Saturday, October 10, 2009
OK, I’m back after taking 90% of the baseball season off. All the free time I imagined I’d be spending during the season blogging, I ended up spending during the season watching baseball games.
So I thought I’d close the 2009 baseball-season circle by giving it a shot here in what could be the Cardinals’ last game of the season.
The Game 2 loss precipitated by Holliday’s gaffe was painful, but even if they’d have won that game they’d still have to win two more to advance, so let’s see if tonight can be one of those.
Furcal leads off with a harmless fly out on an 0-1 pitch, so I’m glad to see a drama-free beginning. Pineiro was a lot shakier over the last six weeks than he had been for the balance of the season, but perhaps he was just regressing to his mean. Kemp legs out a slow roller to short, aided by the fact that Ryan was positioned on the outfield grass and had a long way to charge. Ethier slices a liner to left, and the crowd gives Holliday a loud cheer as he makes the catch. Manny smokes Pineiro’s first pitch into the left-center gap and it rolls to the wall, allowing Kemp to score easily. Pineiro falls behind Loney 2-and-1, keeping the ball down, and doesn’t get the call on another low pitch, a little outside. His 3-1 fastball is right down the pipe and Loney fouls it off..big pitch here, and Loney lofts a fly to right for the third out. Ryan’s positioning in this inning hurt him with a speedy runner at the plate, as Kemp’s roller would have normally been an out. I guess he feels that with his arm strength he can afford to play as deep as he does, but it didn’t work out in this case and the Birds come up to bat down 1-0.
Skip to lead off, and Padilla starts him out with a 93-mph fastball over the heart of the plate. On a 1-1 pitch Skip taps harmlessly back to the mound. Ludwick is now batting second—I like this move—and Padilla appears to get Ludwick on a called strike three on the outer edge, in the exact same location as his called strike two on the previous pitch, but the pitch is called a ball and Ludwick lines the following pitch to right for a single. Albert is tied up on a 1-0 pitch and fouls it away, then smokes a fastball down the middle to right-center for a single, Ludwick to second. Now Holliday with a chance for a little redemption….On 1-0, Holliday swings at a high pitch out of the srike zone and chops a tapper back to the mound, where Padilla’s only play is to get the out at first. Now Rasmus in a position to put the Birds on top with a base hit, and this is a pitcher he should be able to do something with…Padilla almost drills Rasmus with a 1-1 pitch that Martin had to leap up to snare, then Rasmus fouls off another fastball to even the count at 2-2. Watch the slow stuff here..curveball in the dirt—another nice stop by Martin–to load the count. I would not be surprised to see another curveball here…Instead a fastball drifts inside and the bases are loaded for Yadier Molina. Molina swings at the first pitch, which is out of the strike zone, and fouls it off to the right. The announcers mention that Molina is just 1-for-15 with the bases loaded this season, and Molina follows Rasmus’s patient at bat with a grounder to short to end the inning.
Nice start to the top of the 2nd as Pineiro gets Blake to swing through a 2-2 fastball. Mark DeRosa makes a fine play to charge Belliard’s slow roller and barely nips him at first. After Russell Martin quickly grounds out to short, Pineiro is through the second on just 11 pitches and he has the pitcher leading off in the third.
Padilla carves up DeRosa, striking him out on three pitches. Ryan quickly falls behind 0-2, and Padilla gets him on a roller to second. He has a chance to get through his half of the second faster than Pineiro got through his…now 0-2 on the third straight hitter before Pineiro takes a breaking ball high, then a fastball outside that just misses. Pineiro is Padilla’s second strikeout victim as they trade 11-pitch, 1-2-3 second innings. Let’s see how things go the next time through the order.
After Padilla grounds to short, Furcal—his bat sure is quick—drills a liner to right for a single. Pinerio’s first pitch seems a perfect strike at the bottom of the zone, but is called a ball, and the next pitch is in a similar location but even lower and is called a strike. Kemp swings over a pitch on the inner half before painting the outside corner for a called strike three. Beautiful sequence.
But on a 3-1 count to Andre Ethier–the same count he homered on in Game 1—Ethier drills a no-doubter over the right field wall to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Manny follows with yet another first-pitch line drive into left center, Rasmus cuts it off but his throw can’t stop Ramirez from getting into second. Pineiro induces Loney to ground to first, but he takes his eye off Pujols’ feed as he feels for the bag and Loney is safe as the ball bounces off the side of Pineiro’ smitt. Blake grounds into a 5-4 force to end the inning, but for the second time in three innings the Dodgers come up with a big run-scoring hit. The Birds need to do the same or their season is over.
