What is it with these guys behind the red birds on the bat?
Last night, as they twice did in Game Seven against the Texas Rangers in the World Series last year, the St. Louis Cardinals twice survived a stand at that “one strike away” door into eternal baseball damnation one more time with a dazzling rally in the 9th and rolled to an amazing win over the Washington Nationals before their heartbroken fans.
If Nolan Ryan stayed awake to watch, and we have a hunch he did, it isn’t a big stretch to see him muttering something like the following with a deadpan face to his dear spouse: “Let’s change the channel, Ruth. I think we’ve seen this show before and I didn’t like it the first time it played.”
I watched the Cardinals-Nats Game Five at home with my adult son Neal and had drifted easily into one of those teaching modes that often come over me these days about things I care about. Neal doesn’t mind. He either likes it, or else, he has long-past-childhood mastered the “humor thy father as he needs” mode of attentive listening.
When the Nats pushed across an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th to give them a 7-5 two-run lead over the Cards, I commented to Neal that the extra run had most probably given Washington the cushion they would need to finish St. Louis in the 9th. “With closer Drew Storen pitching for the Nats,” I said, “it isn’t likely that the Cards will get the two runs they now need to tie the game in their final time at bat.”
With the Astros now AL-bound, Neal has shifted his loyalties from the Astros to the NL-icon Cardinals. That’s important here to the point of my son’s following response: “Dad, do your thoughts on probability take into account that the Nationals are playing the Cardinals?”
“Of course, they do,” I affirmed.
“Then you and I must have been watching two different Game Sevens in the World Series last year,” Neal said in that smirky tone he sometimes good-naturedly reserves for me alone. What actually happened next in the game is best summarized in the following graphic by that top of the 9th inning scoring cell for the St. Louis Cardinals:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 0 | |
| WSH | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 0 |
The amazing, magical Cardinals did it again! Twice coming back from the fated door and escaping the “one-strike-away” plunge, the St. Louis Cardinals plated four RBI from the two-bottom position player hitters in the batting order to set up their own two-run lead as a margin that would break the hearts and smother the dreams of all Washington.
Daniel Descalso ripped a two-out bases loaded single that caromed off the glove of Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond to score the two runs that pulled the Cardinals into a 7-7 tie. Then Pete Kozma followed with an opposite field single to right that plated two more runs for the final 9-7 margin that closer Jason Motte would defend to the death of Washington hope in the bottom of the 9th.
Maybe the science of baseball statistics and the art of long-term baseball watchfulness have to be slightly adjusted when it comes to assessing probabilities in big games that include the St. Louis Cardinals in the Halloween month of October. – Makes you wonder if MLB has ever inspected their clubhouse for the bubbling hot presence of a witchcraft cauldron, plus the bells, books, and candles that are so popularly used in the darkly wishful arts.
Now the Cardinals are off to play the club that wears the orange and black Halloween colors, the San Francisco Giants, for the 2012 National League pennant. This one is a best four of seven match, pitting the 2011 World Series champion Cardinals against the club now representing the 2010 World Series champion Giants.
The Cardinals pulled off the greatest comeback in a single playoff game by coming back to win from a 6-0 deficit. The Giants became the first NL club to rally from an o-2 hole at home to win a five-game playoff series on the road against the Reds.
And now the Cardinals and Giants meet each other.
As Bette Davis mighty have said it, were she around today to express anything about the upcoming pennant series between the Cardinals and that other magical NL team, the Giants: “Hold on, baseball fans, we may be in for a long and bumpy night!”
Tags: Cardinal Magic
The Pecan Park Eagle 
October 13, 2012 at 4:28 pm |
@ Neal from a life long Cardinal fan welcome to our fan base – we win with pride and lose with dignity. The Giants are filled with confidence after their 0-2 rally vs Reds and have awesome starting pitching but every pitch from here is just a bonus so enjoy it. Who ever wins the NL will have home field and whatever mojo I can give them.
October 13, 2012 at 4:48 pm |
Unreal. There’s no other word to describe it. It was so disappointing to see the dazed look on the faces of the Washington fans. I know there were more than a few St. Louis fans rooting for the Cardinals and so many of us were ready to turn the game over to the Nats when it was 6-0 and a 21 game winner on the mound.
We were also pulling for the Orioles in the hopes to have a Cards and Browns/Orioles World Series. Yeah, a long shot and another miracle, but the Cards are in the habit of miracles. Maybe next year.
Good luck to the Nationals. They have the talent to be back next year.
October 13, 2012 at 5:04 pm |
The Nationals will bounce back just as the Astros did in 2005 but they’re going to be chewing on this for a long long time in DC. Or at least until the next time RG3 takes a hit.
October 13, 2012 at 8:37 pm |
The Nationals where once the Montreal Expos who were doing well before a player-owner dispute ended their dream year.I do not remember the year.
October 13, 2012 at 10:53 pm |
The year was 1994, Serge. The Montreal Expos had a big league best record of 74-40 and were leading the NL East by 6 games when a strike stopped play. After weeks of stupid holdout by both the players’ union and ownership, nothing got resolved, even with the help of federal mediators. Finally, on September 14, 1994, then acting Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled the rest of the season and the World Series, costing $580 million in lost club revenues, $230 million in lost player salaries, lost opportunities for the Expos and other clubs and players, like Jeff Bagwell, who were having banner years and worse. – It almost killed baseball. – As per always, when ignorance and arrogance prevail, kingdoms crash and careers fall. And idiots take the throne.
October 15, 2012 at 4:01 pm |
@Doug S: Thanks for the welcome! As an Astros fan since childhood, I’ve always kept some sort of interest in the Cardinals in the background. Over the years, I’ve cheered for them and against them, loved them and hated them. Underneath it all, I’m a National Leaguer. I believe REAL baseball shouldn’t have an “employee” sitting in the dugout waiting to bat while the rest of their team gets to play defense AND offense, so when it was announced that the Astros were to go to the American League, I was very disappointed.
To me, it only makes sense to follow the St. Louis Cardinals; they’re a staple of the National League and the old Houston Buffs were once a farm system of theirs. St. Louis fans are definitely a class act, win or lose, and I’m glad to be cheering wholeheartedly for my new team. Whether we go for our “12 in 12” or not, I’m for the National League all the way; then, now and forever!