Game #5 – Cardinals at Nationals
The Cardinals have won five straight elimination games, so history appears to be on their side. Oh wait, no Pujols, no LaRussa and they are on the road facing a 21-game winner in Gio Gonzalez. Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly, the announcers, let us know that it’s a rematch of Game One, as Gio will face off against Adam Wainwright. Gio walked SEVEN batters in his first start of the series, so I am sure he will be looking to improve upon that. Side note: DC is probably my second favorite city in the US. Vegas, Pittsburgh (hometown), NY, Chicago, and San Diego, to name a few are on that list as well.
Gio takes the hill and will see Jon Jay, Carlos Beltran (for some reason batting out of the two hole tonight) and Matt Holiday in the first inning. Lots of pressure on young Gio Gonzalez tonight. Let’s see if he can deliver. I really like Stockton and Brenly in the booth tonight. They don’t seem to waste any words when describing the action, and Stockton, despite being known for his football broadcasting, does not seem out of place at all. Jay works the count to 3-0 as Gio’s fastballs aren’t coming near the plate, but he manages to get a called strike, before Jay flies out to Bryce Harper in center field. Beltran, who I traded for a king’s ransom in fantasy this season, steps in. A switch hitter, Beltran fouls off two straight fastballs and is quickly in the hole. Beltran then flares a single to center field; one on, one out for Matt Holliday, who usually destroys pitching in the playoffs, though not this series as he is hitting just 2-18. Brenly just said, ‘Excuse me, Dick.’ Whoo whoo. Holiday down on strikes, on four pitches, on a beautiful breaking ball in the dirt. Allen Craig is next up. Craig was one of the hitters that saved my fantasy season. Thanks AC! I know, the only thing that is more boring than your fantasy team is my fantasy team. Craig hits a shallow pop up to Harper in center, and the side is retired. Here comes some Nattitude! (worst slogan ever)
Wainwright will have the pleasure of facing Game Four hero and ex-Phillie Jayson Werth, rookie phenom Bryce Harper and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Wainwright was just 13-14 this season after returning from Tommy John surgery. If he played for the Pirates he would have blown out his shoulder this season. After yet another replay, I have now seen Werth’s Game Four walk-off solo homer about 500 times, and I am probably not counting enough. Werth doubles to the left field corner to set the Nats up in scoring position. Bryce Harper may be a future MVP and All Star, but frankly, he stunk after the All Star break. Oh, he’s just 19 years old, so I guess its ok. If anyone should be dating Kate Upton, it’s Bryce Harper. Harper smashes a fastball to center field over Jon Jay’s head, scoring Werth. An easy triple for Bryce, 1-0 Nats. This a chance for a huge inning for the Nats. Ryan Zimmerman will try to push Harper across. Zimmerman crushes yet another fastball to right center and it clears the wall for some impressive yard work. Three batters in, its 3-0 already, after a double, triple and home run. The Cards probably had a better start in mind. Here comes yet another former Pirate, the current ugliest man in baseball, Adam LaRoche, and goes down on strikes, via a great breaking ball. Uh oh, the Nats first inning batting average has fallen to .750. Left fielder Michael Morse steps up to face Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is working the strike zone well thus far, and the strike zone looks pretty extended tonight. Morse K’s on another sweet breaking ball in the dirt. Ian Desmond, come on down! To strike out, of course, on the same pitch that LaRoche and Morse struck out on. There is no learning happening here tonight. The Cards are coming to bat to try and chip into this lead. At least it’s only the second inning, so there is lots of time left.
Yadier Molina will try to get this rally started against our boy Gio Gonzalez. Yadier grounds out to Danny Espinosa at second base for the first out of the inning. The Cardinals are 9-17 on Fridays this season. Elias Sports Bureau comes up with weird statistics and trends. Now, 2011 World Series hero/MVP David ‘Doctor’ Freese singles to left, and second baseman Daniel Descalso digs in, 0 for his last six plate appearances. Gio is throwing gas and has been all season, as evidenced by his being 4th in the majors in strikeouts. Descalso is to this series as Lew Ford was to the Yankees-Orioles series. DD has fouled off four straight 2-2 pitches, before Gio punches him out on a fastball down and in, a very nice pitch with perfect location. Pete Kozma is next. He hit a three run homer earlier in the series, so something could happen in this at bat. For some reason, Freese takes off from first and catcher Kurt Suzuki could have had a 5-course meal back there before throwing Freese out by 8 feet at second. End of the inning.
