Not a single thing you read/hear/see will make you feel better.
It won’t.
For every Kolten Wong walk-off home run, there is a Randy Choate wild throw. Sports can be the best thing ever on the good days and suck the happy out of every corner of your soul two days later. It’s why we watch and why we… just… can’t.
If the Cardinals end up losing the 2014 NLCS, we’ll undoubtedly pinpoint the bottom of the 10th inning in game 3 as the moment this daredevil team finally pushed it too far and crashed into the canyon basin.
I'm not a biblical scholar, but I'm pretty sure one of the 10 commandments is "thou shalt not use Randy Choate against a righty."
— regressed (@NL_Purity) October 14, 2014
10 innings prior, things were equally bleak.
Travis Ishikawa had sent a John Lackey delivery deep into the San Francisco afternoon sky. Randal Grichuk thought the ball was going to hit high off the wall, when in reality, it grazed the bottom of the fence around 10 feet to his left.
The sacks, drunk with Giants, were cleared and sent home as the Birds found themselves in a 4-0 hole before many bay-area workers were done with their long lunch.
Over the next three hours, the boys? They battled back. Finally drawing even on a Randal Grichuck HR tattooing the left field foul pole in the top of the 7th. The Baseball Gods had doled out the karma for the night and put this game in the hands of the bullpens.
The Giants didn’t crack. The Cardinals did.
Crack isn’t a good enough word. I know this. You do too.
The Best? The Worst?
– It’s easy to take shots at the manager when things go amiss. It’s another thing completely to watch a horrible, no good, (possible) season deciding, car wreck moment in slow motion. Randy Choate is a one out guy. When he doesn’t get that one out, he shouldn’t get a second chance. When he doesn’t get an out on the second chance, he shouldn’t get a third chance. When he doesn’t get an out on the third chance? No words.
– If Matheny thought that this game was settling in for a long haul, why not Mike Wacha? Not that he has a record of performing in the playoffs or anything. And once you put the first two runners on, why not go to Carlos Martinez who has the ability to strike out batters and work out of a jam? And just why the hell was John Lackey, who was dominant after the first two innings, lifted after only 79 pitches?
– The loss is on skip. Matheny probably gets more shit than he deserves from a fan base that cares deeply about this team game after game. This one, though? A game strategy only a butcher could love.
+ Jon. Fucking. Jay. 3 hits. 2 runs. He’s now 11-22 in the postseason (.500) and is the guy that is keeping Bruce Bochy up tonight after a dramatic win. The Giants just can’t get him out.
– Matt Holliday. Hard to believe that he’s busting it 100% down the line in the 10th inning when The Panda can field a ball in the furthest corner of the infield on a dive, pop-up and gun him out by three full steps. It’s one thing to carry a .077 average in the NLCS, but carrying a 0.77 average in the NLCS and not letting it all hang out?
+ John Lackey. Dude deserved better than a 4 runs over 6 innings no decision. We’ll be talking about that Grichuk play in RF in the bottom of the 1st for years if the Cardinals lose this series. I’m not totally convinced he would/should have caught that ball if he tracks it correctly. But when most pitchers would have capitulated quickly after a perceived defensive boner, Lackey bore down and let his team battle back.
Highlight Of The Night:
[mlbvideo id=”36807259″ width=”650″ height=”324″ /]Photo: USA Today
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