Gehrig and Ruth, Ortiz and Ramirez, Obama and Biden?Let's say it's game six of the World Series, your team leading 3 games to 2. You're at bat leading 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, and your closer's up in the bullpen . He's a good closer - a Brad Lidge-type, say, but not a Mariano Rivera. You can win with things the way they are, but you'd like some insurance runs to ease the pressure. Obama's standing at third with one out, and Biden's to bat. All he needs to do is loft a sacrifice fly to drive in the insurance run. Instead, he ropes a double, not only picking up Obama, but putting himself in scoring position as well. All with only one out. The big inning is still alive.
Now let's say that the visiting team is up to bat in the top of the ninth, with the home team's closer on the mound, throwing smoke. The visitors are down 5-1, with one out and McCain on first. Palin, who hit the game-winning homer in Game 2 but is 2-for-15 in the series overall, steps to the plate. She gets down 0-2 early, fouls off a couple of pitches to stay alive, takes a ball, and then lines out sharply to the shortstop. Hey, whatever, after she fell behind two strikes, you were sure that she was going to go down swinging. Anyway, it's still two outs, McCain's still at first down 5-1, a hairsbreadth away from elimination.
