10/20/11 Texas Rangers 2, St Louis Cardinals 1

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
2011 World Series Game 2

It’s all about the “D”…and two great reel-worthy plays!!


Can it be true that after only 1 game my expectations of this World Series are burying the memories of last year’s Ho-hum Classic? This game makes it so.



Yet another pitchers’ duel develops as Jaime Garcia and Colby Lewis show off #1 starter stuff, neither yielding a run, only allowing 2 hits apiece for the first 6 innings. Garcia, though not awarded a decision, pulled ahead of Lewis with 7 scoreless innings, 3 hits, 1 BB and 7K…and 3 broken bats!!

I will have to dig a bit to confirm, but I think this is the most bats broken in a game by a single pitcher that I have ever scored…

Defense from both teams, along with the stellar starting pitching, was the true highlight, but the Rangers ran away with the prize. Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler are the double-play combo of the game, if not the Series so far. They did it not once, but twice; contributing two eye-rubbing plays to end the 4th and 5th innings.

With the game locked at a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 7th, history more or less repeats itself…funny how the events in last night’s game replayed themselves, as if there was no regard to what happened only 24 hours before. With Freese on base, thanks to a 1-out single, Yadier Molina flies out, Nick Punto reaches on a single (Freese advances to 3B), and with 2 outs and runners on the corners, Washington pulls Lewis and brings in…Alexi Ogando. LaRussa brings in who else but Allen Craig in Garcia’s spot in the order…so what do you think will happen next???

It happens…Craig does it again, with a rocket to RF, scoring Freese and Ogando shaking his head…it’s ‘de ja vu all over again’!!

The inning ends with the Cardinals up by one and a Nick Punto TOOTBLAN (or should it be ROOTBLAN?) as he is ruled out at 3B for running outside the basepaths. WAAAYYY out.

The Cardinals stay on top with that single run on the board, Nelson Cruz robs Pujols of a sure-fire HR in the 8th, and Jason Motte steps in to close things out…and the Rangers come back, again with Kinsler and Andrus leading the charge. They both get on base to lead off, two consecutive SAC flys from Josh Hamilton and Michael Young bring them both in, and the Rangers squeak out a hard-fought win with Neftali Feliz shutting the Cardinals down. And they do it without any extra base hits.

Is Ian Kinsler on a campaign to walk away with the World Series MVP trophy? It’s too early to tell, but he is the real unsung hero of this Rangers team, and also a valid source of comic relief, as demonstrated when he “brushes off” a blistering Adrian Beltre foul line drive down the 3rd base line.

Series tied 1-1



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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