Isn't baseball a funny game?

When Rays manager Joe Maddon summoned Kyle Farnsworth from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game last night with nobody out and the bases loaded, he probably figured it wasn't likely that Farnsworth would get out of the jam, but at least he would make the Indians earn it by getting the bat on the ball. After all, Farnsworth had yet to walk a batter all year. Surely he could put it in the strike zone with the game on the line.

Farnsworth got Orlando Cabrera to ground into a fielder's choice, putting him within a double play of sending the game to extras. And then he got ahead of Michael Brantley 0-2. Rays fans must have felt like things were going their way. But then he missed the zone four times, Brantley went to first, and Carlos Santana pranced down the third base line to end the game.

The old walk-off walk. You see it about 10 or 15 times a season around the majors. You'd think any major league pitcher worth his salt would be able to avoid walking a guy with the bases loaded to end the game, but apparently even a guy like Farnsworth who almost never walks anybody can lose the strike zone sometimes. On the same evening, in Miami, the Phillies' Roy Halladay -- arguably the best pitcher in the game -- lost in part because he walked Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson. It was the first time in Halladay's career that he'd walked a pitcher. Johnson would come around to score the first run of a 2-1 Florida victory. I guess no matter how good a pitcher's control usually is, he's bound to lose it once in a while. Throwing a baseball in that small area, while making it hard to hit, is not an easy task.

The win was the Indians' 14th in a row at Progressive Field, giving them their best home start in the team's 111-year history. At 23-11, the Tribe has baseball's best record. And I'm starting to think they really are this good.