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I know. Bummer, dude.Now is not the time to knee jerk. Too much knee jerk already.
Everyone got over excited after the Tampa Bay Rays won game 1 of the ALDS.
There was mass panic not only after game 3 of the ALCS (after going up 2-0), but also, inexplicably, after game 5 (the Rangers were up 3-2).
"Panic" is this town's middle name.
No need to panic now. Especially now. Getting beat 9-0 by Tampa was oddly horrifying for a bit. Getting shutdown by Doug Fister and having the wheels fly off C.J. Wilson's start against Detroit was disappointing.
Losing 3-2 in the goofiest and most marginal of circumstances is certainly not the end of the world. This is why you shouldn't freak out.
C.J. Wilson Was Obnoxiously Good
Obnoxious in that he wasn't great. Threw a lot of non-strikes. Missed the zone quite a bit. But he missed in spaces where the Cardinals couldn't get to it. Walks drive me bananas. Hit by pitches drive me super bananas. Not that Albert Pujols was going to hit a double in the fourth inning, but you at last attempt to get him out. With a walk, there's the chance that someone chases a bad pitch or you get a favorable call from the ump. Still, Wilson allowed two runs in 5.2 innings. The walks killed, but he battled. He wasn't the reason you lost this game.
The Cardinals Offense Was Uber-Flukey
Not to take anything away from the Cards. They won (somewhat) fair and square. Consider that Lance Berkman's fourth-inning single actually hit in foul territory before curving into fair territory on a swing that results in a foul ball, oh, 98 percent of the time and a groundout to first 1.8 percent of the time. Instead, it curved fair and over the head of Mike Young and it scored two. Fast forward to Allen Craig's pinch-hit single. For one, Tony LaRussa isn't a genius for pinch-hitting Craig over Chris Carpenter. It's the pitcher, for one. Two, Craig's a professional baseball player. He's not some guy off the street. He's had plenty of hits. LaRussa's "genius" is baseball common sense. Two, how many times have we seen Nelson Cruz make that catch in right field. In slow-mo replay, it's shocking that he missed it as much as he did considering it looked like, at first glance, that he caught it and it rolled out of the glove.
The Rangers Gave Away Outs Or Outs Were Taken Away
You get 27 outs in a Major League game. C.J. Wilson accounted for two of those last night. 25 left. Ron Washington decided we had too many so he let Craig Gentry and Esteban German bat. 23 left. Then the killer. Top of the ninth, down a run and the meaty part of your order is up. Adrian Beltre was already 2-3 with a scorching double down the third base line. Beltre swings and drives the ball into his toe. Beltre leaps and stumbles in apparent pain not attempting to go to first. The ball is smacked from the toe to the third baseman. It looked like it hit him. It did. The ump calls it a grounder and Beltre is out. 22 outs and Mike Napoli doesn't come to the plate in the ninth.
You Didn't Have To Use Mike Adams, Neftali Feliz Or Alexi Ogando Very Much
All three will be fresh with a day off tomorrow. And how big has Scott Feldman been? Bullpen arm in 2011?
Ron Washington Gets Fancy
There's no doubt that Tony LaRussa is the better manager here. What Ron Washington needs to do is manager within his means, how he's managed the better part of the last six months. I think Wash make two critical errors:
1. I let Wilson pitch to Nick Punto. It's the World Series. It's late-October. You've been at this thing for six or seven months now. You've battled the likes of CC Sabathia, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Joe Mauer, Paul Konerko, Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester and every other great player in the American League. The second you start worrying about Nick Punto is the second you need to actually second guess yourself. Punto hit .273 against lefties this year. He's 1-4 off Wilson in the past. He's the No. 8 hitter. He should be coming off the bench. Instead he's pressed into a starting role. You pitch to Nick Punto. He's your third out.
Next, after walking Punto and Carpenter (by the way, who was fantastic on the mound last night) was up and you knew, with David Freese on third, that LaRussa was going to go ahead and pinch hit. Craig's a nice little hitter. Hits both righties and lefties well. Still, I thought Wilson had gotten better as the night wore on. Instead, Wilson is lifted, Alexi Ogando allows the game-winning hit and then you have to pull Ogando in the top half of the seventh for a pinch hitter.
2. Esteban German. The Gentry thing makes sense only if you are going to use Yorvit Torrealba in lieu of Ogando. Plus, Gentry's played recently. He's had some clutch hits for you in the past. And he can slide into centerfield with Josh Hamilton moving to left in place of the Baptist Bomber, Dave Murphy.
However, it was all wrong. For one, I left Murphy hit. He's arguably been your best hitter the last two months. You want to boost someone's confidence, let Murph hit with two on in the seventh inning of the World Series against a lefty. Gentry should have stayed on the bench.
Then, German. Esteban German hasn't seen an opposing pitcher in a full month. Plus, he's been at Triple A the entire season. German is, at best, a pinch runner. At worst, he's a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth of game 7 in place of Scott Feldman. Or if Adrian Beltre breaks a leg, he can plug in at third. Never, ever should German come in during any other part of the game.
Then he comes in. Flails at three pitches. And post-game Wash is somehow defending that move.
Insane.
Game 2. Go get'em. Throw strikes.
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