NLDS Game Three: Sunday, Bloody Sunday

[EasyAce]

Mike Soroka was Dickey Betts to Adam Wainwright's Duane Allman. Then Carlos Martinez played Spike Jones.
By Yours Truly
https://throneberryfields.com/2019/10/07/sunday-bloody-sunday/


Adam Wainwright’s Sunday virtuosity ended up
going for naught.

Adam Wainwright had every reason on earth to feel nothing but a powerful desire to arrange Carlos Martinez’s necktie party Sunday. So did every citizen of Cardinal Country. So did every last baseball fan who prayed for and got an impeccable pitchers’ duel, with the Braves’ Mike Soroka playing Dickey Betts to Wainwright’s Duane Allman for virtuosity.

The duel that ended with Martinez’s Spike Jones sneaking explosives into the drums and the Braves standing one win from a National League Championship Series engagement. It’s a good thing for Martinez that Wainwright is a forgiving soul. He had no intention after the staggering 3-1 Braves win in Busch Stadium of doing anything but giving Martinez a big hug.

“And Carlos will be ready tomorrow,” the 38-year-old righthander who may be approaching the end of a solid if injury-compromised career. “Let’s hope one moment doesn’t define his season, because I’d like to see him get another chance.”

Unfortunately, Wainwright and Cardinals manager Mike Schildt may be the only one with that wish. “He’ll be in that spot [Monday],” the skipper said, “and I’ll have full confidence in him.” He says that now, but . . .

Even Braves closer Mark Melancon had Martinez’s back after the game. “You’re not looking to see guys fail,” he told a reporter. “You want to do it the right way, big on big and beat somebody. We’ve all been there. I can’t say that I didn’t want to win, but Carlos is an incredible pitcher. We’ve got to come back strong tomorrow because he’s going to come back, I’m sure.”

After opening with a leadoff double but two straight strikeouts Sunday afternoon, Martinez surrendering back-to-back RBI hits that broke the Cardinals’ backs and Cardinal Country’s hearts for the bottom of the ninth means nobody’s really sure. “There were some pitches that didn’t go where they were supposed to go,” the righthander said afterward. “I didn’t have the best grip on the slider. I tried to get that pitch to do what it was supposed to do and I didn’t get to it.”

The single greatest exhibition of pressure pitching of Wainwright’s life was laid to waste right there.

With an enviable enough postseason pitching record as it is—he has a lifetime 2.79 ERA and 1.03 walks/hits per inning pitched rate in October—Wainwright for seven innings couldn’t be stopped with a subpoena, never mind a S.W.A.T. team. Especially throwing the curve ball he calls King Charles, the way Mets legend Dwight Gooden’s curve was once known as Lord Charles.

If Wainwright wasn’t quite as masterly as the Astros’ Gerrit Cole the day before, he was close enough and too much so for the Braves’ discomfort. He nailed eight strikeouts, trusted his defenders just enough, didn’t let plate umpire Sam Holbrook’s microscopic strike zone faze him any more than Soroka did, didn’t let his own club’s lack of cash-in offense bother him, and made a 1-0 lead—acquired on a Marcell Ozuna double, a Yadier Molina ground out pushing Ozuna to third, and a Matt Carpenter sacrifice fly in the second inning—feel almost like a 10-0 lead.

Then, after Brian McCann popped out to the third base side near the plate to open the top of the eighth, Wainwright’s tank ran past E. Dansby Swanson shot one through the hole at short for a single. Soroka’s pinch hitter Adam Duvall lined out to third but Ronald Acuna, Jr. worked himself to a full-count walk, Wainwright’s first of the day. And Ozzie Albies walked on 3-1 to load the pads for Freddie Freeman.

Exit Wainwright, enter Andrew Miller, who hasn’t been the same as he was with the Indians thanks to their overworking him while he was hot and a couple of injuries to follow that have sapped his once-formidable repertoire if not his heart. The Cardinals needed it to be classic Miller Time in the worst way possible now.

And after a swinging strike to open, Miller got Freeman to fly out to Dexter Fowler in center field and strand the ducks on the pond.

The problem was, the Cardinals weren’t any better after pushing Soroka’s relief Max Fried in the bottom of the eighth. Fried walked Carpenter to open, with Schildt sending swift Harrison Bader out to run for the veteran. Bader distracted Fried enough to compel a walk to Tommy Edman before Paul DeJong flied out toward the right field line. Exit Fried, enter Darren O’Day.

Also enter Jose Martinez pinch hitting in Miller’s lineup slot. O’Day faked a throw over and Bader took off, only to get hung up between second and third before O’Day threw him out at third. Then Martinez hit a sinking liner to left that Duvall on his horse could only reach and trap. You could taste the RBI that wasn’t on a plate dipped in A-1 sauce.

