NLCS: San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals

[Rudi]

Fuck these teams.

 

[Primetime]

CRADS

 

[Woy]

We found a secret pinch-hitting weapon tonight.

:motte:

 

[Primetime]

Motte may have taken a swing at more good pitches in that one at bat than Holliday did in 5 ABs.

 

[Woy]

 

[ThomasTomasz]

 

[Obst]

MVPosey gonna put the team on his back.

 

[Bomberooski]

GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Woy]

Game 1 - Lynn
Game 2 - Carpenter
Game 3 - Lohse
Game 4 - Wainwright
Game 5 - Lynn (if necessary)
Game 6 - Carpenter (if necessary)
Game 7 - Lohse (if necessary)

 

[Woy]

The story of the comeback: In the players' own words

SAN FRANCISCO • The Cardinals' chartered flight arrived in San Francisco about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, after a long journey through the night. Fatigue had never felt so good. Sleep had rarely been this satisfying. Yes, this baseball team really was floating through the clouds.

The weary but happy traveling party was still trying to process the magnitude of the Cardinals' shocking 9-7 win over the Washington Nationals in the clinching Game 5 of the NL division series. It wasn't a dream. It just seemed that way.

"We were just exhausted after what happened," Cardinals closer Jason Motte said. "Even during the celebration after the game, I looked around and people were like, 'What in the heck is going on? Is this really happening right now?' It was just crazy."

This may have been the biggest surprise victory in Washington since another tenacious competitor from Missouri, President Harry S Truman, defeated challenger Thomas Dewey to win re-election in an upset that stunned the nation.

The Cardinals had rallied from a 6-0 deficit. They were down 7-5 going into the ninth inning, but scored four runs to eliminate the Nationals and advance to the NL championship series, which begins Sunday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

When the Cardinals gathered in the visitors' clubhouse Saturday to prepare for a late-afternoon workout, they were still reliving the emotions from their incredible comeback.

Before the Cardinals could do something about wiping out the lead and overthrowing the Nationals, they first had to convince themselves it was possible. That wasn't difficult. A core of Cardinals had done it multiple times before, most notably Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

"The word that comes to mind is ‘belief’ and that’s where it starts," third baseman David Freese said. "You’ve got to have desire. You have to want that situation. Its got to be a team effort. That’s what it takes. It starts with the character. Every team has talent but you’ve got to add character to be successful."

Friday night, as they stared at their elimination, the Cardinals fought back. The rising began with a stirring speech in the dugout by pitcher Chris Carpenter, the team's ace and leader. Carpenter's rallying cry soon was picked up by another leader, second baseman Skip Schumaker.

Before long, the rest of the team joined in, with players encouraging each other to keep battling. They decided early on that surrender wasn't an option. They would dig in and refuse to succumb to the Nationals or their raucous fans.

Several Cardinals said they'd never been in a dugout that was so alive and wired with an endless current of energy and emotion. A day later, those feelings remained strong.

"There was an atmosphere there that I'd never seen before," manager Mike Matheny said. "It was borderline high school football, where the guys are screaming at the top of their lungs.

"But the message was pretty consistent. Keep playing this game, and something good's going to happen. And then it turned into, 'This is going to be a story people are going to remember if you guys just keep going.' It was impressive because it became contagious."

This is the story of an incredible comeback, in the Cardinals' own words:

The Nationals slammed three homers off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, knocking him out of the game in the third inning. Wainwright put his head down, saddened by the thought that he'd cost his team a chance to win. His teammates vowed to reverse Wainwright's fortunes.

FREESE: "Waino cares so much, and he's done so much for this team. One thing he said was 'Pick me up, boys. Pick me up.' And we wanted to do it for him. We wanted to do it for ourselves, but we didn't want him feeling that way."

The Cardinals' comeback began in modest fashion, with a run in the top of the fourth. But Washington still had a formidable 6-1 lead. The Cardinals had only 15 outs left, but would make their last stand. Carpenter went to work in the dugout, trying to boost his teammates' morale.

CARPENTER: "I was just trying to do everything I can to keep our guys motivated, and keep them going. And that's when I started talking about it. 'Hey, let's make this epic comeback. Let's ruin everybody's night.' The crowd thinks they've got this game. They're beating us 6-1, and our stud (Wainwright) is out of the game, and we're going through our bullpen. It may look bad, but why can't we come back? Get one run at a time, keep on it, and see what happens. I was nonstop the whole time."

SCHUMAKER: "Carp says right away, 'Boys, this is going to be an epic comeback. Just epic.' And he kept saying that over and over. Then I started thinking the same thing. I started buying in on it. I started saying it, too. Then everyone started believing. We were just as loud as we could be."

A turning point came in the top of the fifth inning. Encouraged by batting coach mark McGwire, the Cardinals began taking pitches to make Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez sweat. Gonzalez, who seemed to be feeling the pressure, began obsessing over ball-strike calls by home plate umpire Angel Marquez.

The Cardinals could see Gonzalez weakening, and that fired them up. As one Cardinal said, "Gio looked like he didn't want to be out there. The guy has a 6-0 lead, then 6-1, and he's panicking out there. We smelled blood."

