MLB Playoffs, Day 12
The Royals and Orioles were rained out yesterday. This is a good thing for me, as it means more day baseball over the next few days. In the meantime, here's some footage of Rick Dempsey having fun during a rain delay back in the 1980's. And here's the King himself doing "Kentucky Rain."
American League Championship Series:
Kansas City leads Baltimore 2-0
National League Championship Series:
St. Louis and San Francisco are tied 1-1
Posted by GoHeath at 8:53 AM
Labels: Baseball, MLB, Music, Sports
Eric October 14, 2014 at 11:21:00 AM EDT
I remember, in the Bruce Benedict days, Skip Carey once apologizing to Andy Griffith Show rerun fans that the Braves' rain delay was over.
GoHeath October 14, 2014 at 6:11:00 PM EDT
We have a humdinger going out in San Francisco right now. The Giants jumped all over John Lackey in the first inning, scoring four runs in large part due to a misplayed fly ball that turned into a wind-blown three-run double. But the Cardinals scored 2 runs in the 4th, 1 in the 6th, and then got a homer from Randal Grichuk off the foul pole in left field in the top of the 7th to tie the game. That was all for Giant pitcher Tim Hudson.
With two outs in the top of the 7th, Matt Carpenter laces a single to right to put the lead run on base.
Jon Jay grounds out to end the Cardinals' 7th. After 6 1/2 innings, the Cards and Giants are tied at 4.
The Cardinals bring in Marco Gonzales, a rookie pitcher, to face the Giants in the bottom of the 7th.
Oh, my! In the top of the 8th, still tied at 4, Matt Adams hits a sinking liner to center field, but Gregor Blanco makes a beautiful sliding catch for the out. This is baseball at a very high level.
The Cards go down in order in the top of the 8th. Still tied at 4.
The Giants go down in order in the bottom of the 8th. Buster Posey and Pedro Sandoval both scalded liners, but those liners went directly to the Cardinals' first baseman and third baseman, respectively.
Sorry, it was Joe Panik who lined out to first. Posey flew out to right.
In the top of the 9th, Santiago Casilla, the Giants' closer, retires the Cardinals 1-2-3. The Giants can now win the game in the bottom of the 9th.
Seth Maness sets down the Giants 1-2-3 and we are going to extra innings.
The Giants send out Javier Lopez -- their fourth pitcher of the game -- to pitch the 10th. He gets the first two Cardinal batters, but Jon Jay cues a liner up the middle for a single. (It's Jay's third hit of the day.) With Matt Holliday coming up, the Giants pull Lopez and bring in Sergio Romo.
Romo v. Holliday:
Pitch 1: Swinging strike
Pitch 2: Ball
Pitch 5: Called strike
Pitch 6: Holliday rips a ball down the 3d base line, but Sandoval is there. He backhands the ball, throws to first, and the side is retired with the score still tied at 4.
The Cardinals pinch hit for Maness in the 10th, so they send in Randy Choate to pitch.
Choate, a left-hander brought in to face the Giants' left-handed batting shortstop (Brandon Crawford), walks Crawford to open the bottom of the 10th. That ends a string of 16 consecutive outs for the Giants.
Juan Perez, a defensive substitute batting 9th, is expected to bunt. His first two efforts go foul. Looks of anguish in the Giant dugout. Now the bunt is off. It's an odd situation. Perez rarely bats, and Choate rarely faces right-handers. After giving up on the bunt and fouling off a few more pitches, Perez laces a single to left. Now the Giants have runners on first and second with no one out.
In 100 at bats in the regular season, Juan Perez batted .170. But that was a big hit.
Gregor Blanco, the Giants' center fielder, is up looking to bunt. He lays down a perfect bunt, Choate picks it up, he has to throw to first, AND HE THROWS IT AWAY! The ball sails into the outfield, Crawford trots home with the GAME-WINNING RUN, and the Giants take a 2-1 lead in the series.
So here was Randy Choate's evening:
1. Walked the 8th place hitter, Brandon Crawford.
2. Gave up a hit to Juan Perez, who bats .170
3. Picked up a bunt from Gregor Blanco and throws it away, allowing the winning run to score.
Not a great day at the office. On the other hand, how tough are the Giants?