Bader’s arrest for attempted grand theft loomed even larger after Sean Newcomb relieved Day and got Fowler to fly out to his center field counterpart Acuna for the side. Then Schildt put Bader into center field, moved Edman from right field to third base, shifted Fowler to right field, and called on Carlos Martinez.

Josh Donaldson might have ripped a double past the diving Edman at third and down the left field line into the corner for a leadoff double, but Martinez bagged Nick Markakis and pinch hitter Adeiny Hechevarria—who’d been 4-for-6 in that role since joining the Braves—back to back on swinging strikeouts.

The bad news was Donaldson’s pinch runner Billy Hamilton, whose road running on the bases is almost his only ability that enables him to play major league baseball, getting too much into Martinez’s head. So much so that when Hechevarria swung strike three Hamilton stole third without so much as a beat cop hollering “Stop, thief!”

“At the time you want to get to third with one out, so that was a bad break,” Hamilton told reporters after the game. “But getting to third even with two outs, what if Martinez bounces one in the dirt? I could score. And maybe he has to pitch the next guy differently.”

Then, after Molina and Martinez confabbed at the mound with Molina obviously upset and Schildt joining them to settle them down and get back to business, McCann—the potential go-ahead run—was awarded first on the house and Rafael Ortega assigned to pinch run for the prodigal Braves’ catcher.

Swanson checked in at the plate 0-for-6 lifetime against Martinez. Every star aligned in Martinez’s favour. “The Cardinals start doing game management,” said McCann after the game, “and then Dansby came up clutch.”

Clutch enough to send one off the left field fence and send Hamilton home to tie it at one. “God blessed me with good hand-eye coordination,” the Braves’ shortstop said after the game. “In those situations, you just try and breathe and relax. It’s easier said than done.”

And Duvall dumped a quail into short center down for a base hit, scoring Ortega readily with Bader throwing home but well off and over the third base line, enabling Swanson to score the third run.

Only after walking Acuna did Martinez escape, getting Albies to line out to right. And after Freeman made a sensational extension to hold a wide throw from shortstop and keep his toe on first base to nail Kolten Wong opening, Paul Goldschmidt banked a double off the right field side wall off Melancon. But Ozuna looked at strike three on the inside corner and Molina flied out to center.

It gave the Braves their first postseason series lead in seventeen years and gave the Cardinals a reminder of what they might have really lost when Jordan Hicks, their originally assigned closer, having a solid season to that point, went down with Tommy John surgery in late June. Might.

Maybe a healthy Hicks keeps the Braves pinned in the ninth Sunday. Maybe he doesn’t. Two days after Martinez barely survived to keep a Cardinal win a win, he didn’t survive. And the Cardinals get to host the Braves for Game Four on the fiftieth anniversary of making the trade that helped change baseball.

It was 7 October 1969 when they traded center field mainstay Curt Flood to the Phillies. The trade Flood rejected for the reserve clause challenge that went all the way to the Supreme Court before losing—yet pushing open the door through which Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter and then Andy Messersmith would escort free agency’s advent.

Fifty years ago, too, the Miracle Mets shocked the world with their division, pennant, and World Series triumphs. Their golden anniversary team couldn’t stay the distance even toward a wild card game spot. The Cardinals have bigger stakes to play for on the Flood trade’s golden anniversary.

And a lot to make up for to Adam Wainwright, who’d love nothing more than one more postseason start at minimum. He won’t say he’ll retire after the Cardinals’ season ends; he won’t say he won’t, either.

“(I)n my mind, I’ve got two more series to pitch through, you know?” Wainwright said Sunday evening. “We got the NLCS (and) the World Series pitch through. But first we got to win (Monday). That’s where my head’s at right now. But no, I never once felt like today was it. Either we’ve got more games to win, or I’ve got more games to pitch.”

If his injuries over the years keep him from thinking about the Hall of Fame, Wainwright at least thinks the way a Hall of Famer does. Against a group of Braves who don’t know the meaning of the word surrender just yet, that attitude needs to rub off a lot more on the Cardinals now.
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[catfish1957]

Anyone else see that POS Molina toss his bat like a Molotov Cocktail after his GW Sac Fly?

Then, he did two throat slashing gestures afterwards.  And I thought thuggery was limited to basketball and football.

[EasyAce]

Anyone else see that POS Molina toss his bat like a Molotov Cocktail after his GW Sac Fly?

Then, he did two throat slashing gestures afterwards.  And I thought thuggery was limited to basketball and football.

@catfish1957
I saw the bat flip but not the throat-slash.

The bat flip I can live with---about time the old men quit behaving like old men and let themselves have some fun in their triumphs, too.

The throat slash? Spoiled his own fun moment and made him look like a sore winner. And if it's true that he did it in response to Ronald Acuna, Jr.'s similar gesture across his chest after catching the final out (off Molina's bat) of Game Three, then he looks even smaller for it.

