10/28/11 Texas Rangers 2, St Louis Cardinals 6

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
2011 World Series Game 7

TLR in suspended shock as David Murphy’s fly ball to Left-Center field is about to land in Allen Craig’s glove…


The Cardinals finish the series in what would have been a relatively exciting game, but in comparison to game 5 and game 6 the yawn factor was induced for some viewers…but not for me. This game had a lot of thrilling and tactically interesting moments; it was less than a “cake walk” as suggested by some, and more of an example of how a team whose chances of winning go from slim to none to all the way in just a few games.



Chris Carpenter had a fantastic start, not anything akin to his 3-hit shutout of the Phillies on October 7th in the LDS, but hey…

The critical flaw for the Rangers tonight had to be the almost predictable short start of Matt Harrison, but only marginally so…the concept of tournament baseball notwithstanding, Harrison’s 3 ER in 4IP could have been met with another reliever other than Scott Feldman, who gave up 2ER (on 2BB and a HB, more on this in a moment) in 0.2 innings. Would bringing CJ Wilson down instead of Feldman in the 5th inning have changed anything? Probably not, but after some of the relief pitching miscues from the Ranger’s stall in the 2010 World Series, you might wonder…as I do.

A lead-off hit by Ian Kinsler, given the circumstances of Game 6, lethally ignites the Rangers and simultaneously threatens to stun the home crowd at Busch Stadium. Yadier Molina’s subsequent put-out of Kinsler attempting to steal 2nd base on an 0-0 count to Elvis Andrus slammed a rally door shut, symbolically, so early in the game. The Rangers still manage to eke out 2 runs during this frame after Andrus walks and Hamilton doubles him in, followed by a textbook Michael Young RBI double scoring Hamilton, but from where I was sitting the Kinsler CS was a bold statement by the Cardinals.

In response, to further underline this, Matt Harrison walks Pujols and Berkman with 2 outs. David Freese, in his first at-bat since his historic walk-off win in Game 6, drives a deep fly ball into the gap in left-center to tie the game.

Allen Craig delivers a 1-out HR courtesy of Harrison in the 3rd, putting the Cardinals in the lead. Harrison sweats a lot in the 4th inning, allowing 2 Cardinals to reach on back-to-back singles with 1 out. He breaks 2 of Skip Schumaker’s bats in the same AB; Schumaker grounds out to 1B, Carpenter flies out to RF to end the inning, stranding both baserunners, and Harrison is done for the evening.

Scott Feldman picks up the ball in the 5th…again, why not CJ Wilson? After retiring Theriot (and breaking his bat as well) Feldman walks Allen Craig and hits Albert Pujols, who both advance on a Lance Berkman groundout… that’s 2 on, 2 outs, and David Freese is intentionally walked so that Feldman can pitch to Yadier Molina. Freese is 1-for-2 so far; I have no strength as a baseball strategist, but I am a vocal dislike of the intentional walk, even in “obvious” situations. So to me, this is less than obvious as to why Freese gets the IBB; I would give Mike Napoli a free pass way before David Freese but nonetheless, Molina is UNintentionally walked, walking in a run and giving the Cardinals a 2-run lead.

Just so you know, Matt Harrison also broke Pujols’ bat in the 3rd…so that’s a total of 4 BLS (Broken Louisville Sluggers, from my scoresheet notation) in the game, 3 of them by Harrison…

CJ Wilson’s very first pitch in relief of Feldman hits Rafael Furcal (who was shockingly 2-for-2 in this game, after being so silent offensively for so long), which allows Pujols to score. Feldman is charged with the run, Wilson shuts down Schumaker to end the inning, and is dominant until he is replaced by Mike Adams to start the 7th.

The real story from this point on is the Cardinals’ bullpen, carrying Chris Carpenter’s torch and handcuffing the Rangers for the rest of the game. Well, they had some help from Allen Craig in the 7th, who majestically robbed Nelson Cruz of a sure-fire solo HR in the 6th, but the line speaks for itself, the bullpen allowed no hits and no runs for the rest of the game, exclamation point.

And thus endeth by far, the best World Series I think I’ve seen in many, many years.

Cardinals win 4-3



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10/27/11 Texas Rangers 9, St Louis Cardinals 10

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
World Series Game 6



I will update with a write-up soon...for now, there are no other words that could serve as a recap, other than...WE WILL SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT!!!

Series Tied 3-3






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10/19/11 Texas Rangers 2, St Louis Cardinals 3

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
2011 World Series Game 1

Chris Carpenter demonstrates PFP in full force…


The 2011 World Series begins with a raucous battle between the Cardinals and the Rangers in St Louis. After a breathtaking LCS and LDS, I’m hoping that the Fall Classic will follow suit; after this game I think I have more than a hope!



