Wood | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.07 | 3 |
| Dusty Hughes, L (1-3) | 1.2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.83 | 6 |
| Greg Holland | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
That inning from Gil Meche would be the last of his career. Barring trades, Soria and Holland will be part of the team's bullpen next season, while SOS could have a role. As you can see, it was actually a good (if lucky) start from SOS, although that really augured nothing for 2011.