And we head to St. Louis for Game 3. I'm down to using Colin Rose (2-1, 4.94), a 27 year old knuckleballer who was hurt most of 1971, for Atlanta in this one (although TBF I may have goosed his stats recently because dammit I want knuckleballers in the 70s). He's facing Jimmy McCauley (12-12, 3.91), who's no great shakes himself but he did at least pitch the whole season. He's got an elite curve and a decent splitter. We've got a packed stadium, clear skies, and the wind blowing left to right at 9 MPH this afternoon (man, a weekday afternoon LCS game, OK I guess).
Top 1st: Chris Ward gets things started off right for the Braves, belting a 1-2 curveball back to the wall in center for a leadoff triple. Vicente Luna flies to medium to deep left, which is deep enough for the speedy Ward to tag up and score on the play. 2 batters in, it's a 1-0 game! Kevin Dwyer grounds out harmlessly to 2nd. Henry Riggs pops out to Lorenzo Martinez at first. The Braves draw first blood and lead 1-0.
Bottom 1st: James hits a weak grounder to Rose, who goes to first for the easy out. Depew is fooled by 3 straight dancers. Casey Satterfield lines a single into right field for the two-out hit. Lorenzo Martinez flies to center to retire the side. 1-0, Braves.
Top 2nd: Dante Chairez lines one past McCauley and into centerfield for a leadoff hit. Josh Damon follows with a high chopper to the right side of the infield that McCauley grabs but can't get to first in time. The Braves have runners on first and second with no out. That was Damon's first hit the entire series, too. Jon Reid keeps up the pressure, dropping one into short right for a 3rd base hit in 3 batters and loading the bases. Danny Coyle continues the nickel-and-dime parade with a single up the middle. That scores Chairez but only manages to move everyone up 90 feet. That brings up the pitcher, Colin Rose, who somehow also places a ground ball just past SS Dusty McCully and into center. Nothing's been hard hit so far but it's a 3-0 game with no outs and the bases loaded. How does this keep happening? Chris Ward hits yet *another* soft single, this time into left field, and it's 4-0. Luna fiiiinally directs a soft hit at someone, SS Dusty McCully, who throws him out 4-3 and which allows another runner to score. McCully hurt something on that play and has to be taken out of the game. He only missed 13 games all season; this could be bad.
Joe Wicker takes over at shortstop. I'm not really about to pull Jimmy McCauley because in spite of all the hits, nobody's actually hitting him hard. That said, Kevin Dwyer slaps yet another soft single up the middle and it's a 6-0 game now as Rose scores from third. Henry Riggs whiffs at a 1-2 splitter. Dante Chairez, batting around, also strikes out to retire the side. 6-0, Braves, thanks to a bizarre display of "fielding".
Bottom 2nd: Rose walks the leadoff man, Rafael Disla. He's been sitting for a while and I guess has gotten a little tight. Mike Galeana hits a single into center field; there are now runners on first and second. John Stuart also hits one to center but this one hangs up enough for Josh Damon to catch it for out number one. Joe Wicker (.212, 0, 3) is in to take his cuts as the backup shortstop. He can't handle the knuckler and strikes out. I'll leave McCauley in, though I may regret it, and he flies out to left field. 6-0, Braves.
Top 3rd: Damon hits yet another soft, Texas League style single up the middle to lead things off. That's 9 hits off of McCauley so far. Reid strikes out. So does Danny Coyle. If you've got to get outs, get them yourself, I guess. Colin Rose hits a slow grounder that new SS Joe Wicker just does get to in time to throw him out. 6-0, Braves.
Bottom 3rd: James singles the other way into left field to lead it off. Rose has allowed 3 hits now himself. Tom Depew follows with a hard-hit ball that gets over Henry Riggs in right field and which pushes Depew all the way over to third base. It's a triple and a 6-1 game! Casey Satterfield flies out into short to medium center field and Depew chooses not to test Josh Damon's arm. Lorenzo Martinez flies to left. This time Depew does decide to test LF Chris Ward's arm and... Ward passes the test! Depew's tagged out at home by C Danny Coyle to retire the side. 6-1, Braves.