It’s time for some Danny Espinosa, a non-prototypical second baseman: power, no speed, poor batting average. He quickly pops to Matt Holliday in left field, bringing Kurt Suzuki to the plate. Kurt is 1-13 in this series. Put me in coach! Of course, KS singles to right and is now hitting .143 in this series. Gio will try to sacrifice Suzuki over to second for Jayson Werth. Gio strikes out trying to bunt, because according to Stockton and Brenly, he is apparently such a bad hitter it is very unlikely that he will be able to advance the runner otherwise. Mountain Man Jayson Werth looking for a big hit here. He smokes one, which off the bat looks like it might leave the yard, but alas, it falls harmlessly to Jon Jay in center field.
Pete Kozma is back up at the plate after Freese was thrown out attempting to steal during his at bat last inning. He promptly flies to Harper in center field. Pitcher Adam Wainwright will try to not make too many embarrassing swings in his at bat. Gio jumps ahead quickly 1-2, and you need to punch him out here. He does so with a fantastic curveball. AW had no chance at that one. Back to the top of the order in Jon Jay. Gio is following the three basic rules of pitching tonight: throw strikes, work fast, change speeds. Jay goes down swinging to end the top half of the third inning.
Hey, look at that, Wolf Blitzer is at the game, staring at his BlackBerry or iPhone or whatever expensive phone he owns. Phenom Bryce Harper is next. And that’s why he is The Phenom. A monstrous home run into the right field seats. And this is why everyone hates him. He sprints around the bases as if he were Pete Rose, earning love from the announcers. He’s a professional baseball player. Not hustling should not be an option. Ryan Zimmerman follows the Harper homer up immediately with a frozen rope to the right center gap for a stand up double. Adam LaRoche has a chance to make this 5-0 in the third inning. Why any pitcher would throw LaRoche a fastball is crazy. He waves at breaking pitches like he is Pedro Cerrano and is a dead pull hitter as well, which actually works in the Nats advantage in this situation as they are trying to, at the least, move Zimmerman to third. Dick Stockton: ‘Wainwright gets him on a curve.’ Wow, I am Jack’s insane sense of surprise. Now Morse obliterates a fastball to left, out of the park. It’s now 6-0 Nats in the bottom of the third. Wainwright is pulled in favor of Joe Kelly. Is this really happening? Are the Nats going to take this game and advance? Kelly to face Ian Desmond first, and is bringing heat to the tune of 96 MPH. Desmond down on strikes for the second time, via a nice breaking ball from Joey Kelly. This Nats crowd is slightly embarrassing. No cheering, it’s not electric in the park, you would think this is a regular season game against the Marlins. Yankee Stadium was on fire the whole game earlier. Kelly sends a shot across Espinosa’s nose to back him off the plate. Espinosa waves at a slider and strikes out to end the inning.
Carlos Beltran steps in looking to get the rally started. Beltran has admirably filled the offensive void that Pujols left behind when he signed with the Angels, and he walks to lead things off. Uh oh, Matt Holliday could start the rally with one swing of the bat. Instead, Holliday doubles into the left field corner and Beltran comes all the way around from first to score the Cardinals first run. You can hear a pin drop in this stadium now, and its 6-1 in favor of the home team. Allen Craig quickly chops a grounder to Desmond at shortstop for the first out of the inning. Holliday cannot advance on the play. Molina flies out to Werth in right field, which does advance Holliday to third base. If any Cardinal can drive in a runner on third with two outs, it is definitely Dr. Freese. More clutch than a stick shift. However, Gio is on point and sets Freese down on strikes. Up come the Nats for more.
‘Kirk’ Suzuki is first up for the Nats/Expos franchise and lines out to Holliday in left field. Let’s just say that Gio Gonzalez will strike out on a fastball, but he does make contact, grounding out weakly to Espinosa at second base. That brings the top of the order, which looks like this in tonight’s game: 5-6, 2 homers, 4 RBI. Not too shabby. This whole Werth vs. the Phillies has to stop. Werth has been pretty bad (certainly not worth the $18 million a year that he signed for) in his two seasons as a Nat, whereas the Phillies, aside from the 2012 season, still have arguably the best team in the division. It’s not about the Phillies as an organization, though, the fans were really offended. That’s right, the worst fans in sports. Werth gounds out to second to end the inning. Joe Kelly is pitching quite well since coming on in relief in the third inning.