It’s time for he Cardinals to get something going as the top of the order is up. Skip becomes the fourth Cardinal in a row to start out 0-2 as he takes the first two pitches for strikes before grounding out softly to second on a 2-2 pitch. Ludwick hits a nubber back to the mound, and the Cardinals are looking very feeble since Rasmus’ walk, generating 6 outs on just 18 pitches. Albert takes the longest at bat by a Cardinal so far, having fouled off a couple two-strike pitches as he awaits his 8th pitch: takes it for ball three, but then pops up the next pitch for the third out. Birds now have six innings to overcome a three-run lead.
On the first pitch of the 4th, Belliard hit a hard grounder that gets through the hole, past DeRosa and just under Ryan’s glove. Ryan wouldn’t have had a play even if he had come up with the ball. DeRosa makes a great play on a soft chopper to the left of the mound that Pineiro can’t field, as he charges, grabs and throws to barely get Russell Martin, with Belliard to 2nd. Padilla grounds out to bring up the red-hot Furcal, who’s been a tough out so far in the series. Furcal continues his assault, shooting a hard smash down the 3rd-base line to drive in Belliard. All the Dodgers’ runs have scored with two outs, and, facing now a 4-0 deficit, the Cardinals’ season is slowly slipping away. Matt Kemp strikes out on three pitches but, again, the damage is done and we’ll see if the Cardinals can muster any kind of a response.
Holliday flies out to right to lead off the 4th, as Padilla has now retired 9 straight. Colby shoots a grounder past Blake down the left-field line and winds up at second with his third double of the series. Yadi’s soft bounder to third advances Rasmus but is the second out. Birds need a two-out hit to get on the board. DeRo hits a liner right at Padilla, who snares it for the third out. Padilla has allowed just four baserunners through four, and it looks like the Cardinals team he’s facing is the same one that limped disappointingly through the season’s final four weeks rather than the one that built the commanding division lead through the end of August.
Joel Pineiro’s 2009 season comes to an end, as he is finished after four innings. Lefty Dennys Reyes comes in to face the lefthanded Andre Ethier and quickly gets ahead 0-2. Reyes fans Ethier and stays in to face Manny. Reyes gets ahead of Manny 0-2 on a generous call on the outer half, then gets him swinging at a slider in the dirt. Loney grounds out and for the second time tonight the Dodgers go down 1-2-3.
Brendan Ryan grounds out to second to lead off the Cardinals fifth. Now .225-hitting Joe Thurston pinch-hits for Reyes. Really? I don’t even know who we have on our bench (lessee, Lugo, Glaus, LaRue, Ankiel and Thurston…)… I guess it doesn’t really matter. Thurston has worked the count full in one of the better at bats taken by a Cardinal tonight…now seeing his 8th pitch: and he takes ball four high. No, the umpire calls it strike three. I was actually turning from the TV to start typing “and he takes ball four high” before the ump shocked me with his call—I didn’t think there was even a question that it was ball four… Skip at least gets the ball out of the infield this time, flyng to Manny deep in left center. Of the Cardinals last 16 batters, only Colby Rasmus (twice) has managed to reach base. I think we can file this one alongside the Cardinals’ efforts in the 2004 World Series and games 5-6-7 of the 1996 NLCS… just completely anemic… Birds have scored just five runs now in two-and-a-half games…
John Smoltz—who I think was the starter for the Braves in the 1996 NLCS game in which the Cardinals lost 14-0 )or was that the 15-0 game?)—comes in to pitch the sixth, and gets ahead of Casey Blake 0-2 before Blake hits one off of Brendan Ryan’s glove going to his left and is safe on an infield single. Smoltz then strikes out Belliard, Martin and Padilla. The Cardinals will have Ludwick, Pujols and Holliday up in the 6th, which may represent their best shot to get back in this game and to stay alive in the series, and in 2009.
Luwdick leads off and works the count to 2-2 before hitting a hard one-hopper past the mound but right to Belliard, who throws him out. Albert falls behind quickly 0-2, takes a ball and fouls a couple off before taking a borderline pitch on the inner half for a called strike three. Holliday continues a disappointing series with a first-pitch pop up for the third out. Sigh.
