Game Five, what a ride. Coming into the game, I was really worried for the Rangers. Chris Carpenter had been good, and C.J. Wilson hasn't been. If the Cardinals won game five, then Texas would have to beat them twice in St. Louis to win the series. Chris Carpenter pitched really well again, and C.J. Wilson really wasn't. Carpenter threw seven innings, allowed two runs, and made most of it look easy. Wilson only went 5.1 innings, and actually threw more pitches than Carpenter did, largely because of his inability to control his pitches. He walked five batters in his outing, and never got into a groove. He was constantly pitching out of the stretch, getting behind in counts, but got a few key double plays to limit the damage. The only inning that the Cardinals scored off of Wilson was the second. The inning could have been much worse, as Wilson walked the first two hitters that he faced, and had an error committed behind him.
Both of the Rangers runs came on solo home runs by Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre. The Rangers never really threatened to have a big inning against Carpenter, but continually threatened to put up big innings against the Rangers. The over management of the offense by La Russa really hindered their ability to score though. Allen Craig got caught stealing twice in front of Albert Pujols, and sacrifice bunted once. In front of Pujols, you never want to give away outs, open up a base, or kill base runners with him up. Two days after he hit three home runs, trying to advance a baserunner from first to second is a risk that is totally misguided. If Albert hits a home run it doesn't matter where you are, you're scoring. If he hits a double, you still have a pretty good chance to score. The risk of an out while trying to advance a runner to second with a stolen base is not worth it. Giving away an out to advance a runner form first to second with a sacrifice bunt actually reduces your chance to win a game.
Ron Washington on the other hand returned the mismanagement favor by intentionally walking five batters. Five. One of them occurred with no one on and a 1-1 count after Allen Craig was caught stealing. It worked out in game five, but continuing to walk hitters like Albert Pujols with hitters like Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman behind him is basically begging the Cardinals for a big inning.
I also wasn't puzzled by the pitch selection of Alexi Ogando and Mike Napoli with Matt Holliday in the seventh inning. In the last few seasons, Matt Holliday has struggled to get around on good fastballs, especially on the inner half of the plate. Ogando continually threw Holliday sliders, until he finally gave up a single, which advanced Albert Pujols to third. This was another opportunity where Ron Washington but Pujols, who represented the go ahead run in the seventh inning on base, and ended up stranded 90 feet from putting the Cardinals ahead.
None of this, however, compares to what happened in the eighth inning. The bottom of the eighth in what everyone is talking about, but the crazy started in the top of the eighth inning. If you read the play by play, it will tell you that Yadier Molina reached on an infield single to shortstop. Now, before that blows your mind, I personally think the play should have been an error on Elvis Andrus, as he didn't seem to realize who was running, and made a throw on the move, when he had time to set and throw to get Molina. Tony La Russa then pinch hit Ryan Theriot for Skip Schumaker, only for the sac bunt. Why you would use a pinch hitter to sac bunt is beyond me, as Tony then had to substitute John Jay in for Theriot in the bottom of the inning for defense. In that one move, you eliminated two of your five bench players, and your two best options for a pinch runner late in the game. After the sac bunt, the Cardinals ended up not scoring, shocking, and the game was sent to the bottom of the eighth.
To start out the inning, La Russa made the correct move by bringing in Octavio Dotel, his right handed specialist, to pitch to Michael Young, Adrian Beltre, and Nelson Cruz. Michael Young started out the inning with an opposite field double. It was a great stroke for Young who's been struggling this postseason. Against Dotel, a pitcher who only throws cutters and sliders that move away from right handed hitters, Young went with the pitch, hit it the opposite way, and started the rally that ended up winning the game for Texas. Adrian Beltre came up second, and did not bunt. He ended up striking out, but not bunting him was the correct move. The next move was very curious, as the Cardinals opted to have Dotel intentionally walk Nelson Cruz. Dotel is your righty specialist, if you're going to have him walk Nelson Cruz, then he shouldn't be on the roster. That's his only job, but once again, the manager opted to but more base runners on.
That was the end of Dotel's night, as he was then replaced by Marc Rzepcynski. Rzepcynski gave up an infield single to David Murphy on a ball which was deflected off of Rzepcynski's leg. This is where bullpen-gate starts. Essentially, the Cardinals were having trouble communicating between the bench and bullpen over the phone because of the crowd noise. Apparently La Russa wanted Jason Motte to face Mike Napoli, but Motte hadn't even started getting ready, and so Rzepcynski was left in to face Napoli. Napoli continued to made pitchers look silly by hitting a double, and driving in two runs. Rzepcynski then struck out Mitch Moreland, and was then replaced. Lance Lynn was then brought in to intentionally walk Ian Kinsler, and was pulled immediately. Lynn wasn't supposed to be available for the game, and La Russa opted to have him throw four wide ones, give Motte enough time to get ready, and finally get the pitcher La Russa wanted into the game. Motte managed to get Andrus to strike out on three pitches.
In the top of the ninth, Neftali Feliz came in to close the game. The first batter he faced, Allen Craig, was hit by a pitch. Feliz control continued to by spotty to the next batter as he went to a full count to Pujols. On what might have been a hit and run, Pujols struck out and Allen Craig again got caught at second. I'm not sure why Craig is running with the Cardinals down two, and I'm not sure why they were forcing the issue with a pitcher on the mound who can't throw strikes. Feliz control hasn't been good throughout the whole postseason, but the Cardinals haven't seemed to pick up on that. Feliz then walked Matt Holliday before getting Lance Berkman to end the game.
When I originally heard the story about the miscommunications between the bullpen and bench over the phone because of the noise, I thought it was complete BS. I thought it might be La Russa covering for a brain fart, or something else. But the more that I think about it, I think the story might have some weight behind it. There's no way Tony would have managed the way he did. He's been known for making a to of pitching changes, but they're usually justifiable. The moves he was forced to make in the eighth were obscure and made zero sense, to the point where I said that I thought Tony La Russa had lost his mind.
The failed hit and run by the Cardinals in the top of the seventh was allegedly called by Albert Pujols, who was at the plate. I have no problem with smart players being able to put on plays like that during the game, if the manager gives them that responsibility, and trusts their judgement. I didn't like the call at that point in the game though because advancing the runner in front of Albert doesn't make sense in the first place, and Craig isn't exactly fleet of foot.
The series now shifts back to St. Louis with the Rangers leading 3-2. St. Louis fans have to be frustrated to this point. They have squandered scoring opportunities early in these games, while stranding a boat load of base runners. They blew game two, in which they had a one run lead going into the ninth inning. They scored 16 runs in game game three of the series, but the offense hasn't showed up in key spots during the rest of the series. I feel like Cardinals fans have to feel like Tony La Russa felt at this point.
As I've watched these World Series games, I've been following the chatter on twitter. During the charades of the eighth inning, a saw a few tweets that made me laugh out loud. Here are some of my favorites:
@jonahkeri Laughing so hard right now, actually coughing
@jazayerli Oh, and tomorrow is @keithlaw 's day to co-host ESPN's Baseball Today podcast? Giddy.
@keithlaw On tomorrow's podcast, Eric and I won't analyze the game. We'll just read the play-by-play with a laugh track.
@joe_sheehan I've got $20 for the reporter who asks Lynn what kind of stuff he had tonight.
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