San Fran was 1-5 when that series started, and they took 2 of 3 from the Padres, winning in extras on Tuesday and 1-0 in the ninth Wednesday. Since the Padres are one of 3 teams that can make the playoffs out of the NL West (along with Arizona and Colorado), as either division champs or the wild card, that series win had to lift the Giants spirits - especially since they are widely considered to be the worst team in the NL this year.
So Thursday the Cardinals ran into a team that's got some confidence, and a pitcher that's pitching especially well against left handed hitting. Wainwright pitched credibly into the seventh, but the bats were silent, and the boys lost 5-1.
Listened to the first 4 innings or so on XM radio. Question: why o why did Izturis try to stretch his double into a triple? Since Schumaker followed it with a single to RC, the Cardinals would have had 1st and third with 1 out and Duncan/Pujols due. Or, best case, they have a run in, Schu on second, and Duncan/AP due, with the score 2-1. Completely different game from that point.
Way to go, bonehead.
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It's been covered to death in the local media (and, apparently, in Houston), but I wanted to pile on with some final thoughts on 'Slidegate'.
If Towles was really upset about AP's slide, why didn't he jump up and say something right after the play
If the play was clean, and by all accounts it was, why did AP, a respected veteran, feel obligated to call and apologize to Towles, a rookie? Has the game gotten that soft? Does no one play hard anymore? Is this fallout from the Rays/Yankees spats during spring training, which also started with a play at the plate (although to be fair, that involved an injury to the Yankee catcher
If the Astros were really peeved at AP, why didn't they throw at him in yesterday's game? Why let him get comfortable at the plate and hit 2 HR?
Can we all agree Brendan Backe is an idiot? Way to motivate one of the most feared hitters in baseball, who was struggling (1 RBI in 8 games) until that point, ya bozo. Then again, no one ever said pitchers were the sharpest tools in the drawer.
Especially converted shortstops.
1 comment:
Backe and Pujols just don't get along, especially after Game 5 of the '05 NLCS. So it's not surprising that Backe would try to pick on an opening given by AP.
I think that Pujols wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings, that it was just part of the game. Maybe he felt like he really needed to do that since it was a rookie involved.
San Fran split the series, but that's going to happen. Winning four of seven on the road is a success in my book.
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