home run! a home run! the rays are going to the playoffs. a walk-off home run by evan longoria, right down the line, inside the foul ball, and the rays win 8-7! >> alas, there is no joy in redville for the mighty casey struck out. and carl crawford, he just out and out sucks. >> holy cow, willie geist. >> can we trade him yet? >> we're going to. no, i think, they will, especially after last night, missing a catch that most baseball players in the s.e.c. would've made. i'm serious. welcome to "morning joe," i'm joe scarborough, visibly anguished who stayed up until 11:17 last night to see without a doubt, and mike barnicle and i after we got past the funeral march music both agreed, barnicle was down in baltimore. last night, make no mistake of it, and barnicle agrees and he's been alive 120 years, and the 120 years of major league baseball last night was the greatest night of major league baseball for a regular season. it's never come down to this. but this morning, of course, we have to wake up, and it's thursday, september 29th. donny deutch is with us, and sam stein of the huffington post, and pat buchanan. i want to go to you first, willie, and then we'll go to sam. i doubt we'll be talking any news today. i'm joking, i'm joking! i want to get this out. first of all, i'm going to talk about how horrific it is. this really is as bad as -- last night and last month, as bad as any month in red sox nation. it's certainly as bad as 2003, which was horrific. >> definitely. >> it's as bad as 1986, which for me is still the absolute worst, 1986 and the mets and the collapse. but also, of course, 1978, 1967, you go back. but willie, what's your take on the night overall? i've never seen anything like it in major league baseball. i'm following four scores, it was stunning. >> flipping around with the remote control the way you do in the first three days of the ncaa tournament, it's that exciting, except you're not as invested in the teams. it's your teams, or it's the team you've been rooting against all year, the yankees, the red sox, the braves, the phillies, the cardinals, it was as exciting as it gets. and i have to say, the season may be not just for carl crawford, but the month of september for the red sox embodied in that last play. >> the last play. >> you have to lay out for that ball. if you catch it, you're good. if it falls in either way, you lose the game. >> and this is what we're talking about, carl crawford just sort of lazily lounges to get the ball. that is a season on the line, and if you show a slow-mo, you can see the guy didn't reach out for it. hep didn't give it all. after stealing $20 million plus from the red sox this year for absolutely horrific season. he then, really sam stein, you're a red sox fan. >> yes. >> were you still there at that point? or did you leave with the rain delay? >> well, we stayed through the rain delay to watch tampa bay tie it up on a little ipad monitor. and the crowd sort of collectively groaned. and then we thought, well, let's book it out of here and try to catch the end of the games on tv. i think you're being too tough on crawford. there was something cosmic going on the past two weeks. >> cosmic? what's going on here, captain kirk. >> you're going to blame crawford when, in fact, let's go back an inning before when big poppi's up, nobody's out, you can get an insurance run, and look, he's got two strikes, two outs, he throws one right down the middle for a double. there's a million what-ifs that happen. why is it cosmic? look at dan johnson. unbelievable starter, hitting .105 in the last at bat at the season, .105, one home run, puts one in the right field corner that somehow curls -- >> twice. twice. the red sox were one strike away from avoiding it, donny. >> yes. >> and twice, their best pitcher at the end papelbon gives up hits. >> three words -- >> gives up back-breaking hits. >> with a lot of soul searching there are three words. red sox suck. they just do. >> oh. here's the deal, okay! here's the deal. you fight the good fight, okay? >> i come on this show -- >> the morning after -- show a little class. >> and i've got to hear about the little team that could about -- and they suck, it's that simple. the red sox suck, okay? having said that, let me go a little deeper, a little more analytical. >> that's the theme. >> can you cut this guy's mike? >> what i find fascinating, and this is what makes baseball the greatest sport in the world. how are you, mike barnicle, the morning after, i wish you were here. it is so amazing somehow something overtakes a team. how you go how can they not win? they're playing crappy teams down the line, with nothing on the line. what happens in the air to a team? also atlanta braves, same thing, up by eight games, that takes over their psyche. it is a mental game as much as a physical game. >> well, they start to get tentative