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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10/23/11 St Louis Cardinals 0, Texas Rangers 4

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX
2011 World Series Game 4

FEAR the MOUSTACHE…

One could have expected just about anything out of Derek Holland tonight, but certainly an outing like this wasn’t on the radar!!



You just can’t say he had a great outing…that’s just too friggin’ easy. He had the outing of his career, I think. Just based on the lack of expectations alone, if your head was not spinning when he walked off of the mound, you aren’t human.

Postseason is the focus here, so here’s how Holland did in his last 3 postseason starts, compared to how he did tonight:


OUCH. I heard Ron Washington had a talk with him about keeping his cool and not getting so “amped up.” Good talk, Rusty.

You can see it in his eyes…he is VERY COOL right here.

So what did the Cardinals have? Offensively, not much…they were pretty much hand-cuffed. Defensively, John Jay steals a sure-thing HR from Nelson Cruz, and Yadier Molina runs one of his “Yadier Molina” class pickoffs of Ian Kinsler on a 2-3-6 play to end the 2nd inning.

This was payback for a Molina groundout to Kinsler to end the top of the 2nd; a play that would have made Brooks Robinson blush at 3rd base…

The tension was broken in the 6th inning by another Mike Napoli bomb, a 3-run HR to deep left field. I use the term “tension” because Derek Holland was on the mound and the Rangers only had 1 run on the board. There wasn’t much tension after that.

Holland’s pleas to Washington to leave him in the game were to no avail…I still think he could have closed the game. Still. Derek Holland has been one of my favorite pitchers for a couple of years now. I’m glad he was able to add a postseason gem such as this to his resume.

Series tied 2-2




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

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10/10/11 St Louis Cardinals 12, Milwaukee Brewers 3

Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI
NLCS Game 2

It’s called #BabyMode.

After taking the first game of the NLCS, the Brewers get an unanticipated response from the Cardinals in this moderately lopsided display of offense…no surprise that the meat of it comes from the 2012 FA of the offseason, Mister Albert Pujols.

Don’t call him Alberta.



During the pregame show, Chris Rose, A.J. Pierzynski, and Eric “hair product” Karros discuss the need for adjustment Pujols needs to consider if he is to be a significant contributor to the Cardinals’ postseason success. I picture Albert in the batting cage all night (a la Tony Gwynn), trying to scientifically and systematically determine the source of his hitch and in the same manner of those cheezy 80s sports tearjerkers South Park spoofs on a regular basis, he finds his hitch, makes his adjustments, and after a hearty Bacon-Chocolate shake, buffers his resolve for Game 2. Because the Cardinals need to win tonight.

This sets the stage for “Whoppapalooza,” where the Cardinals rage into control of the game early on, with a table setting that is nothing less than a textbook opportunity for Pujols in the first inning; with 1 on and 1 out Pujols’ hitch vanishes and thus begins ”The Pujols Game,” where Albert plays 8 innings of 4-for-5, 5 RBI, 3 run scoring baseball…each of his 4 hits were for extra bases (10 total bases).

More Angry Bird madness ensues in the 7th inning, where the Cardinals touch RHP Kameron Loe for 6 back-to-back base hits, beginning with Pujols’ 1 out GRD and continuing with 5 consecutive singles for a 4-run inning before Loe gets the hook and is replaced by LaTroy Hawkins.

The funniest moment for me in the game actually started on September 7, when the Cardinals had begun their September run and the ever-pokeworthy Nyjer Morgan taunted the team boldy with these direct comments (spelling not corrected at the Editor’s preference):

Where still n 1st and I hope those crying birds injoy watching tha Crew in tha Playoffs!!! Aaaaahhhhh!!! ... Alberta couldn't see Plush if she had her gloves on!!! Wat was she thinking running afta Plush!!! She never been n tha ring!!! ...

Fast forward to the blastitudinous 7th inning, when Yadier Molina punched a single to right-center, scoring Matt Holliday and bring the Cards to a 9-2 lead over the Brewers with only 1 out and 0-for-3 David Freese on-deck. We see Molina on first, grinning from ear to ear, as he brings his fists up to his face and twists them into a “crybaby” demonstration…it’s called #BabyMode, a direct response to the media-adored Brewers’ #BeastMode celebrations.
I hope Morgan, the crying sud, “injoys” watching the Angry Birds in the WORLD SERIES. Just another reminder that some athletes are really better off at just shutting up and playing the game.



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