This is not a space for in-depth analysis. There are no secrets in Jason Motte’s game, no wrinkles and very little deception. Jason Motte has a pretty simple game plan: blow you away. He might alternate between a beastly two-seam fastball and a patently unfair cutter to do so but, let’s be real: with Motte on the hill, you’re getting the heat.
Having been a Minnesota Twins fan for the last thirty years or so, there’s not much that’s been more frustrating to me than Kyle Lohse. His Twins career doesn’t look like much to be upset over, or to think anything of at all. He had four years that were close enough to average, then started out dreadfully in his fifth and was traded to the Reds for nothing at the deadline. You really had to see him on a start-by-start basis to comprehend the misery Lohse created.
Lohse had really excellent stuff — a wicked slider and a fastball that hit the mid-nineties — and could occasionally use it very well, but was one of those guys we used to say was really two people, the good one and the awful one, and you never knew which would show up. He was also (it seemed from afar) a petulant child; his relationship with the team essentially ended in late 2005 when, in the words of some (perhaps overly) ambitious AP writer, he “dented manager Ron Gardenhire’s office door, apparently with a bat, injured his finger and might have permanently fractured his already strained relationship with the Twins.”
At the time he left in mid-2006, between his attitude and his apparently diminished abilities, I would probably have bet on Lohse being out of big-league baseball for good by the end of 2007. If you’d told me then that come 2012, a 34-year-old Lohse would be one of the ten or so best pitchers in the National League and a key member of a playoff rotation, I probably would have laughed, and maybe called you names (I was meaner then). How on earth did that happen?
After St. Louis Cardinals substitute Shane Robinson chased San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain from the game with a run scoring ground out in the bottom of the seventh inning, play was halted as the storm that threatened to erupt for the previous six innings was finally unleashed on Busch Stadium by the heavens above.
As the rain fell and winds gusted, we can assume for the sake of the little narrative we’re creating that both teams reflected on the 3-1 scoreline, and recalled a third inning ground out off the bat of Pablo Sandoval that scored Angel Pagan. They remembered St. Louis answering back in home half of the inning with a two-run home run off the bat of Matt Carpenter, who was only in the game to replace an unfortunately injured Carlos Beltran. Finally, they will be reminded of the moments before the more than three hour rain delay when the team capitalized on a bases loaded situation to make the score 3-1. The San Francisco Giants must have also felt a twinge of regret over the eleven runners they stranded on base at a Pittsburgh Piratesque rate.
When the rains finally ceased and closed this moment of reflection, the game picked right up where it left off, and the last two innings happened so quickly with so little difference from what went on before that you could be forgiven for wondering what the long wait was for, as the St. Louis Cardinals let Jason Motte come in for two innings and shut the Giants down en route to a 3-1 victory. This means that the Cardinals now find themselves two wins away from the World Series.
They’ll play again tomorrow afternoon with Tim Lincecum taking the mound for San Francisco and Adam Wainwright pitching for St. Louis. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 PM ET.
There was a little bit of worry today that Game Three of the National League Champion Series between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals might get delayed due to rainy weather in Missouri. Fortunately, the plan, as it currently stands, is to start the game on time despite forecasts for thunderstorms, with first pitch scheduled for 4:07 PM ET.
And that first pitch will be delivered by right-hander Kyle Lohse. The Cardinals starter had a career year in 2012, pitching much better at home than on the road (for what it’s worth). His counter part for the day will be Giants staff ace Matt Cain, who hasn’t looked particularly great in his two starts this post season against the Cincinnati Reds. Still, today’s game going ahead is likely to San Francisco’s advantage, as it means that Cain is more likely to get two starts if the series goes the distance, while ensuring that St. Louis will only get one start out Adam Wainwright.
Despite the interesting pitching match up and inclement weather forecasts, the big news of the day is Marco Scutaro’s inclusion in the starting lineup. There were some concerns he might miss a game following his collision with Matt Holliday, which will live in infamy as the most horrible actions ever undertaken on the base paths. It should also be noted that Madison Bumgarner joined the relievers in the bullpen before today’s game, while Tim Lincecum (dum-da-dum-dum) did not.
Matt Holliday, the left fielder for the St. Liouis Cardinals, has his height and weight listed as being 6’4″ and 235 lbs. That seems about right. Marco Scutaro, the second baseman for the San Francisco Giants, has his height and weight listed at 5’10″ and 185 lbs. That seems generous.
This is Scutaro. He looks like a fairly typical human being. He’s the type of physical creature that might populate your office, with whom you’d have an awkward exchange with in the elevator, wanting to seem courteous, but not over-stepping the boundaries of unfamiliarity.
The San Francisco Giants exacted a measure of revenge on Monday night, not just for their 6-4 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals in Game One of the National League Championship Series, but also because of an incident in the first inning that saw second baseman Marco Scuatro get run over by Matt Holliday as the center fielder attempted to break up a double play.
Angel Pagan then led off the bottom half of the first with a solo home run, his second lead off homer of the playoffs. After the Cardinals equalized in the top half of the second with a Chris Carpenter double that drove in Pete Kozma, the Giants answered back in the fourth inning, putting up four runs, three of which were scored with two out on a Scutaro liner that Holliday fumbled in left field. The Giants tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth on a barrage of singles from Aubrey Huff, Angel Pagan and Ryan Theriot (!).
Despite the offensive explosion for the Giants, the real story of the night was Ryan Vogelsong who had the best start by any San Francisco pitcher so far this postseason, going seven innings and only allowing a single run. He was picked up by Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo, who combined to collect six outs from seven batters.
The Giants cruised to a 7-1 victory to even up the series at one win apiece. The two teams travel to St. Louis for Game Three on Wednesday.
The St. Louis Cardinals dismantled Madison Bumgarner in Game One of the National League Championship Series, and while you could say the very same thing about the San Francisco Giants and their handling of Lance Lynn, this fact weighs heavier on the Giants, not only because the team lost the game 6-4, but also because Bumgarner represents the team’s second best starter coming into the series. Lynn, wasn’t even selected for the four man rotation for the Cardinals National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals. The only reason he finds himself in it now is because of the injury that Jaime Garcia suffered in Game Two of the NLDS.
The right-handed heavy lineup of St. Louis likely wouldn’t represent the best matchup for the left-handed Bumgarner at the best of times, but his repertoire looked especially hittable last night, and he was punished early. If there’s any good news to draw from the series opener for San Francisco, it’s that a very different pitcher will be taking the mound for the team tonight in right-handed starter Ryan Vogelsong. The Cardnals will counter with Chris “Big Carp” Carpenter, making only his fifth start of the season after a shoulder injury kept him sidelined since the beginning of the year.
