The rest of the world can be as smug as they want to be, but when all is said and done, I’m proud. The Padres got kicked around pretty good in the NLDS, but they kept kicking back. Yeah, they got swept in the first round of the playoffs (hey, at least they did it for a lot less money than the Red Sox did), but they never stopped battling.
The Padres again got one of their better hitters up to the plate in the ninth representing the tying or go-ahead run after digging themselves into an unbelievably deep hole. (Note to self: Stop spotting the team with the best record in baseball 7+ run leads.) Never should’ve even come to that, but you know the Padres. Can’t do anything the easy way.
Unfortunately, the bell never really rung for the Padres in this series until the sixth inning. In innings 1-5, the Pads were outscored, 19-2, by the Cardinals. From the sixth inning on, the Friars took over, finishing with a 9-2 advantage.
If the Pads had been able to get any kind of starting pitching, this could have been a real interesting series. As it is, the Padres were competitive in all three games, which I think is more than most folks expected. Although there were games that looked like they might become blowouts, there were no 14-2 affairs here.
A Tale of Two Innings
The deciding game was similar to the previous two in another respect. Once again, ability to execute made all the difference.
Game 3 hinged on two innings, or more accurately, two half-innings: The top of the second, and the bottom of the fifth.
Top of the Second
Abraham Nunez strikes out swinging.
Yadier Molina singles to right.
Matt Morris grounds into a fielder’s choice, pitcher to shortstop.
David Eckstein homers to left.
Jim Edmonds doubles to right.
Albert Pujols is intentionally walked.
Larry Walker is hit by a pitch.
Reggie Sanders doubles to left.
Mark Grudzielanek flies to center.
4 runs, 4 hits, 2 left on base.
The recaps I’ve been reading so far don’t even mention this, but the key to the inning was Morris’ at-bat. With one out and a slow runner on first, Morris dropped down a sacrifice bunt. He hit it right back to Woody Williams, who threw to second for one. Unfortunately, the relay throw from Khalil Greene to Robert Fick at first wasn’t handled cleanly (I’d need to watch the replay to see where things went wrong, and I am in no mood to watch the replay), allowing Morris to reach base and the inning to continue.
I’ll grant that Woody still can’t be giving up a homer to Eckstein or plunking Walker (on an 0-2 count!), but if the play on Morris is made, it’s still a 1-0 game at that point. Woody wasn’t pitching real well anyway, so who knows what would have happened. One thing is for sure, though: The crowd would have been a lot more into a 1-0 game going into the fifth than a 5-0 game.
I, for one, was completely deflated by this time. I was watching my team prove all the jackass commentators right. And don’t get me started on the Cardinals fans in our section. Really, don’t get me started.
Bottom of the Fifth
Anyway, the other key point in the contest came in the bottom of the fifth. The Cards had just scored twice in the top half of the inning to extend their lead to 7-0. Then this happened:
Khalil Greene flies to center.
Joe Randa doubles to left.
Eric Young singles to right.
Dave Roberts grounds to second.
Mark Loretta singles to left.
Brian Giles singles to left.
Ryan Klesko strikes out swinging.
2 runs, 4 hits, 2 left on base.
It would be easy to focus on Klesko’s strikeout, but he had a terrific at-bat. He fouled off four two-strike pitches before finally going down.
The key play here was Greene’s fly to center. As is his custom, Greene hacked at the first pitch he saw. This time, he got a hold of one. Most parts of the park, it’s gone. But he hit it to dead center and Edmonds made one of his ridiculous catches jumping into the wall.
I don’t think the ball would have left the yard, but with almost anybody else in center, Greene is standing on second with a double. If that had happened, Klesko would have come up with three runs already in and just one out.
Ramon Hernandez, who batted behind Klesko, led off the sixth with a single up the middle. It’s not at all unreasonable to think that if Edmonds doesn’t catch Greene’s drive, the Padres score four or five runs in the fifth and knock Morris out of the game.
No Sour Grapes
Yeah, I know. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Cardinals are the better team. The above just serves to illustrate exactly how they are the better team.
The Padres couldn’t turn a double play, and it cost them four runs. The Cardinals got a spectacular catch out of their center fielder, and it saved them at least one run, possibly more. That’s your ballgame, your series, and your season.
Trevor Time, One Last Time?
The other great story in Saturday night’s game was the standing ovation Trevor Hoffman received when he entered the game in the ninth. We’ll start talking about these things in earnest shortly, after the dust has cleared and we’re all able to think a little more clearly, but the crowd knew that this might be their last chance to see Hoffman pitch as a member of the Padres.
If that turns out to be the case, I’m real glad I was there to be a part of it.
Okay, Now What?
Now, I’m taking a few days off because I desperately need them. I’ll probably be back with something by the middle of the week. At the very least, I’ll have a rough agenda for the off-season. We’ll have a lot to talk about, but all in due time.
Thanks to everyone for hanging out and chatting with me during the season. As always, it has been a blast.
And with that, he awkwardly ended the post…
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