Chris Carpenter and C.J. Wilson face off; Wilson hoping to get his first 2011 postseason win, Carpenter hoping to enjoy an outing at least half as fantastic as his stunning close-out of the LDS in Game 5 against the Phillies.

The pitchers’ duel ensues quickly, with great pitching from both parties and some outstanding “riot defense” by Carpenter in this outrageous play at first, where Pujols throws wide with Carpenter diving to receive the ball and sliding aggressively across the bag and directly underneath the feet of Elvis Andrus, who is charging down the baseline like a freight train and barely misses crushing Carpenter’s exposed hands under his Texas cleats. You could feel LaRussa and Duncan wince sharply as they watched this unfold…fortunately, no harm done. If it were a pitcher with less grit, you can expect a nightmare after a jump such as this.

The game is viciously and excitingly tied at 2-2 by the bottom of the 6th, when Wilson offers David Freese a 1-out double, a wild pitch to Yadier Molina that allows Freese to advance to 3B, and a walk to Nick Punto. Washington removes Wilson in favor of Alexi Ogando, who is great but does have his moments. LaRussa brings Allen Craig in Carpenter’s slot in the batting order, and Craig has a moment of his own, a clutch go-ahead single to RF on a 1-2 pitch, scoring Freese and putting the Cardinals in charge for the remainder of the contest, finishing with a thrilling 10-pitch Save by Jason Motte.

A few days before the Series began, Fox announced it would use “heat-vision” technology currently in use for European Cricket broadcasts (I don’t know enough about Cricket to comment on this)…as if TBS’ Liberovision during the postseason wasn’t enough kool (or not), Fox Hot Spot was brought on to help us…well, we weren’t really sure what it was going to help us with!! Fortunately, Hot Spot was used right away in this first game of the Series, to show us chumps at home that Adrian Beltre’s groundout to 3B in the top of the 9th was really a “shoe polish ball” -shades of Earl Weaver- that bounced off of Beltre’s foot. The replay video looked close, Hot Spot showed that it definitely popped his foot and should have been a foul.

Cardinals lead the Series 1-0



He said WHAT?!? Click on this link to see Tim McCarver’s Quote of the Game

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10/16/11 St Louis Cardinals 12, Milwaukee Brewers 6

Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI
NLCS Game 6
STL wins the NLCS 4-2

Welcome to the David Freese Show, starring…David Freese! If NLCS Game 2 was “The Pujols Game,” then NLCS Game 6 has to go down in history as “The Freese Game.” There can be no question that even in the 7th inning, that NLCS MVP trophy was his, hands down. He was the Sultan of Hustle today, only a triple short of the cycle.



It was no small feat to defeat the Brewers at Miller Park for most NL teams this year, but the Cardinals had a winning record there during the regular season, and extended that record during the NLCS. Freese didn’t really come out of nowhere here, he’s been playing well recently, but in Pujolsian fashion he started his rally in the first inning; the table was set with 2 on and 2 outs, 1 run already on the board and Shaun Marcum already sweating like a Derek Lowe. A first pitch 3-run HR
Over the left-center field fence was a formidable statement, to say the least.

I had a hunch this would be a close game, but my hunch was deliberately tossed by Freese, Pujols, Allen Craig, and the rest of the Angry Birds. It wasn’t a collapse by the Brewers, no matter how you look at it…they rallied as hard as the best of us could. But the crowd at Miller Park’s eerie silence just got eerier as the game went on and the crooked numbers kept getting posted.

Of course, with pitching changes galore…there were sprinklings of fantastic pitching moments, but still burned into my brain was Jason Motte’s finish and, of course…the home runs. The most HR in the first 3 innings of a postseason game (3 HR for each team).

Jerry Hairston, Jr’s 15 minutes of baseball fame peaked with this outstanding hook slide in NLCS Game 4, a slide that would have made Wally Yonanime blush. It ended completely during the Brewers’ 3-error inning; Hairston was charged with 2 of the 3 during a single play. Now that’s a little more like the JHJr I recall from recent years.

In other news, Prince Fielder grounds out to Nick Punto in his final at-bat in a Brewers’ uniform. Albert Pujols, in a classy move, calls time when Fielder approaches the box for the crowd’s standing O.

Freese got the trophy, but Nick Punto is awarded with a Golden Sombrero, striking out 4 times in 4 AB. Still a #HappyFlight for the Cardinals, and the end of a great and most admirable run by the Brewers.




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