Back to Busch Stadium!
Jayson Stark of ESPN called it a "frozen moment." Gannett called it a dramatic victory.
Growing up in St. Louis, you have to be a Cardinals fan. The red shirts permeate the city, and not just downtown on game day. I wasn't even a sports fan until 1979, but I followed the Cardinals all my life.
As I watched the game enter the 9th inning last night, I began to hear the Houston crowd cheering, impossibly louder because somehow they were allowed to close the damned roof. They thought they were on the way. The commentators were talking about history, and how the Astros had never been before. "It's not over yet," I said to the TV, watching alone late on a Monday night.
Eckstein battled his way onto first base, and I don't think that surprised anybody. That guy just never ever never gives up. I felt like no matter what happens, that was an awesome at bat.
Then Edmonds came up, even more steely-eyed than usual. He has a reputation for chasing bad pitches and swinging at fastballs. But last night, he was patient. I'm convinced that Lidge thought he'd throw some balls at the corners and Edmonds would swing. But he didn't. His patience paid off as he took the walk.
When Pujols came to bat, the cheers subsided a tiny bit. Even the commentators took notice, and realized what was now at least remotely possible. Lidge somehow seemed hittable at last. When Pujols hit that ball, I jumped off the couch, leaning into the TV to see it go all the way. I'm watching by myself at home and I got up to see the ball better! The remote fell on the floor. I fell back on the couch, screaming YEAHHH!
Nothing like watching your visiting team send the home crowd from 150 decibels to total silence. That was a great moment. Back to Busch! One more at least. The old ballpark deserves one more.
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7 comments:
Lidge should have thrown a fastball to Eck, as he was sitting slider (by the fact that he hit a good one). He never would have caught up with the 97 m.p.h. fastball in that situation...but the slider is his out pitch, so everybody in the park knew it was coming. Which takes absolutely nothing away from a great AB by Eckstein. I hate that guy.
Edmonds was going to walk or K. As the media here has been saying, he has been swinging at nothing and more than willing to take very hittable pitches in key at bats (and end up striking out doing it...which is part of why their offense has been horrible). He is going bad and knows it, so he is desperately looking for walks. Bah. But Lidge was overthrowing so badly there that he made it very easy for Edmonds not to swing. Lucky Jim :)
But as soon as he let that pitch go to Pulhos, it was trouble. You could have hit that one out CK :) He swung and I just said "He crushed that." And then looked at Lidge crumpled by the mound. No need to see any other camera view when a pitcher does that.
I would have been screaming at the T.V. too :)
tecejda
Yeah, I think Lidge left his balls in the clubhouse. WTF kind of closer is he to suddenly start throwing sliders instead of fastballs? The Cards knew he was trying to be shifty.
Roy Oswalt called Eckstein a "pest." I love that guy.
The amazing thing to me was that I stood up off the couch to watch the ball leave the park, like I could see it better or something. It looked better close up. Never done that before. Quite a moment.
...more on this in my blog, I could rattle off a ton of crap here, and more people would probably read it here, but it'd be a post about three times as long as Tom's. :P
As an aside, closing isn't necessarily about heat, it's about stuff, which is like heat, but less hot.
Lidge's slider is filthy, the one or two times I've seen him, it's just disturbing. It's Johnson-esque. The only real difference is that it's not as huge a change from his fastball as Johnson's, who is dropping 20 miles an hour from his slider, and *still* having hit the plate at 80-something.
So the fact that Lidge held on to his slider isn't so odd. What is odd is that he held onto it after walking Edmonds, and after being talked to by his coach. I could see him throwing full-on-sliders to that point. Especially since most closers have that defining pitch, and when all is bad, they know that pitch is their pitch. Insert link to Rivera's cutter here.
Throw Pujols that first pitch slider that he threw him, get him chasing and looking for that dirty little pitch. And while he's standing in the box waiting for the ball to move down and in, throw a fastball away on the black, then offspeed low.
But, really, I don't know that Pujols would have offered at any of it, unless it was a mistake. For whatever reason, that slider he threw Pujols was not his normal slider. As has been said before, a hanging changeup is the fattest pitch to hit, as it's basically a BP fastball. A hanging slider isn't far away from that.
Why didn't Lidge just walk Pujols intentionally? Seriously, the worst that could have happened was a tied game.
I suppose Busch deserves a real finale.
Like Brian said, Lidge's best pitch by far is that slider (and that is saying something as he has 97mph heat). The heat is really normally just a setup for the slider. You have to gear up for the heat, because if you don't, it is past you. And if you do that, you can't hit the slider. Unless it hangs like a big fucking ballon like that pitch to Pujols. Many hitters would have put that pitch out (not as far as Al, but out).
The best at-bat in that sequence was by far Ekstein's. He hit a good slider with two strikes...I still think he was looking for it would have been meat if the gas would have come, but Lidge throws the slider when he gets to 2 strikes.
I suppose Busch deserves a real finale.
Yeah it does. With a fucking wrecking ball...
tbvzp
Sigh. Too much Oswalt. That guy was just unhittable. Thanks for a great ride, Redbirds.
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