Why playoff baseball is cool
Tonight was a perfect example of why I can't get enough playoff baseball....
After Tom Glavine throws a gem last night for the Mets, my boys from St. Louis were down 1-0 in the series.... BUT! have their ace, 2005 Cy Young winner and leading 2006 candidate Chris Carpenter (yes, the former Blue Jay... imagine if they held on to him? but I digress...) going tonight in New York, hoping to avoid going down 0-2 in the series. He was actually scheduled for Game 3 back in St. Louis, but with the rainout on Thursday, he was able to move up in the rotation.... anyway....
In the..... Very. First. Inning. He gives up a 3-run bomb to another former Jay, Carlos Delgado... Not good. Not good at all. They were supposed to win this game on Carpenter's pitching, much like the Mets won Game 1 on Tommy Glavine's back.
Anyway, the Cards claw back and tie it 4-4, only to go down 6-4 after another Delgado blast. Then, with a couple of guys on base, Scott Speizio, who was almost out of baseball last year, and was only playing because the Cards' All-World Third Baseman Scott Rolen was hurt comes through with a near-home run that goes off another former Jay, Shawn Green's, glove for a game-tying triple.
Top of the 9th... New York's high priced closer, Billy Wagner, comes in and gets to a full count on the leadoff hitter in the inning, So Taguchi (if you have no idea who that is, that's kind of the point) who was brought in the previous inning as a defensive repalcement... not wanting to walk him and face the best hitter in the world, Albert Pujols, with someone on base, Wagner throws him a fastball right down Broadway.
Boom. 7-6.
The cards tack on a couple more runs (including another RBI from Speizio) to make it 9-6, and preserve the win, including a gem of a defensive play from Rolen who came in for the bottom of the 9th.
My point? At the beginning of the game, all was lost for the Cards... Carpenter got shelled early, Pujols was in the midst of a career-high slump (0 for 12 or something, I think), and it looked like they were headed home down 0-2. A few scant innings later, Pujols is affecting the game, getting two hits late (even scoring one of the tack on runs), and they got the split in NYC they came for...
As Chris Berman likes to say, "That's why they play the game."
PS: Having read in Bill Simmons' Game 1 diary his impression that Mets fans don't trust Wagner, it was never more apparent than the hush that kind of came over the crowd when he came in in the 9th with the game tied. I almost expected him to lose it, and you got the feeling they did, too... Quite the momentum shift, huh?
PPS: New York's bullpen also threw 5 long innings... and with 4 games in 4 days coming up, that'll have an effect for sure. They're in trouble if Steve Trachsel (STEVE TRACHSEL!) doesn't give them a good outing tomorrow. Big trouble.
After Tom Glavine throws a gem last night for the Mets, my boys from St. Louis were down 1-0 in the series.... BUT! have their ace, 2005 Cy Young winner and leading 2006 candidate Chris Carpenter (yes, the former Blue Jay... imagine if they held on to him? but I digress...) going tonight in New York, hoping to avoid going down 0-2 in the series. He was actually scheduled for Game 3 back in St. Louis, but with the rainout on Thursday, he was able to move up in the rotation.... anyway....
In the..... Very. First. Inning. He gives up a 3-run bomb to another former Jay, Carlos Delgado... Not good. Not good at all. They were supposed to win this game on Carpenter's pitching, much like the Mets won Game 1 on Tommy Glavine's back.
Anyway, the Cards claw back and tie it 4-4, only to go down 6-4 after another Delgado blast. Then, with a couple of guys on base, Scott Speizio, who was almost out of baseball last year, and was only playing because the Cards' All-World Third Baseman Scott Rolen was hurt comes through with a near-home run that goes off another former Jay, Shawn Green's, glove for a game-tying triple.
Top of the 9th... New York's high priced closer, Billy Wagner, comes in and gets to a full count on the leadoff hitter in the inning, So Taguchi (if you have no idea who that is, that's kind of the point) who was brought in the previous inning as a defensive repalcement... not wanting to walk him and face the best hitter in the world, Albert Pujols, with someone on base, Wagner throws him a fastball right down Broadway.Boom. 7-6.
The cards tack on a couple more runs (including another RBI from Speizio) to make it 9-6, and preserve the win, including a gem of a defensive play from Rolen who came in for the bottom of the 9th.
My point? At the beginning of the game, all was lost for the Cards... Carpenter got shelled early, Pujols was in the midst of a career-high slump (0 for 12 or something, I think), and it looked like they were headed home down 0-2. A few scant innings later, Pujols is affecting the game, getting two hits late (even scoring one of the tack on runs), and they got the split in NYC they came for...
As Chris Berman likes to say, "That's why they play the game."
PS: Having read in Bill Simmons' Game 1 diary his impression that Mets fans don't trust Wagner, it was never more apparent than the hush that kind of came over the crowd when he came in in the 9th with the game tied. I almost expected him to lose it, and you got the feeling they did, too... Quite the momentum shift, huh?
PPS: New York's bullpen also threw 5 long innings... and with 4 games in 4 days coming up, that'll have an effect for sure. They're in trouble if Steve Trachsel (STEVE TRACHSEL!) doesn't give them a good outing tomorrow. Big trouble.
posted by Iain @ 12:32 AM
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