Smoltz fans Furcal to start the 7th. Too late, I’d say. Now he strikes out his fifth batter in a row, getting Kemp. After falling behind 0-2, Andre Ethier blast a shot to straightaway center and over Rasmus’s head, and legs out a triple as Rasmus has to corral the carom off the wall. Manny drills a line-drive single to left to drive in Ethier, as the Dodgers plate their fifth run with two outs. Another hard-hit ball through the infield as Loney drills one through the first-base hole for a single. Casey Blake ends an 8-pitch at bat by flying out to left. Another inning, another run, Birds down 5-0 with 9 outs left in the bank.
Rasmus leads off the bottom of the 7th with one of the Cardinals’ harder-hit balls, but it’s just a deep fly out to left. Yadier, who’s grounded out feebly twice, now up…Molina drills a shot just inside the 3rd-base bag and motors into second for a double, and just the team’s fourth hit. Moments later Yadier blunders into an out as he runs toward third on a grounder by DeRosa to short, and the Cardinals lose a runner in scoring position as Molina is gunned down easily at third. Moot point as Brendan Ryan pops to center. Yawn…..
Now Motte—who at least is entertaining to watch—has come in to start the 8th. Belliard, then Martin ground out to short. Jim Thome pinch hits for Padilla, and hits a ground-ball bullet to Ryan on the edge of the grass, and he’s thrown out as the Dodgers go down 1-2-3 for just the third time.
The Birds have given the home crowd almost nothing to cheer about tonight…The Dodgers scored in the first, then the Birds left the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning, which turned out to be, in retrospect, the most exciting moment of the game so far. It’s been downhill from there. Maybe here, in the bottom of the 8th with Padilla out, the Birds can get something going.
Jason LaRue pinch-hits for Motte, facing George Sherrill. What does it say about the Cardinals postseason roster construction that their first two pinch hitters off the bench tonight are Joe Thurston and Jason LaRue??? LaRue pops out to second, and now Julio Lugo pinch hits for Schumaker against the lefty reliever. Lugo works it to 3-1….now takes a close pitch on the inner half for ball four, just the Cardinals second walk of the game. Ludwick fouls off a pair of pitches to quickly get down 0-2…then fights off a high fastball to stay alive…Ludwick gets a little too far under a low pitch and hits it deep to left, where Manny catches it about three feet from the wall. Ten feet further and we’d have at least the hint of a ballgame, but instead it leaves the Cardinals still five runs down with just four outs to spare. Now, with Pujols up, the Dodgers bring in their closer Jonathan Broxton. Lugo goes to second on what I guess would normally be called defensive indifference, but the hometown scorer credits him with a stolen base. The Cardinals get off the schneid as Albert takes a 99-mph fastball on a line the other way for an RBI single, Lugo cruisning home easily. Now Holliday, who has had a a very disappointing series at the plate, comes up with a chance to at least make things mildly interesting….Holliday gets down 0-2 before skying a pop fly to right for the 3rd out.
Ninth inning, Ryan Franklin in…. Furcal grounds out to Ryanm who has now assisted on the last four outs. Franklin fans Kemp on three straight fastballs. Birds pitchers have done well over the last five innings, allowing just Manny’s two-out RBI single to mar the scoreboard. May have spoken too soon, as Ethier shoots one the other way for a double into the left-field corner, his third extra-base hit, leaving him just a single shy of a cycle. But this time, instead of delivering a two-out RBI hit Manny grounds out to second. Birds down to their last three outs of the 2009 season, unless they can put up at least a four spot.
Colby leads off the bottom of the 9th by swinging over a low fastball after taking a questionable strike on the outside corner to make it 2-2…On an 0-2 count Yadier dribbles a roller about twenty feet toward third base, and the Dodgers can’t do anything with it as it goes for an infield single. Molina takes second on defensive indifference…DeRosa taps meekly to the Broxton, and now Brendan Ryan is in the box as possibly the last hitter of 2009…No, it’s Rick Ankile pinch hitting…Rick takes a 98-mph fastball over the inner half for strike one…then a 99-mph fastball for strike two, then swings through a 101-mph heater to end the season.
Til next year, Birds, it was a fun season, it really was.
Ninety-one wins is a great accomplishment, but perhaps the team overachieved and couldn’t sustain their performance into the postseason. The Dodgers played great, and even after the Holliday muff in Game 2, put four consecutive runners on base with two outs to pull out the win. They are a deserving victor, and I wish them luck going forward.
