A CLASSIC CARDINAL WIN!
The Pecan Park Eagle doesn’t usually cover or comment on real time game action. More than enough people are doing that already, but this time, we simply couldn’t resist a word or two, even if every one of them is flat out obvious – starting with the title to this brief piece.
A classic Cardinal performance, it was! And they’ve been doing this sort of thing since 1926,
3rd Baseman Matt Carpenter, a lefty batter, blasted his 4th HR of the playoffs to give the Cardinals and starter Larry Lynn an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd. The youngster from Elkins High School in Houston now has half his season total 8 homers during the regular 162-game schedule, apparently reserving his focused power for this playoff timed, really important game section of the MLB battle for the big prize. Put in even clearer terms, Carpenter now has 4 HR in 24 times at bat during these 2014 playoffs. He had HR in 595 times at bat during the 2014 regular season.
Rookie pinch hitter Oscar Taveras crushed the second Cardinal lefty HR to right n the bottom of the 7th to pull St. Louis back into a 3-3 tie with San Francisco.
Lefty-hitting 1st baseman Matt Adams then launched another solo HR drive to right field in the bottom of the 8th to put the Cardinals back on top, 4-3. The Cards would lose that lead in the top of the 9th when pinch runner Matt Duffy of the Giants scored from 2nd base on a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal of the Cards to tie the game at 4-4. Rosenthal would then load the bases with a walk, but youngster Seth Maness would come in to pitch and coax a one-hop grounder back to the mound that would end the last Giants threat and set him up to quickly become the winning pitcher.
With righty Sergio Romo now pitching for the Giants in the bottom of the 9th, Cards 2nd baseman Kolten Wong waited until the 2nd pitch before he slammed his way into the books as the 4th Cardinal lefty in this game to deposit a solo HR into the right field stands at Busch III. This one was the 5-4 game-winner that ties the NLCS at 1-1 as the Cards and Giants now move to San Francisco to resume the Series on Tuesday.
Aside from the sobering loss of star catcher Yadier Molina to a leg injury in the 6th, it was a great night for the Cardinals. An injury to Molina’s right oblique leg muscle while batting in the bottom of the 6th kept him from even leaving the batter’s box on an easy double play ball. The injury forced the Cardinals to bring in back-up catcher Tony Cruz, whose inability to block two wild pitches from Cardinal relievers played a part in the last two runs that SF would score. If Molina is unable to play the rest of the Series, which now seems highly probable, it will be interesting to see if Cards manager Mike Matheny stays with the inexperienced Cruz or goes with the wisdom of veteran A.J. Pierzynski, whom they signed as a back-up for this very possibility of injury to Molina.
Either way, this game is in the books as a memorable thriller. We cannot remember ever seeing another playoff game in which the winning team won because of four one-run homers to right field by lefty batters.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
October 13, 2014 at 11:25 pm |
This one came to me as a personal e-mail It deserves to be here:
“Dear Bill,
“Never in the history of the game have so many ordinary players come forward to win a game in such a remarkable way. This wasn’t a Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, or Mark McGwire win. It was players hitting .188 or thereabouts who came forward and produced home runs in the most remarkable game in the history of baseball. I don’t think we’ll ever see its likes again, but who knows what we may see in San Francisco. They may out-do themselves again. What a game, what a game, what a game!”
by Larry & Kathleen Miggins