Gio is still on the mound and Descalso will lead it off for the bottom third of the Cards order. Stockton and Brenly go on a minute rant about how great Cards’ reliever Trevor Rosenthal is. I guess we’ll see next inning. Gio looks totally in command. If you are a Nats fan, you just need to hope he can hold it together until the seventh inning. Descalso ropes a fastball to right, over Jayson Werth’s head, and pulls into second with a stand up double. Pete Kozma, which sounds like a weatherman’s name to me, digs in again against our man Gio. This is a big out for Gio to get right now. He’ll be facing the pitcher’s spot next, which will be a pinch hitter, so getting 2 outs with the top of the order coming up can limit the damage. On cue, Kozma singles to right, and Descalso stops at third. Pinch hitter Shane Robinson bats against Gio. I did not know that Shane Robinson was a white guy but here he is ready to make an impact. Gio falls behind 3-1 with the top of the order looming. Still nobody out yet, and Gio walks Robinson to load the bases with nobody out. The tying run is now in the on deck circle. You have to look for the double play and limit the damage to 2 runs or less. Suzuki and Gio have had about 10 meetings at the mound just in this inning alone. Jay flares one that Espinosa hauls in fairly easily. If Jay gets slightly more wood on it, it’s a run at minimum. Carlos Beltran is next up. Vicious curveball that Beltran just gets a piece of, and the count is now 1-2. Gio uncorks a wild pitch that moves the runners up a base a piece. 6-2 now, and Beltran still at the dish. Another word that has just two practical applications: uncork. You can only either uncork a wild pitch, or your favorite bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Beltran walks, and now, Matt Holliday steps up and represents the tying run. Holiday hits a comebacker to Gio, who flips home for the force out, but Suzuki has no play on Holliday at first. Two outs, now. Gio has now reached 30 pitches in this inning alone and is showing signs of fatigue and frustration. Allen Craig walks on five pitches and run comes in to cut the 6-0 lead in half to 6-3. Gio can’t find the plate and he has walked three batters in the inning. He goes 2-0 to Yadier Molina, who is 0 for his last 11. That stays consistent with a fly out to right field, and the side is retired. Not a great inning for the Nats. They are still up by three, but seem to have no momentum. Uh oh.
The aforementioned Trevor Rosenthal toes the rubber now with the Phenom Bryce Harper to lead it off. Why do nearly all rookie relief pitchers get uniform numbers in the 60s range? Rosenthal is just blowing gas past Harper at 98 MPH. Obscure stat of the night added by Brenly: against pitches clocked at 93 MPH or above this season, Harper hit just .240. I wish that was my job, honestly. Back to it. Rosenthal hits 99 on the gun. If he hits you with that, it has got to hurt. My goodness. Rosenthal comes back with a filthy 82 MPH curve ball that Harper has no chance on. Ryan Zimmerman just saw a 100 MPH fastball, and to show you how much attention I am paying at the moment, it’s the fourth pitch in a row to hit 100. Zimmerman is down on strikes for the second out. The Nationals have struck out eight times in this game so far, in 4 2/3 innings. Terrible. Adam LaRoche flies out to Matt Holliday in left to end the inning.
The new pitcher for the Nats is Craig Stammen, a slightly less harder thrower than our man Rosenthal. By the way, Stammen’s ERA in this series is over 10. It seems like the right choice to bring him in. Freese singles past Desmond at shortstop on a ball he should have come up with. So now, Descalso, who started the last inning with a double, is up and promptly flies out to Harper in center field. More action in the bullpen for the Nats, with Sean Burnett, yet another former Pirate, and Edwin Jackson, who refused to accept a 3-year, $30 million offer from the Pirates in the offseason, warming up. Pete ‘The Weatherman’ Kozma digs in against Stammen, whose fastball has now touched 91 on the gun, which is close to 10% slower than Rosenthal’s from the previous inning. Kozma grounds into an inning ending double play….oh wait, Espinosa can’t get it out of his glove and they settle for the force out at second base. Off goes Stammen, and on comes Burnett to face Skip Schumaker. Another quality Nats reliever this post season, Burnett has given up three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. He does his job though and induces (there’s that word again) a weak grounder to first. End of the inning.