too. he was tentative. carl crawford last year when he was playing great outfield and great bat, he would've caught that ball. he just didn't look right out there and felt that way at the plate. >> it's interesting, compared to television, and this show is a show that the ratings are great and it keeps rocking. you come on and have a swagger about you versus if you were coming on -- >> donny, you get a swagger at funerals. >> no, that's part of success. if you're doing a show, you don't know if you're going to be canceled and you're not taking chances playing the way you're supposed to -- playing to win. >> you've seen it with sports teams time and time again. the sox were tentative, people who saw them playing live talked about how they drug out of the dugout. willie, you saw this, they dragged back into the dugout. and let's talk about the rays. the rays had seven of their last ten games this year were with -- against the new york yankees. >> right. >> 7 of the red sox' last 10 games were the baltimore orioles. and that's why red sox fans knew even though the sox may not deserve it, they would make it into the playoffs. because they had everything going in their favor, and yet with everything going for them and everything going against the rays, the rays had an extraordinary september run. and the red sox just embarrassed themselves. >> joe, i go back a long way. it reminds me the old brooklyn dodgers had their 15-game lead against the giants. the dodgers didn't go into the tank. but at the end of that season, the two of them came up against each other in the last game, and bobby thompson put it out there the three-run homer against one of the great plays in baseball. but the dodgers didn't quit. they just sort of collapsed. but it was that kind of exciting finish, the last day of the season, and it took the giants into the pennant and the series. >> yeah, they did not collapse. the boston red sox' sam stein did collapse. >> yeah. >> and rate this, you were born a red sox fan, grew up a red sox fan, i've been a sox fan since '75. write this and then we'll turn on to news. write this in terms of heart breaks. >> of hurts. in terms of stomach pain. >> of heart -- yeah, stomach pain and sort of rick perry vomiting all over yourself type stomach pain. rank this among the hurts you've heard your parents and everybody else talk about. >> for me, the sort of seminal stomach punch moment was always aaron boone in 2003. and it was just -- i'd been watching the game, sitting with my friends, several innings past the ninth innings and boom, it was over, it just hurt. this was -- i felt almost worse because it was for two straight weeks watching, waiting for the shoe to drop, just knowing that one sox pitcher, usually daniel bard was going to come in and screw things up. and you had a sense there was something going on here where the team was tightening up, where they sensed that they were going to lose this lead. and it was watching a prolonged train wreck. >> it was. >> and i have to say this, in some respects, the fact they didn't win the game and go into a playoff was almost a relief for me. i'd also like to say thanks to joe girardi. >> you're blaming joe girardi? >> up 7-0 in the eighth. 7-0. >> you going to waste your best reliever when the playoffs were two days away. he needed to stay fresh. you think this is worse for red sox fans -- >> no, not even close. i was about to say. >> that was worse. 2003, i've got to say 2003 was absolutely awful. for me, '86 is the worst. and will remain the worst. >> one more great thing about baseball. >> then let's go. and we'll get to polls. >> in baseball, you don't get to pick who is up at the plate in the big moment. in basketball, you give the ball to michael jordan or kobe bryant, dan johnson comes to the plate hitting .108 and hits a home run. >> and joe girardi did not pitch -- >> please, please. >> that is a sad, sad footnote. >> i have to go on something. >> in this epic baseball moment, that one coach just -- no, listen -- >> i didn't get the patriot score against buffalo this past sunday. >> what is this? >> that's impossible. that's impossible. so finally, i want to follow up, though, on the last thing about baseball. you and i have played a lot of sports. >> yeah. >> and there are some sports like golf, especially, it's 95% mental. when you know you can put it close to the cup, you put it close to the cup. and when you can't, good night. basketball, the same thing, when you're hot shooting, you're hot shooting, and you can't miss anything. football, not so much. football. but baseball is one of those games. >> yeah. >> where when you get up to the plate and you know you're going to get a hit, they can throw you the best splitter, and you're going to get a hit. and that seemed to catch on with the rays. >> that was longoria last night. >> that was longoria. yeah, the worst