Seeing Gonzalez falter despite having a big reinforced the Cardinals' belief that they could win Game 5. And part of the formula was applying pressure to a young Washington team.

Cardinals batters made Gonzalez throw 36 pitches in the fifth, and he ran out of gas. He was pulled after five innings. That gave the Cardinals a chance to exploit a tired Washington bullpen. The Cardinals sensed that the Nationals were nervous and playing tight.

SCHUMAKER: "Before the series started, I said you really couldn't put a price tag on experience. A lot of guys had the bright-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look. And I'm not going to mention names, but we saw them taking a couple of deep breaths between pitches, and they were up four or five runs. When we saw that, we started talking. We weren't taking any deep breaths. We were the ones trying to push. It felt like we had the momentum, which is crazy to say because we were behind. But it really felt that way."

The Cardinals cut the lead to 6-5, raising the anxiety level at Nationals Park. Motte entered in the eighth and gave up the only run that would be allowed in six innings of exceptional relief by the Cardinals' bullpen. The score was 7-5, and the Cardinals had three outs left. But Carpenter was still working the dugout, harder than ever.

MOTTE: “I remember Carp in the dugout saying, ‘This will be an epic comeback.’ I remember hearing that and thinking, ‘This guy is insane.’ But we got down by two in the eighth, and no one had their head down, like we were done. Everybody was upbeat, everybody was ready to go. These guys just proved what big hearts they have and how much they go out there and work their butts off. Someone asked me how we keep doing it, and I think we’re just stubborn. We just don’t give up. And that’s how you have to be. The game isn’t over until the last out is made."

Carlos Beltran led off the ninth for St. Louis. He ripped a double off Nationals reliever Drew Storen.

SCHUMAKER: "We felt that if we could get one guy on, anything could happen. Sure enough, Carlos hits a double right away. And we felt like, 'All right, this is it. Let's go.'"

But Storen quickly retired Matt Holliday and Allen Craig, and the Nationals needed only one more out to put the Cardinals down. Then in two outstanding at-bats that played a huge part in the comeback, Yadier Molina and Freese displayed poise and patience under pressure.

Molina and Freese each faced two-strike counts, meaning that the Cardinals were one strike away from being finished. Molina and Freese wouldn't capitulate. They worked Storen for consecutive walks. The Cardinals had the bases loaded.

In the corner of the dugout, McGwire beamed with pride. In Game 4, Storen had gotten the Cardinals to chase fastballs off the plate, outside the zone. Storen had also baited them into swinging at his slider, which he rarely throws for called strikes. In reviewing Game 4, McGwire had urged his hitters to (1) stop chasing the outside pitches out of the strike zone; (2) avoid trying to pull the ball; (3) stay out over the plate, so they could better handle Storen's fastball on the outside corner.

MCGWIRE: "This time they understood what he was trying to do with them. The night before, he did it, and we swung at the balls out of the zone. This time, pretty much the same guys were facing him. This time we started taking those pitches, and it made all the difference in the world. It starts with Beltran’s double, and I think that scared them. ‘Uh-oh. What’s going on.’ But then Storen got two quick outs. And then Yadi comes up and puts on a great at-bat. And then Freezer comes up and puts on a great at-bat. It was unbelievable, their discipline. In their minds, they figured it out, based on what had happened in the previous game. And the result was a win because of that."

MOTTE: "When Carlos got that hit, I just started laughing. I was like, 'Here we go again.' Even when we had two outs, Yadi was going up, and people in the dugout were shouting, 'Just get it to Freese. Get it to Freese.' Yadi got us to Freese, and Freese ends up walking, too. Bases loaded."

Several innings earlier, Wainwright had put aside his personal disappointment to join Carpenter and Schumaker in leading the dugout pep squad.

MATHENY: "I think one of the things that pushed it over the top was when we see Adam Wainwright give up six runs, go up in the clubhouse and then come back down, and was on the top step cheering as loud as anybody, instead of hanging his head. And I think that just says volumes about the character of this team and these guys individually. But there was a life to that bench like I've never seen. I don't think it would have happened without it."

WAINWRIGHT: "You could feel that there's something in the air. There's something flowing through that dugout. And the hitters go up to the box, and it's almost like a foregone conclusion. It's crazy, but we feel like something is about to happen. Something very big. And gosh dang if it doesn't."

Second baseman Daniel Descalso was up next, and the Cardinals were confident that he'd get something done. Descalso had homered in the eighth, and he'd put together terrific at-bats all season. After being visited on the mound by the Nats' pitching coach, Storen challenged Descalso with a sinking fastball. Descalso smoked the first pitch for a two-run single that tied the game 7-7.

The Cardinals went wild. Leaping. Climbing to the top of the dugout step. Running out to greet the runners who had just scored.

CARPENTER: "I'm pretty professional and I don't try to do anything to show the other team up, but we're turning into a college team. We're out on the field, jumping up and down. We hadn't won yet, but we were on the top step of the dugout, just like a college team. We couldn't control it. I've never done that before. I'm up on the top step. Most of our team is in the on-deck circle, hugging and high-fiving, as if we'd had a walk-off win. But we weren't even winning at that point."

