Matt Williams' move backfires

— -- WASHINGTON -- As he hopped out of the dugout to begin his long, fateful walk to the mound with two outs in the ninth inning Saturday, all Nationals manager Matt Williams thought he was about to do was make a pitching change.

Hoo boy. If he'd only known then what he knows now.

That he was about to unleash forces in the universe that were going to leave their mark on both his baseball team and on baseball history.

That his abrupt hook of Jordan Zimmermann, a man just one out away from the first postseason shutout by a pitcher from Washington since 1933, was going to turn this baseball game into an insane, 18-inning journey into frostbite and exhaustion.

That his seemingly innocent managerial mantra to justify this series-changing decision -- the old, ever-popular October refrain, "That's what we've done all year" -- was about to rush his team's magical season into the intensive-care ward.

Hoo boy. If only Matt Williams had known, all right.

But hey, that's easy for us to say. We know now exactly how it all turned out. How a Jordan Zimmermann October masterpiece turned into a devastating, 18-inning, 2-1 loss to the Giants in the Longest Postseason Baseball Game Ever Played.

How a game that was about to tie this National League Division Series at a game apiece instead has put the Giants in the kind of position even they would have had a tough time believing 48 hours earlier -- heading home, up two games to none, with their ace, Madison Bumgarner, lined up to start Game 3 on Monday.

Wow. Amazing the havoc one little pitching change can wreak. On pretty much everything.