minute in regular season baseball history for the boston red sox. >> yeah. >> and for those of you who don't know, what made this more like a movie, think about it, 162 games, this started back in february when the pitchers and catchers reported here we are now september 28th last night and it all ended in one minute. >> minute. >> literally one minute the red sox lose, one minute later, the ball goes over the left field fence. >> let me say something because people criticize baseball as a sport a lot of time. but no other sport has this type of dramatic arch. and we follow this game throughout the course of the summer, follow the teams, get to like them, get to know them. we develop this narrative that comes in there. september, like yesterday was one of the greatest days of sport watching that anyone could ever have. >> amen. >> of course, all my teams lost, but -- and for the red sox, what a horrific season. it started horribly, ended horribly, in the middle you thought they were the best team in baseball for four months. and that's the thing about baseball. and they were for about four months, willie, the best team in baseball. >> absolutely. >> you were thinking other than the phillies, nobody can touch this team. and donny is a jerk. and seriously when my team wins, and you know this, when they win the big one, i keep my head down and never say a word because my team just talked for me. but donny -- >> that's not his way. >> that's not -- >> let new put it another way. red sox -- >> all right. okay. let's go pat buchanan, talk about the 2012 presidential race. a new fox poll showing romney back in the lead and rick perry's support has collapsed. look at these numbers ask then we'll pass it around the rest of the table. romney at 23%, picked up one over the past month. rick perry at 19% has dropped precipitously losing a third of his support going from 21% to 19%. a big shock here, cain actually helped by the florida straw poll. so i guess for people right now, it did mean something, cain up 11 at 17%, paul 6%. bauchman, i've got to say, about as fast of a drop as i've seen since the iowa straw poll, and rick santorum at 3%. pat buchanan, let's talk headlines first. rick perry, the horrible week is starting to show up in polls here, 19%. >> well, he's in real trouble, joe. i think perry's got to go out and win iowa or he's going to lose it. and if romney can go out and win iowa, i think it's all over because romney will go from iowa straight into new hampshire and win that. what's happened here. >> pat, let me stop you quickly. neither you nor i would believe that romney could win iowa a month ago. yet mitt romney's performances and debates picking up support even in iowa, a new gop field iowa poll shows him at 21% ahead of michele bauchmann by six points, rick perry by 7%, ron paul by 9%. those are a pretty stunning turn around for romney. >> a dramatic turn around, joe, and opens a door for romney to go in and shut this whole thing down if he can either win iowa or loses and runs second say lose to someone who cannot go the distance against him. i think he's in the seat, and the reason is, the tea party's been acting pretty much like that gal that's resissiting an arranged marriage. from palin to trump to michelle to perry and to cain now and chris christie. and they've been going -- but now, the road is wide open for mitt romney, i think not only to the nomination as of now, but straight to the white house. >> sam stein, what a difference a few weeks make. >> yeah. >> and specifically, let's put up that fox news poll again. what a difference a week makes, actually, for rick perry. have you ever seen a candidate other than michele bauchmann drop precipitously as perry? >> it's remarkable. and we tend to sort of -- i don't know, the debate performance, it's tough to gauge what sort of effect that has. but it was clearly a terrible debate performance for him. this gets more to the fluidity of the field. people aren't comfortable or happy -- especially with mitt romney. his numbers are staying pretty steady around lower 20s. i think that's sort of the baked in number for him until we actually get to voting. theoretically, i don't think it's going to happen. but theoretically, if sarah palin or chris christie could be looking at this and say, oh, i can jump in, get an unbelievable amount of media coverage, build up an incredible amount of support over a short period of time and sustain it for a little bit. it's a real invitation. >> there's the trick. all i have to do is sustain it. sarah palin would get into the race, pat buchanan and she would be savaged. chris christie would get in the race and he would find it's much more exciting on this side of the line than the other side of the line. >> exactly. >> i suspect the same thing would happen to both of them. >> i think that's exactly right. and you've got to realize