Rookie shortstop Pete Kozma was the next hitter in line. He's been a major contributor, and surprise, after being called up from the minors at the end of August. Kozma struggled at Triple A Memphis but has delivered big hits for the Cardinals since being installed as the starting shortstop in early September.

Storen started Kozma off with two sinkers. Kozma watched them, and didn't swing. Both were called strikes, and the rookie was down 0-2 in the count. Tough spot.

MCGWIRE: "Koz gets behind. But then he’s ‘Wait a minute. I’ve got to adjust here.’ He gathered himself, got his emotions steady. From the dugout, I'm hollering, ‘Stay out over it,’ stay out over it.' And he gets a fastball out over the plate and, he hits a line drive down the first-base line to put us ahead. As a coach, it makes you feel so proud when the guys are making the adjustments. We took so many great at-bats in the ninth."

Miraculously, the Cardinals were ahead 9-7. Carpenter had called it. A comeback. Ruined Washington's night. Epic.

CARPENTER: "Unbelievable. We're down two, a man on third, two outs. And it starts coming together. When Descalso gets that hit, the place just erupts. Then it's Koz. Well, why not Koz? You've been doing it for a month and a half. So why not now? He hits that ball over the first baseman's head, and there was just unbelievably great emotion and excitement. It was just an amazing night. It was just awesome. I don't know what to tell you. We had a man on third and two outs and we're down to our last strike — twice. And we scored four runs to win, and to move on. It was an epic comeback, just like we talked about all night long."

Motte retired the Nationals in order in the bottom of the ninth. Jayson Werth flied out. The second hitter was the brash Nationals' rookie Bryce Harper. Motte struck him out, and Harper responded by grabbing his crotch in a gesture meant to insult Motte. The 'diss didn't work out the way Harper had intended; in their dugout, the Cardinals that witnessed it hooted at Harper. After disposing of the immature Harper, Motte got Ryan Zimmerman on a pop up to Descalso, and the Cardinals sprinted from the dugout to begin a wild celebration.

The Cardinals had survived another elimination game, making their record 6-0 in such sudden-death games over the last two postseasons. They had pulled off the epic comeback, just as Carpenter told them they would. Now it was time to spray some champagne, shower, then head to San Francisco for the NLCS.

Before the clubhouse was opened to reporters, Wainwright wanted to say a few words to his teammates to thank them for rescuing Game 5 after Washington had tagged him for the 6-0 lead. The Cardinals had, in fact, picked him up. And Wainwright had to express his gratitude. The dynamic between Wainwright and his teammates tells you all that you need to know about the brotherhood on this team.

WAINWRIGHT: "I told them all, 'I'm just real proud to be a St. Louis Cardinal, and to be your teammate right now.' That show of heart, and that show of fortitude right there? It was special for me to watch. It was just special for the fans to watch. I was taken aback, and moved by what they'd done. I just felt I needed to tell the guys just what it meant to me, and a lot of people who love the Cardinals. This is an amazing team. Don't ever doubt our hearts. Because we have heart."

God, I love this team. :motte:

 

[Villain]

I hate the fucking Giants.

 

[Woy]

It's so nice to have him on the good side now.

 

[NAHSTE]

Classiest organization in baseball, you guys.

 

[trojan49er]

Holliday shouldve been ejected for that shit, dirty ass play

 

[Senser81]

What a terrible play by Holliday. Would have been a 15-yard penalty in football. Hope Holliday gets thrown at in Game 3. Baseball is all ways retarded, and this a great example. Players/managers get ejected for arguing bad umpiring calls, but Holliday goes out of his way to intentionally injure a player, yet he's able to stay in the game? I love how the ESPN assclowns try to downplay it...Jayson Stark said this morning "Yeah, it was a questionable play, but I know Matt Holliday and he would never intentionally injure someone." What the fuck does that even mean....you "know Matt Holliday"??? Is Jayson Stark omnipotent? If so, why is he like the third line guy on ESPN baseball? Why hasn't he suprassed Tim Kurkijan?

 

[Woy]

Classiest organization in baseball, you guys.

http://www.virtualsportsnetwork.com...k-6-5-7-5-13&p=2048790&viewfull=1#post2048790

Cards are a classy organization. Not even in the division and they went out of their way to give Chipper a proper send off. Love that pic of Raffy and Chip too.

And for the record, I'm not condoning Holliday's slide whatsoever. It was started late, it was dirty, I believe there should be some retaliation and it was an overall stupid move that gave the Giants extra motivation in a game where they didn't have the advantage in the pitching match-up.

San Fran was bound to get a win at home at some point this post-season, so I'm not too worried about going into St. Louis tied at 1. Shame that an idiotic play by Holliday will shadow what was an impressive performance by maybe the best story in the post-season, Ryan Vogelsong.

 

[Tailback U]

Really hope Scutaro is ok, he is gettin his hip checked out today. I expect Theriot to start game 3 either way.

I have a feeling this series is going 7.

 

[Woy]

The new-age John Mabry. What a weapon off the bench.

 

[Woy]

 

[NAHSTE]

Woy, I hope you know we all hate you.