What the HELL was he thinking?

That had to be the strangest end to a World Series game yours truly has ever seen. And I dare say it was all because of an incredibly bone-headed move, or non-move, by a manager. In case you didn't see it, here was the scenario:

It's Game 3 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. The series is tied at one game all. Fast forward to the bottom on the ninth inning, and the game is tied 4-4. The home team Cardinals are batting and have runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out. Boston has a right-handed pitcher on the mound, and St. Louis has a left-handed hitter about to come to the plate. Typically, this is advantageous to the batter.

The next move was obvious for Boston manager John Farrell. Intentionally walk the batter to load the bases to set up a double play possibility, or at least a force play at the plate. The only runner that mattered was the Cardinal standing on 3rd base. If he scores, the game's over.

But for some reason, Farrell decided not to have his pitcher walk the batter, and rather pitch to him. Naturally, the Bosox infielders were in tight. A ground ball hit to any of them -- and they have to throw home hoping their catcher can tag out the runner coming from the third base. With only one out, any fly ball hit to even medium depth in the outfield would result in the same runner tagging up and coming home anyway. Game over.

And then it got weird. The aforementioned left-handed hitter struck a sharp ground ball that Boston 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia made a superb back-handed play on and threw home. The catcher tagged the runner for out number two. In the meantime, the Cardinal runner that was on 2nd base got a late jump, so the Boston catcher threw the ball to his third baseman, hoping for another tag play to end the inning. But the throw was a bit off. The 3rd basemen dove for the ball, but it struck the sliding runner, and the 3rd baseman wound up on top of the runner. Somehow, the ball caromed into foul territory down the 3rd base line. The Cardinal runner attempted to get up and sprint home for the winning run. Yet while still on his belly, the Bosox 3rd baseman raised his feet up to impede the runner. Indeed, the runner tripped over him, but then proceeded to run towards home late. The throw came in from the outfield, and that runner was tagged out as well at home plate. It should have been the third out and the end of the inning, right? The Bosox and Redbirds would go into extra innings and anything could happen.

Not so fast. The umpires decided the Boston 3rd baseman interfered with that St. Louis runner, so he was awarded the extra base -- in this case home plate -- which consisted of the winning run. NOW, it was game over. It appeared to be the right call.

But wait a minute. Rewind this scenario to when that left-handed hitter originally stepped into the batter's box with runners on 2nd and 3rd, with only one out. Granted, had he been intentionally walked, which screamed out as the logical thing to do -- no one will ever know what the next hitter would have done. Maybe he would have got a hit, even a grand slam. Maybe he would have even hit a deep enough fly ball to score the runner from third. Or maybe he would have hit a ground ball like the lefty did before him. If the bases were loaded, the Boston catcher doesn't have to tag the runner coming home, and might well complete a double play by throwing the ball to 1st base. It happens all the time. There would have never been an errant throw to 3rd base, the ball bounding away, and interference called, that resulted in the winning run, etc, etc.

To be sure, Boston manager John Farrell deserves a lot of credit. In only one year, he's led the Bosox from the cellar to the World Series. A job well done indeed, and perhaps worthy of a manager of the year award.

But no matter how you slice it or dice it -- in this particular game, it all boiled down to one thing...

What the HELL was he thinking?

Methinks you'll hear a lot more about this in the next couple days from various media sources. And if the Beaners somehow wind-up losing the World Series 4 games to 3, yours truly has a hunch Farrell being compared to a guy named Bill Buckner might find their way into the conversations.

Buckner made a physical error by letting a ground ball go between his legs. There are still those that say it cost the Bosox the 1986 World Series to the NY Mets. Actually, that's not true. Buckner's gaffe happened in Game 6. The Red Sox still could have won it in Game 7 -- but they didn't.

Same goes for Farrell's mental error in Game 3 this year. For that matter, it's not fair to blame one guy for losing a World Series over something that happened on just one play. There's a slew of shouda, coulda, wouldas that go on during a series. A lot of them could be potential game, and even series changers.

But 27 years later, Bill Buckner is still famous for all the wrong reasons.

Hope it doesn't happen to Farrell.

But it's possible.

In case I failed to mention it -- what the HELL was he thinking?