that mitt's been out there for four years building organization in state after state so he's got a fall-back position. take christie and these other fellas, suppose they do well, they would have to depend on momentum to run them through the whole race, and i don't know that you can do that. and i think, again, they would split the tea party right which is divided about seven different ways. >> if i'm mitt romney, donny, i love where i am right now. i love this slow, steady build. he's a professional, he's been there for eight years. >> i think what's happened to romney is his brand. it's gone from boring to competent. quiet competency. there's a competency, whether it's the debates, his organization. people all along going mitt romney, mitt romney -- competency. and it's not a sexy word, but very appealing word. and i think that's what's coming across for him. and the second thing -- >> whether it's ad campaigns or presidential races, contrast is what matters the most. especially if you're taking on the incompetent. and you match the competency against what a lot of business people, a lot of former obama supporters are saying about this president. that's an even stronger -- okay. you know what? he's not sexy. i'm never going to scream for this guy -- i'm not going to shout. we tried that in 2008. >> the other thing interesting, even the issue that everybody thought he was going to get caught up on, the romney care, 33% of the voters say, i don't care, they're voting for the guys. speaking of guy, you look at sarah palin's camp, herb cain, she calls him, i love that. 17%, that bodes well for chris christie. what people like about him, he's not, he's outside, he's different. that's the vote for i don't want one of these guys, which if i'm chris christie i go, wow -- >> there's a big difference if you're cain than if you're mitt romney -- i mean if you're chris christie. chris christie could be -- thinks he could be president of the united states one of these years. and i just don't think he's going to take this chance, especially the way things shake out for these other contenders. >> not this time around. and the word you hear a lot from mitt romney is solid. while on one side someone talking about the fed chairman being treasonous, on the other side, someone saying the hpv vaccine leads to mental retardation, he's solid, talking about jobs. we're going to be talking more about this and much more. but coming up this morning, ken burns is here, a red sox fan. i'm sorry, we may have to rebook on that one. yeah, i don't know if he's going to make it here. actually he'll be here. and he's got an amazing documentary on prohibition, amazing film. later, academy award winner goldie haun, and lindsey buckingham will be here. but first, here's a check on the forecast. >> let's get to the radar and show you that cold front moving to the east is another day of showers and thunderstorms and mild temperatures, starting out in the 60s and 70s. we don't move much from there this afternoon. bring the umbrella along. more "morning joe" after this. [ boy ] hey, i thought these were electric? uh, it is, yeah, it's a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? [ woman ] my heart medication isn't some political game. [ man ] our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. [ man ] i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. [ man ] and i earned my social security. [ woman ] now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits? that wasn't the agreement. [ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. ♪ [ male announcer ] with 50 horsepower, dual overhead cams and fierce acceleration, the gator xuv 825i will shatter your expectations. ♪ and so no one gets left behind, check out our all-new, affordable xuv 550s at johndeere.com/gator. 25 past the hour. i know you guys like to shake it up and be loose. but 15 minutes on the red sox is too much. >> not even close to it. >> we'll go to our parade of papers next. dallas morning news. dallas morning news, the obama administration has asked the supreme court to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law. the development makes it all but certain that the court will soon agree to hear at least one challenge to the law. a decision could come by june, smack in the middle of the 2012 presidential campaign. and the "tampa tribune," nothing happening in the tampa area, but reebok going to be paying $25 million to customers who bought the popular easy tone sneakers. part of the settlement -- what did they do? kill people? >> advertising scum. >> accused the company of making deceptive ad campaigns. promising users stronger legs, a better butt, and a 120-year life span. boy, never saw that one coming. >> "new york times," did you see this story? jose reyes bunted for a single inning yesterday and was immediately pulled from the game. he asked to