Top 4th: McCauley punches out Chris Ward on 3 pitches. That's his 5th K. You'd think just by the peripherals that McCauley was spitting fire tonight but nope, that second inning. Vicente Luna belts one into the left-center gap for a double and, by my count, the first truly hard-hit ball off of Jimmy McCauley today. Kevin Dwyer torments McCauley with yet another bloop single which nevertheless moves Luna to third. Henry Riggs hits a hard-hit ground ball - hey, another hard hit! Does it count? - to second base and the ensuing 4-6-3 DP ends the inning without fanfare. 6-1, Braves.
Bottom 4th: Disla goes down 5-3 to open up the inning. Mike Galeana walks, Rose's 2nd of the game so far. Stuart strikes out. When the dancer is actually forcing hitters to miss, that's a bad sign. Joe Wicker hits one to SS Jon Reid for the 6-4 forceout to end the inning. 6-1, Braves.
Top 5th: Dante Chairez hits a slow roller to Joe Wicker that he can't handle in time. It's the 12th base hit off of McCauley, who is looking like he's getting roasted in the box score. He is up to 89 pitches and so might get pulled soon anyway. Chairez by the way is hitting .636 (6-11) in the series thus far. Guess what happens next? Another weak single up the middle. That brings up Jon Reid, who absolutely smashes a Jimmy McCauley fastball and launches it into the left field seats. It's 9-1 and that is very, very much all she wrote for McCauley, who goes 4+ innings, gives up 9 runs, all of them earned, on 14 hits, no walks, and 5 strikeouts.
Miguel Hernandez (1-2, 5.23) is in to probably only pitch the one inning since he's due up in the bottom of the 5th. He's a 28 year old who was awwwful in Milwaukee last year and only generally mediocre in St. Louis in '71, following an excellent season in Tulsa as the closer there (3-1, 2.14, 13 Sv). He's a fastball-slider guy who, when he's one, gets both Ks and groundouts. Danny Coyle lines one into right, which, at least it's a hard hit ball. Colin Rose sacrifices Coyle over to 2nd base, 1-3. Chris Ward grounds out to Tom Depew at 2nd. Vicente Luna hits one into center that for once doesn't fall. 9-1, Braves, and boy it does not look good for the home team.
Bottom 5th: Pinch-hitting for Hernandez is utility OF Elijah Johnson. The veteran's got no time for Rose and, after taking a dancer off the plate, swings at a ball that I guess counts for Rose's fastball (note: it's listed as a slider) and lines it down the left field line for a leadoff double. Jimmy James takes back some of that Atlanta hit-luck with an infield single; Jon Reid is unable to throw him out in time. Tom Depew slams one down the right field line, scoring both runners! The score is 9-3 and the rally is on! Satterfield flies to left field, not nearly deeply enough to get Depew over to 3rd. Lorenzo Martinez is OK with that, though, as he lines a curvy knuckler up the middle for an RBI single. 9-4! Disla flies to right field for out #2. Mike Galeana belts his 2nd home run of the series and by gods, the Cardinals are back in this one! 9-6! Jon Stuart also singles into left and that's going to have to be it for the knuckleballer. UGH.
Tomny Morales (0-0, 1.43) enters the game. Morales spent the entire season at Richmond (13-13, 3.18) and was only added late as the injuries started to mount. He's got good stuff, including a low to mid 90s fastball with some bite to it, but he's also young, at 23. Joe Wicker lines one into left - the 26th hit already tonight. Elijah Johnson, on a 2-2 pitch, does a very veteran move, swinging through a ball in the dirt. It's recorded as a strikeout and a wild pitch, with everyone moving up. That includes the man on 3rd so it's 9-7 now! Jimmy James fiiiinally hits one at the third baseman Luna, who throws him out to end the inning. 9-7, Braves.
