Cardinals vs. Royals, May 22
A Game in Three Acts
ACT ONE: Yadi, Yadi, Yadi, Yadi!
It was such a normal game in the beginning. Starters Sean O’Sullivan and Jaime Garcia each allowed a hit in the first inning and retired the side in the second. Albert grounded into his 14th double play of the year. (It’s sad that’s become normal.)
In the third, Yadier Molina led off with a double, which Daniel Descalso followed with a double of his own. 1-0 Cardinals. Two batters later, Allen Craig launched a homer into left-center that prompted far less man-crush gushing from Dan McLaughlin and others than Matt Holliday had the day before. 3-0 Cardinals.
Then came the fourth. After Lance Berkman and Colby Rasmus walked, up stepped Yadi. He hit it deep into the right field corner and, with his famous Molina speed, quickly ran around the bases. LB and Colby easily scored; Yadi headed to third. When the throw from Eric Hosmer sailed over the base, Yadi sauntered home as well. 6-1 Cardinals.
Officially, it was a triple with an error. Really, it was a Yadi inside-the-park homer, and we all know it.
The next inning, the Cardinals added some dramatic tension — just to keep things interesting with that 6-1 lead. After Craig singled, he was given the rest of the day off as Tyler Greene pinch-ran for him. Albert singled as well, to continue his streak of reaching base in every game he’s played at Kauffman Stadium — now 33.
Matt Holliday grounded into a fielder’s choice on which Greene scored and, after more walks to LB and Colby, ended up leaving the game when he was at third base. His quad injury from earlier in the week was flaring up. Gerald Laird took his place as a pinch-runner and than as DH. 7-1 Cardinals.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Royals scored another run as Tyler Greene somehow missed catching a pop fly that was hit directly to him at second base. The next batter popped it up to Daniel Descalso at third. Tyler, hopefully you were paying attention and learned how to catch a ball. Still, 7-2 Cardinals. No big deal.
Jaime was not his sharpest, but still OK. Jeff Francoeur led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer. That made things 7-3 and mildly interesting. Tony La Russa decided 84 pitches were enough. Exit, Jaime. Enter, The Poet Miguel Batista.
END — Act One
ACT TWO: Dear Miguel, you suck.
It had been eight days since you last pitched, it’s true.
But even with that, you should know what to do.
Giving up a double then a homer make us think you suck.
While others on Twitter were using a word that rhymes with “duck.”
Making the score 7-5 had us all feeling very blue.
Your day was short, as you soon out of there.
In came Brian Tallet, the man with all that hair.
His first time pitching since being hurt did not go well.
He gave up one run before Eduardo Sanchez did too and left fans to yell.
How could the game be tied? We were all left to swear.
End of seven – Cardinals 7, Royals 7
END — Act Two
ACT THREE: Frustration, Then Victory
The eighth and ninth innings were just missed opportunities. The Cards had plenty of base runners in both innings — including the bases loaded with one out in the ninth — but had nothing to show for it beyond yet another GIDP. (Jon Jay was the lucky winner this time!)
The Cards relievers settled down, as Trever Miller pitched an uneventful eighth and Jason Motte retired all three Royals in the bottom of the ninth.
Then came the 10th. Greene did something right and walked, then Albert was safe at first on an error. Laird was planning to bunt them over, yet was hit on the hand by a pitch that broke his right index finger. He will be heading to the disabled list today, as Matthew Leach reports.
Laird stayed in the game, though, broken finger and all. (Of course, only Ryan Theriot was left on the bench so he likely had little choice.) After LB flied out, in stepped Colby — the guy who’d already been walked four times. It soon was five, the first time a Card has done that since 1974, and the Cardinals once again had the lead.
Yadi was next, needing a homer for the cycle (a real one this time — and was that fake inside-the-park homer really in the same game? It seemed like something that happened a week ago.) And how awesome would a grand slam have been? Instead, he too walked — the 13th walk given up by Royals pitchers for the day. 9-7 Cardinals.
And that ninth run was needed — Fernando Salas gave up two doubles in the bottom of the 10th to score one run, yet successfully earned his seventh save.
An ugly win, to be sure, and a very painful win with the loss of Laird. Yet still a win. So at least these three acts ended better than they could have.
Christine Coleman is the senior St. Louis Cardinals reporter for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @CColeman802, or email aaronmilesfastball@gmail.com. Also follow @AMilesFastball for the latest updates.
Shakespeare’s tragedies always had an exposition, a climax and a denouement. Fortunately, the denouement for the Royals came at the hands of the Cardinals — or, more accurately, the inability of the Kansas City pitchers to avoid walking in the go-ahead run, and another, to provide Salas a margin to give up those doubles.
Walks may annoy casual baseball fans, and they may be boring to them, but I absolutely love them when the Cardinals are working the count to get them. I love that walks create base runners that clog up the bases and increase pitch counts and frustrate opposing managers and fielders. Love. Them.
And that Colby Rasmus has such an eye to take advantage of five of them in one game? Beautiful. Want to know how to break out of a slump? Work the count for walks.
As far as an ugly win, in 1983 while at the helm of the Texas Rangers, then-manager Doug Rader complained that his West Division rival White Sox kept winning — but in similarly ugly ways to the Cardinals’ Sunday win. So LaRussa, then the Sox manager, had t-shirts printed up, emblazoned with the slogan: “Winning Ugly.”
Maybe it’s time to bust those out again.
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I knew about the ’83 White Sox and “winning ugly” — and originally planned to mention that. Oh well. I started this last night, then the thunderstorms and tornado sirens came and threw me off.
Walks on offense are great, and it was terrific to see Colby’s patience yesterday. Not as terrific as Yadi’s inside-the-park homer, but second coolest thing of the day for sure.
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I know I’m a little late commenting on this, but I just had to say, I completely agree! I know it seems to some that the Royals “handed” that win to the Cards, but I was thrilled to see the patience all around. It’s as valuable to have players who will make the pitcher work as it is to have guys who can get the big hits.
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