Wednesday, October 5, 2011
St. Louis v. Philadelphia
It's do-or-die for the Cardinals, in what could be Albert Pujols's last game for the team. Once again, TBS has given us a goofy start time -- this game began at 5:07 CDT, probably the only time all year the Cardinals have played at this time. But at least the batters can see. Philadelphia scored two runs in the top of the first, and the Cards responded with one run in the bottom of the inning. Philly now leads 2-1 in the bottom of the second.
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The Cardinals are rallying in the bottom of the 4th. A walk and a hit batsman put two Cardinals on base, and David Freese (the Cardinal 3d baseman) brought both runners home with a double to left. St. Louis now leads 3-2, and Fangraphs gives the Cardinals a 71 percent chance of victory.
ReplyDeletePlacido Polanco leads off the top of the 5th for the Phillies with a single, but Cardinal pitcher Edwin Jackson gets out of the inning unscathed. The Cardinals maintain their 3-2 lead.
ReplyDeleteStill 3-2 going into the 6th. St. Louis has a 67 percent chance of winning.
ReplyDeleteThis feels like a very important inning to me. Jackson has thrown 67 pitches, and he may be getting tired. The ever-dangerous Chase Utley leads off with a walk.
ReplyDeleteA big play by Pujols. Hunter Pence slaps a grounder to short, and when the throw goes to first, Utley (who had already reached second) races toward third. But Pujols jumps off the bag, grabs the throw early, and rifles it over to third to nail Utley.
ReplyDeleteSo the Phillies have Pence on first and one out, instead of Utley on third and one out.
Jackson, who appears to be laboring, goes to 3-0 on the next batter, St. Louis native Ryan Howard.
ReplyDeleteBut Jackson battles back and retires Howard on a long fly to center field. Pence remains at first.
ReplyDeleteAnd Shane Victorino grounds out to 2d to end the inning. The Cards keep their 3-2 lead.
ReplyDeleteWell, the sixth inning was important -- but not in the way I thought. In the bottom of the sixth, Matt Holliday (who is playing hurt) singles to center, and David Freese hammers a two-out home run to dead center field to give St. Louis a 5-2 lead!
ReplyDeleteFreese now has four RBI in the game. Roy Oswalt, the Phillies pitcher, has done pretty well against the rest of the Cardinal line-up, but Freese has killed him.
As we head to the 7th, the Cardinals now have a 90 percent chance of victory.
Edwin Jackson, who pitched six solid innings, is gone. The Cardinals have brought in Arthur Rhodes to pitch the 7th.
ReplyDeleteNope, Rhodes just pitched to Raul Ibanez. He struck him out. Now the Cardinals have brought in Octavio Dotel, who has one of the best names in baseball.
ReplyDeleteDotel quickly retires the next two Philly batters, and the Cardinals lead 5-2 as everyone takes the seventh-inning stretch.
ReplyDeleteThe Cardinals bring in Fernando Salas to pitch the 8th. But Salas has problems. He gives up a single to pinch hitter Ross Gload. Michael Martinez comes in to run for Gload. Utley beats out an infield single to put men on first and third with one out. And then Salas throws a wild pitch, which scores Martinez and sends Utley to second.
ReplyDeleteNow the Cardinals lead 5-3.
Salas retires Pence on a grounder to short, and that's it for him. With two out, the Cardinals are going to bring in a left-hander to pitch to Ryan Howard, who pretty much cannot hit left-handers.
ReplyDeleteHoward is 0 for his last 10 in this series, which is not what you want from your cleanup hitter.
ReplyDeleteThe Cardinal pitcher is the wonderfully named Marc Rzepczynski, and he blows Howard away on three pitches. Inning over.
I still believe the Phillies are the best team in the National League, and probably the best team in baseball, but I think Howard is a huge problem for them. He was 4 for 23 in the World Series two years ago, and he is killing them in this series. He can't hit lefties, and in late-game situations the other team can almost always bring in a lefty and get him out. He looked totally hapless in that last at-bat.
Cardinals now have a 94 percent chance of victory.
ReplyDeleteJason Motte quickly retires the Phillies in the 9th, and the Cardinals have forced a Game 5. These two teams will meet again in Philly on Friday night.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great night for Cardinals fans.
That defensive play by Pujols sounds huge. Great report, as always. I've really enjoyed reading about this first round.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are so, so right about Octavio Dotel.