Top 6th: With Henry Riggs on deck and Dante Chairez in the hole, lefty specialist Kevin Kading makes his 2nd appearance of the series for the Cardinals. Kading beats out an infield single to first baseman Lorenzo Martinez. This is beginning to get annoying, all the cheap hits. Riggs flies to center field. Chairez socks one deep to center field for an RBI double - in fact, he even takes third on the throw to the plate. 10-7, Braves. Kading walks Josh Damon, 3-3 on the night, on purpose to face Jon Reid, who's only 2-3 tonight, albeit with the 3-run HR. He's clearly looking for his 2nd dinger of the game and Kading makes him pay for it, striking him out. Danny Coyle hits a pretty hard hit ball into right that is caught by Satterfield for the final out. 10-7, Braves.
Bottom 6th: With him due up at the top of the next inning, I'm going to go ahead and leave Morales in for now. Depew flies to center. Satterfield hits one into deep right that the old man Henry Riggs has to chug down for a well-earned out. Martinez walks. Morales makes a big mistake against Rafael Disla, which he deposits into the right field seats. 10-9! Galeana doubles to right - he's 3-3 tonight and .545 for the series. Stuart Ks to end this one but man, it's an ugly game so far. 10-9, Braves.
Top 7th: Rick Legere (7-5, 2.55, 8 Sv), who was Billy Munoz' right hand man all season long, take the mound to try to keep this game close and let his guys overcome yet another deficit. Cranklin arrives to pinch-hit for Tony Morales. He flies to left field. Chris Ward belts a double down the right field line, Atlanta's 17th hit in this game. At least they're hard hit balls now, I guess. Luna flies out to Rafael Disla in left field for two down. Mike Galeana steals a base hit and probable RBI from Kevin Dwyer to retire the side. 10-9, Braves.
Bottom 7th: Steve Hollopeter (4-6, 5.26) was supposed to fill a role similar to the one Legere did in St. Louis this year but it didn't really work out. Nevertheless. John Winn can't be asked to go 3 innings so he'll be asked to pitch the 7th. The backup freaking shortstop Joe Wicker ties the game on the first pitch, a forkball, which he sends into the bleachers in left. 10-10! I'm going to leave Legere in on account of he's a good pitcher and man, good pitching seems hard to come by today. He Ks. Jim James grounds out to Jon Reid at short. Tom Depew also strikes out to retire the side but amazingly it's a brand new game. 10-10.
Top 8th: Riggs hits a grounder to second that's turned into a 4-3 putout. Chairez lines one into right - his 4th hit of the night. Damon flies out to left. Reid whiffs to retire the side. 10-10.
Bottom 8th: I'll leave Hollopeter in but his big issue is that he can look good and then make a dumb mistake that turns into a HR. Guess what? On a 1-1 pitch to Casey Satterfield, he makes a dumb mistake that turns into a homerun. The Cardinals lead 11-10, and Roger Evans, the resident lefty specialist, enters the game.
Lorenzo Martinez flies to right. Disla grounds out to second. Those are the two lefties but I'll leave Evans in just in case the Braves can score in the 9th and allow me to use John Winn to close it out or take it to extras. Mike Galeana obliges by grounding out 6-3. 11-10, Cardinals.
Top 9th: Pinch-hitting for Danny Coyle is the backup catcher Andres Gamez (.318, 5, 32), who, I have to say, is miles better as a hitter than Coyle. I left Legere in for him but that'll be the final guy he sees, as Gamez singles up the middle - 20 hits for Hotlanta today!
The new guy is, you guessed it, stopper Billy Munoz, looking for his 2nd save of the series. Jeremy Holden is in to hit for the pitcher. Munoz catches Holden looking on a 2-2 change for out #1. Chris Ward hits a roller to first that Lorenzo Martinez scoops up easily and takes to the bag for the out. One out away! Vicente Luna whiffs to retire the side. The Cards win! 11-10.
That was an uuuuuugly game to say the least. Both teams combined for 35 hits. Insanity. Now the Cards can win the series at home if they just find a way to take one from George House. If they hit like they did tonight... anything is possible.