It's hard for me to sympathise with either the Cardinals or the Braves. They've been chock full of Fun Police for long enough. And sometimes they don't know the meaning of the word quit when it comes to fun policing. It was more than enough that Braves manager Brian Snitker gave Acuna the lecture about that long single in Game One. His teammates piled on subsequently. That's about as mature as a sibling piling onto you (if not laughing his or her fool head off) after Dad just fanned your behind over some transgression.

And a story also emerged, briefly but tellingly, that the Braves burned a box full of LET THE KIDS PLAY T-shirts over the weekend. I suspect that if they didn't, the Cardinals might have thought about it. Real class acts.

I say again: you want to play baseball like businessmen, suit up in three piece suits, for crying out loud. (Wouldn't that be a sight, seeing a catcher strapping the gear on over a three-piece suit?) And, with apologies to Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, insist the umpires start the proceedings by hollering, "Work ball!"

Funny how it becomes "just a game" when it comes to contract signings and players' megabucks but then it becomes business when it's time to, you know, play the game.

[catfish1957]

@catfish1957
I saw the bat flip but not the throat-slash.

The bat flip I can live with---about time the old men quit behaving like old men and let themselves have some fun in their triumphs, too.

The throat slash? Spoiled his own fun moment and made him look like a sore winner. And if it's true that he did it in response to Ronald Acuna, Jr.'s similar gesture across his chest after catching the final out (off Molina's bat) of Game Three, then he looks even smaller for it.

It's hard for me to sympathise with either the Cardinals or the Braves. They've been chock full of Fun Police for long enough. And sometimes they don't know the meaning of the word quit when it comes to fun policing. It was more than enough that Braves manager Brian Snitker gave Acuna the lecture about that long single in Game One. His teammates piled on subsequently. That's about as mature as a sibling piling onto you (if not laughing his or her fool head off) after Dad just fanned your behind over some transgression.

And a story also emerged, briefly but tellingly, that the Braves burned a box full of LET THE KIDS PLAY T-shirts over the weekend. I suspect that if they didn't, the Cardinals might have thought about it. Real class acts.

I say again: you want to play baseball like businessmen, suit up in three piece suits, for crying out loud. (Wouldn't that be a sight, seeing a catcher strapping the gear on over a three-piece suit?) And, with apologies to Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, insist the umpires start the proceedings by hollering, "Work ball!"

Funny how it becomes "just a game" when it comes to contract signings and players' megabucks but then it becomes business when it's time to, you know, play the game.

We all have our opinions of how etiquette should be in conducted in MLB.  You have yours and I have mine.  I thought  you were a baseball purist too.  I guess not.    Me, I hate seeing showboating and throat slashing as part of normal behavior of its players.  Sadly good sportsmanship is dying as a key stone of the sport.

We will have to agree to disagree.

[EasyAce]

We all have our opinions of how etiquette should be in conducted in MLB.  You have yours and I have mine.  I thought  you were a baseball purist too.  I guess not.    Me, I hate seeing showboating and throat slashing as part of normal behavior of its players.  Sadly good sportsmanship is dying as a key stone of the sport.

We will have to agree to disagree.

@catfish1957
Agreed. About disagreeing. 

I just don't believe it's such terrible sportsmanship for a baseball player to celebrate when he does something spectacular, game-changing, or game-winning. You want the game played by automatons in three-piece suits, be my guest. I can think of far worse things about which to disagree. Yadier Molina's bat flip was a sight to behold and not even the Braves, those otherwise recalcitrant Fun Policemen, would begrudge it. Molina's choke gesture was something else, though; that was way out of line. I didn't have a rooting interest in their series before, but now I hope the Braves kick the Cardinals' asses in Game Five.

Flip your bat all you want when you deliver. Heed the words of Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle: I promise you, they're not disrespecting the game. If you got your feelings hurt, that's on you. If a guy hits a home run off me, drops to his knees, pretends the bat is a bazooka, and shoots it out at the sky, I don't give a shit.

And if you're going to lament the alleged decline of sportsmanship, let me take you back to the 2004 National League division series.

The Cardinals beat the Dodgers in four in the 2004 division series. (The Dodgers' only win was ancient Jose Lima's exuberant Game Three shutout, and no Cardinal bitched about Lima's having the time of his life throughout that game.) The final game was in Dodger Stadium. When it ended, Tony La Russa led his Cardinals across the field to the Dodger dugout for a long handshake-and-embrace line and the Dodgers accept and embraced it gladly. It's one of the greatest things I've ever seen in a lifetime of watching and loving baseball.

And would you believe Bob Watson, who then held the job in the commissioner's office that Joe Torre holds now (vice president in charge of discipline among other things), reprimanded both teams for that? It hasn't happened since. And that's a shame. And there were those among baseball's Fun Police departments who were stupid enough to agree with Watson.