His final bow?

He got out of an 8th inning jam, just like a couple hundred times before. He walked off the mound to about as much fanfare as there is for the 162nd game of the season with nothing postseason oriented on the line. As he strode off the mound he stared at the ground the entire way, almost embarrassed almost shy, but he's been there more than any right hander in baseball history. He finished his inning with a strike out, low and out of the zone, just where the catcher called for it.
The Great John Updike once wrote that "Gods don't answer letters", apparently he was right. Because when Mike Timlin left tonight's regular season finale where he faced the New York Yankees, he might have also faced his own baseball mortality. For a guy with 4 World Series championships there isn't a lot out there left to prove besides maybe breaking the all-time appearances record. This might be the end to one of the best career's by a middle reliever since the role has become defined, because there is no guarantee that he makes the playoff roster this year and next season is never promised when you hit the age of 40.
So when Mike Timlin made his way off the Fenway Park mound tonight, I took in the moment and savored it what might be, his final bow.

Sterling Pingree