Michael Morse leading off the bottom of the sixth against new Cardinals pitcher, Edward Mujica and he quickly grounds out to third base for the first out. Here comes Ian Desmond, who is hitting .412 in this series. Just like Morse, Desmond puts up little fight and grounds out to David Freese for the second out. Espinosa, a free swinger, is up next. This has the makings of a super quick inning as Mujica is making quick work of the bottom part of the Nats lineup. Against all odds, Espinosa draws a two out walk. Suzuki will attempt to extend the inning though it might not be the worst thing in the world to end the inning and get Burnett back out there on the hill. But, Kurt singles to extend the inning, with Roger Bernadina pinch hitting. Two on and two out for Roger, who has one official at bat in the series and has reached base on two walks as well. Rog falls behind 0-2 and Mujica can take his pick of what he wants to throw here. Mujica K’s Rog on a slider to end the inning.
Ah yes, the great Nats ‘tradition’, the Presidents’ race. Teddy trails by a huge margin in the overall standings. It’s like the Milwaukee Sausage Race or the Pittsburgh Pierogie Race. Who cares. Edwin Jackson takes over for the Nats and will face the top of the Cardinals order with John Jay, who walks, and it is now the fourth straight inning that the Cards have had the leadoff man on base. Beltran flips to the left side of the plate to face the righty Jackson. Beltran mashes a fastball to right field for a double. Jay goes to third and it’s now second and third with nobody out and Matt Holliday coming to the plate. Uh oh. Holliday hits a slow roller to Desmond at shortstop and the only play is to first base, which means Jay comes in to score and its suddenly 6-4. Once again, the tying run is now in the batter’s box. Jackson makes a HUGE pitch to K Allen Craig, and Molina steps up with two gone in the inning. Once again, a pitcher in this game cannot find the plate, as Jackson walks Molina on four pitches. I have a bad feeling about this. Dr. Freese is up now with first and second and two out. Freese goes down 1-2 and strikes out to end the inning. Yet still the Cardinals are just two runs back. They have to be confident right now. Brenly says as much about the nature of the comeback. They are just missing one key hit, and they would either be tied or ahead right now.
Mitchell Boggs comes on in relief for the Cardinals now. He looks like he should be a plumber, not a solid reliever. And with Werth up, it’s now the Battle of the Beards. I can’t help feeling that the Nats need to get some insurance in this inning or the eighth. The Cardinals have all the momentum right now. Molina is a great catcher, but he just tried to frame a pitch that was a foot and a half off the plate. Werth grounds out to The Weatherman for out number one. Harper digs in against Boggs and the at bat is a battle with several foul balls so far, and a 2-2 count. The Phenom golfs one out to John Jay in center field for a can of corn second out. (Note: ‘can of corn’ was a phrase used by former Pirates announcer Bob Prince, ‘The Gunner’. It simply means, it was an easy play.) Ryan Zimmerman is up now, and looking to give the ball a ride. It only takes one. Choke and Stroke. Grip it and Rip it. Shoot it through the box. Ok, that is enough hitting analogies. Zim does hit a sharp one hopper through the box and The Weatherman makes a beautiful play to scoop it and fire to first for the third out. I don’t like where this is headed for the Nats. Tyler Clippard will come on in relief for the Nats.
Clip has 84 K’s in 72 innings this year. Not a bad average K/9 ratio. Descalso, who seems to be in the middle of all these runs tonight, will lead things off. Clippard has one of the funkiest deliveries I have ever seen, but he is extremely effective out of the bullpen. My goodness, Descalso just did some yard work and hit it over the right field wall. It’s now 6-5 Nats. As a player, I don’t care for Descalso, but he has had an undeniable impact on this game. The Weatherman pops up to Desmond at shortstop for the first out. Matt Carpenter is your newest pinch hitter and is currently rocking an 0-3 streak as a pinch hitter. One thing I do like about Carpenter is that he doesn’t wear batting gloves, only because you never see that anymore. Carpenter goes down on strikes, swinging, thankfully. Top of the order for John Jay. Jay gives it a ride but The Phenom Bryce Harper is right there to haul it in. Nice play by Bryce, not necessarily a can of corn. Jason Motte will be your new Cardinals pitcher.
