Wednesday’s game ended up as a mark in the wrong column, but it was a treat to watch. Certainly, our crimson-clad superheroes played a hard nine. Some things I think:
Jason Marquis: I either called this one, or I jinxed him. I left a comment on VEB’s Game 28 thread about 10 minutes before first pitch:
“… pitching against your team’s actual rival, who is sending out the guy who ended our season last year, would tend to get a guy geeked up. And a geeked-up Jason Marquis tends to overthrow, which is bad news for a sinkerballer.”
Sho ’nuff, Marquis came out locked and loaded with both barrels blazing… and left many pitches up in the zone, pitches that were whacked hard. A couple of liners nearly took his head off. Arrrgh. Wasn’t it just a couple of starts ago that he was cursing himself for getting away from his game plan? Sinkers, Jason. Sinkers, down in the zone, again and again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
His final line pretty much summed it up: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 BB. For those scoring at home, it took 117 pitches to record 17 outs, six of those being grounders against eight flyball outs. Dave Duncan’s gonna take him to the woodshed for that.
We need to get Jason to chill before he hits the bump. Maybe we should put him in touch with Freddy Garcia.
John Rodriguez, Hector Luna: Just more evidence that these guys need to be in the lineup every day. Hector got another start against a right-hander and took that right-hander deep in the eighth to get us within two. He’s not going to stay above .300, but he’s got just enough pop for the bottom of the order (or in the No. 2 hole vs. lefties). Rodriguez was a pedestrian 1-for-4, but that one was a big one, doubling off the once-frightening Brad Lidge to bring Albert Pujols to the plate. Dude had to get on base, and sho ’nuff (OK, that’s twice I’ve used that) he did. He also added a pretty nice catch in left earlier in the game. The guy is developing into a decent ballplayer right before our eyes.
Jim Edmonds: The moniker “Jimmy Ballgame” is popping up on various blogs with increasing frequency. My appreciation for that nickname is increasing, as well. Dude found his glove again, making a gnarly over-the-shoulder catch of a warning-track fly in the first inning. He misses that, and we don’t have a fun ninth inning to watch. He also stroked a single in the ninth against The Lidge Formerly Known as Closer to drive in a run. Then, with one out and Juan Encarnacion in a 1-2 hole, I say to myself, “He’s running on this pitch.” Sho ’nuff (dammit! that’s three times now!), ball two, low and away and he’s in safely. That’s a great play in my uneducated opinion: He swipes that bag, and you have the potential tying run in scoring position. A base hit, and he’s standing on third with one out. It’s definitely a calculated risk, but those sure are sweet when they work out.
Albert Pujols: You almost got him again, baby. And not that you need to do anything else to prove yourself, but mad props to you for trotting up and over the pitcher’s mound on your way back to the dugout. That was an obvious symbolic middle finger to Lidge.
Brad Lidge: We’re gonna get you, money. You may have won tonight, but we’re gonna get you sometime. We’re in your head, money. You don’t scare us anymore.
On the game thread, Liam pointed out that Lidge nearly pooped his pants a la last year’s Game 5 after Albert took Lidge to the edge of that stupid hill out there.
May 4, 2006 at 1:36 am
[...] The 26th Man notes that the Cardinals are still in Lidge’s head; he got the save, but it was more nite-lite than Lights Out, and in most other parks Johnny Rocket (what’s the current John Rodriguez nickname preference, besides Starting Left Fielder?) would be trotting around the bases after that first at-bat. We also got to see a Crazy Edmonds moment, turning a Lidge offering around for an RBI and running with his usual reckless abandon in the ninth inning of a close ballgame. [...]