World Series Game 2- October 20th, 2011
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers
Fellow Citizens and Followers of the BK3 Nation! This post will be the most detailed, bewildered, analytical break down of any game that You or I will ever witness. The breakdown of this game will follow a simple sequence of the games most important aspects. In order to eliminate the problems that come with over thinking the outcome, I want to narrow the focus on 3 to 4 major areas of relevance. Starting pitching, near perfect defense, the bullpen efforts, and a combination of the front 4 in each batting order's hits/rbi's/runs should provide more than enough data for a complete understanding of this great Baseball game. The Last and most important aspect in this sensational game and for that matter every other game is the word CLUTCH
The starting pitching in Game 2 was outstanding to say the least. Let's start with Jaime Garcia. It is worth noting the rather large difference in his ERA between Home starts and Away starts. Garcia's 2.55 ERA in Home starts should have strongly suggested that the Rangers weren't scoring many runs in tonight's game (2). Garcia dominated the dangerous offense of the Rangers allowing 0 ER's on just 3 hits. His opponent, Colby 'Jack' Lewis had a similar strength when it came to ERA in their situation. Colby 'Jack' Lewis' ERA for Away games was much better than for Home games.(3.43) I didn't expect both of these pitchers to dominate the way they did for 6 and 7 innings respectably. Lewis gave up the only run on the Rangers staff to a red hot CLUTCH bench player by the name of Allen Craig.
Both the Cardinals and Rangers defense had much to do with the success shared by both Colby 'Jack' Lewis and Jaime Garcia. There was only 1 error committed by either team and the Ian Kinsler error in the bottom of the 4th didn't lead to a run and surprisingly that very same error set up the stage for the most spectacular defensive play made by a SS/2B this postseason! Matt Holliday had a chance to produce some runs and instead hit into an inning ending double play mentioned above. Albert Pujols showed his inner Jason Kendall in the bottom of the 8th with a deep fly ball that just didn't have enough to reach the stands and Nelson Cruz made an important play as he caught the ball on the warning track. Double plays were turned by both squads and fly balls were always played the right way. The Cardinal and Ranger Defenses proved stellar.
There is really only one aspect of the bullpen performances worth noting outside the obvious CLUTCH appearances by the Rangers and Cardinals pitchers who did their job. It looked like the Cardinals were just 3 inevitable outs away from having a 2-0 series lead which protected their home field advantage. Jason Motte had been the man in the postseason most associated with the word "guarantee" because of his nasty fastball and success. Ian Kinsler's single to lead off the inning was the beginning of the first Motte appearance with losing consequences. After stealing 2nd base, Elvis Andrus singled again which put runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs for Josh Hamilton and Michael Young's eventual game winning RBI's. You can't be perfect every day, but Jason Motte picked the worst time to prove that as the Cardinals went down 2-1 in the top of the 9th and that would be enough cushion for Feliz to finish the game and with that the series was tied 1-1. It happened so fast and with such disbelief that it didn't seem real as I watched it unfold before the 50,000 faithful packed into Busch Stadium.
The success or failure that teams have in the postseason can be stripped down to one word; "CLUTCH." It's a time for players that don't have the big numbers and expectations to step up when it counts and be the most important asset to the team for that game/series/ and hopefully championship. Players like David Freese, Allen Craig, and Jason Motte have been those CLUTCH performers for the Cardinals to name a few. Every at bat and every inning pitched in the postseason has an impact far greater than at bats and innings pitched in the regular season for obvious reasons. Who's gonna be that CLUTCH player in Game 3 on Saturday evening in Texas? One thing's for certain; it won't be Mark Kotsay.
-BK3-
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