Dare I say, Jason Motte has a much better beard than Jayson Werth. It’s not even close. LaRoche smokes a fastball to right field, and the Nats have the leadoff man on base. Morse is up next and strokes a single to centerfield, which moves LaRoche up to second base. Desmond coming up now, and if he is not bunting, Davey Johnson should be fired on the spot. The Nats need an insurance run, not a five run inning. Fire Davey Johnson! Desmond does not turn to bunt and almost assuredly will hit into a double play. I will give Desmond credit though, as he is swinging for the fences which would, you would think, effectively end the game. Instead, he hits a slow roller to third and the Cards can only get the force out at second. Espinosa quickly pops up to first base. At least that didn’t take very long. Motte is throwing serious heat, at the Rosenthal level, around 99 MPH. And some breathing room for the Nationals as Suzuki singles through the box to knock in LaRoche from third to make the score 7-5. Chad Tracy is your pinch hitter and Drew Storen will come on to pitch the ninth. Tracy pops up to Dr. Freese at third base to end the inning. Top of the ninth and the end of the season is three outs away for the Cardinals.
Beltran will lead things off for the Cardinals and he is currently 2-2 with two walks tonight. He doubles off of the center field wall, and the Cardinals are in business with Matt Holliday and Allen Craig upcoming. Holliday grounds to Zimmerman at third, and while he completely ignores Beltran, since that run is ‘meaningless’ at this point, they get the out at first. Allen Craig, a personal favorite, will take his shot now. And Craig chases a pitch way out of the strike zone for the strikeout and two away here in the ninth. The Nats are just one out away from winning this series. Only Yadier Molina stands in their way now. Molina promptly walks and its first and third with one out and Mr. Clutch David Freese strolling to the plate. Freese walks on a 3-2 pitch to load up the bases for, of course, Danny Descalso. On the first pitch of the at bat, DD lines a shot up the middle that Desmond cannot handle and the tying runs score. It’s now first and third, with two outs and The Weatherman coming up to bat in a game tied at 7. I don't care how long this game goes, the Nate can't possibly rebound from this collapse, of epic proportions. The Apocalypse is upon us. Number eight hitter Pete ‘The Weatherman’ Kozma just hit a double down the right field line that scores Dr. Freese and Descalso. It is now 9-7 Cardinals, who have just outscored the Nats, in their home ballpark, 9-1 since the fourth inning. Unbelievable. This is the reason I am glad that the Pirates never make the playoffs. I can never suffer what Nats fans just went through. Wait, the Nats still get a last at bat. Still, this is one of the more epic one game collapses I have ever witnessed. Motte will take an at bat in the ninth and go down on strikes. But the damage has been done and now the Cardinals stand just three outs away from advancing to the NLCS. Amazing.
I am too depressed about the Nats’ collapse to expound on the bottom of the ninth, so here is how it finished, without any sarcastic wit or humor or observations. Werth flied out to right field, Harper struck out swinging (go figure that one) and Zimmerman puts a mean swing to the ball, but like any sport or any adult film, inches matter. He gets under the ball and pops it sky high to one of the ninth inning heroes, Danny Descalso, and with that, the final out puts a nice and tidy bow on this series.
Boy, it’s a good thing Nats GM Mike Rizzo shut down Stephen Strasburg. I mean, it’s not like they actually needed him against St. Louis. What a night of baseball. I had not watched a nine inning game in its entirety in quite a few years, but I was able to spend seven hours watching two elimination games. I was hoping for a Baltimore-Washington World Series (that would be epic!) but it is probably inevitable that it will be Yankees-Cardinals now. I can’t see the Tigers, and their one quality starter, beating the Yankees in a seven game series, and the same goes for Giants-Cardinals. Though for this series, the Giants have Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval on offense and that is it. Matt Cain is really the only Giants starter that can be depended on at this point, while the Cardinals are full of momentum and confidence. We’ll re-visit Yankees-Cardinals when it actually happens.
Update: Derek Jeter sustained a fractured ankle in Game 1 of the ALCS and the Yankees fell behind 2-0 in the series. So it will more than likely be Cardinals-Tigers for the title.
And just for the hell of it and since this is supposed to be about tv, I am super pumped for Bond 23, 'Skyfall', so here is the trailer.
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