10:29 PM
Three games to one, kiddos! A Hunter Pence popup to Matt Carpenter means the Cardinals have won again, and they’re one more victory away from reaching the promised land in consecutive seasons. Spencer will be on hand to see what happens in a game that will feature Lance Lynn squaring off against…Barry Zito. I know Madison Bumgarner has struggled, but really? I’ll have live blog duties once again, so come back and enjoy whatever happens with me! Erin Andrews is hot.
10:24 PM
Okay, I still feel plenty safe, but let’s cut this out. After Marco Scutaro got his 122nd hit of this postseason, Pablo Sandoval launched a no-doubt home run to make the score 8-3. There’s an out on the board and just two more to go for Salas and the Cardinals.
10:03 PM
Not to be topped by anyone, Kozma Kramer singled home Molina to make it 8-1. Six more Giants to go and this is a 3-1 series lead!
9:48 PM
Yadier Molina, being a complete and total badass, decided it was a good idea to double in Allen Craig and make this 7-1. There’s just one out, and this assures us all that Adam Wainwright’s night is finished. The final line? 7 IP, ER, 4 H, 0BB, 5K. I mean wow. Set aside the start of that game five outing against the Nationals and Wainwright’s been superb this postseason. Since this game isn’t all that close anymore, Rosenthal will sit down and turn over bullpen duties to Fernando Salas.
9:43 PM
Things are moving along quite smoothly, as this is turning into just an exemplary performance from Root Beer. Seven strong innings like this could go a long way in ensuring the bullpen is well-rested for tomorrow night’s contest. You know what tomorrow night could be? THE GAME THAT SENDS THE CARDINALS BACK TO THE WORLD SERIES!
9:19 PM
Jon Jay is opening shit right up! After George Kontos proved unable to at all throw a strike, Jose Mijares came in and gave up an obvious double to Jay that has extended the lead to 6-1. There’s still just one more out and a chance to pile on1
9:03 PM
Whew! Wainwright danced around a couple of singles to retire both Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval with little drama involved. I love seeing Wainwright on top of his game, and tonight looks like one of the nights where he is. The impossibly hard-throwing Trevor Rosenthal is up in the bullpen. Things are looking good!
8:47 PM
Yadi, not content with a two-run lead, just singled up the middle to make it 4-1 and score Holliday! Earlier in the at-bat Yadi could be seen cursing at himself for not delivering on a pitch he felt he should’ve. I’m guessing it’s the other dugout cursing now. Again, I just love the playoffs!
8:38 PM
Matt Carpenter refuses to let up! The bearded version of Marp smashed a one-out double to right center that very nearly went out of the park. Yes! While typing this, Holliday cracked a single to center that scored Carpenter after a play at the plate let the ball scoot away. All McCarver can talk about is how great of a job Pagan did in center on the play. Sounds about right. 3-1 Cardinals!
8:17 PM
Wainer! The immensely tall Cardinal righty is rolling right along except for those two extra base hits, and he looks like he could go a while. It’s not like the Giants have been consistently mounting threats against him a la Kyle Lohse yesterday. I’m starting to get way too excited and way too upbeat. God, I love playoff baseball!
8:07 PM
Angel Pagan, who seems to have read that thing I just wrote about him trying to be a Giant hero, just took away a home run from Yadi to dead center. It’s nice to see Molina hit a ball that well, but this makes twice that he’s been robbed of a long ball this postseason. Also, I have another method in mind when it comes to saluting Giants players.
8:05 PM
While they aren’t bothering to rally, the Giants are doing that annoying thing where they randomly get huge extra base hits. This time it was a stand-up triple from Angel Pagan, who seems to be trying to be some sort of hero or something this series. Wainwright was able to get poor Marco Scutaro out to end the inning, so it’s thankfully still 2-1. Our live blogs are far from unbiased, people.
7:56 PM
Lincecum has been very erratic so far, as last inning could have easily resulted in more Cardinal runs. Pete Kozma, who reached on a Pablo Sandoval error (though he hit the ball awfully hard), was erased on a caught stealing prior to walks to Wainwright and Carpenter. Holliday wound up ending the inning on a fly ball to left, but at least he got a hold of it. The offense is looking good, and I feel like two runs certainly isn’t going to be like all the Cardinals manage.
7:42 PM
After looking dominant through five hitters, Wainwright summoned his inner game-five-of-the-2012-NLDS self and allowed a bomb of a home run to the ugly and overrated Hunter Pence. Waino successfully got out of the inning immediately after, but the Giants have hacked the lead in half and it’s 2-1. Also, Tim McCarver just hates the word goat. We’re not 100% sure whether he is only referring to the term used to describe a player who deserves blame in a sporting event or if he also has an extreme dislike for horned animals that sometimes eat garbage.
7:33 PM
After a deep Yadier Molina flyout, David Freese raked a single to left in an effort to be named Postseason President. That set up a two-on, two-out situation for Daniel Descalso. Unfortunately Dirty Dan made Lincecum look like he did a couple of years ago, and the inning was put to rest. It’s still a 2-0 first inning lead, and StanGraphs isn’t going to kick that out of bed. Seriously, we’d sleep with it.
7:27 PM
Beastmaster just got all over a ball to center, but it was just to the right of stupid Angel Pagan for the first out of the inning. The Cardinals did get a second run, so it’s 2-0 and the rally is still technically far from dead.
7:23 PM
Matt Holliday! (2009 Dan McLaughlin voice is implied). The Quarterback grounded a single up the box to score Jay and move Carpenter to third. It’s 1-0 Cardinals right away and runners are on the corners for Allen Craig. The Great Frankenstein could make this a nice little early lead. I love early leads.
7:22 PM
Marpenter just took a four pitch walk, and now big ol’ Matt Holliday is up in an ideal situation. This would be a great time for the massive Scutaro tackler to bust out in a big way.
7:19 PM
What’s that? A lead-off single frm Jon Jay? Yes, we’ll take that. In fact, what else can we have? For some reason I picture myself buying these events from that trenchcoat guy in Resident Evil 4. Don’t ask me why.
7:15 PM
Root Beer looks great early, as he breezed through the top of the Giants lineup without issue! By the way, Root Beer is Adam Wainwright (A&W, get it?), and we’re really going to push that nickname. To be fair, Buster Posey is the only actual threat Wainwright had to face, but he still looked impressive and his curveball looks sharp.
7:09 PM
Quick note: Carlos Beltran will be kept out of this game on a precautionary basis after his knee issue in yesterday’s rain-delayed win. Matt Carpenter will take over his second spot in the lineup (that seemed to work pretty well yesterday) and play first, while Allen Craig will man right field.
7:05 PM
The Cardinals once again have a chance to go to the World Series, and a win tonight would go a long way in making that dream a reality. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t already entertaining ideas of back-to-back world championships, and I would be telling the truth if I said I was very encouraged by our team’s 2-1 series lead. The Cardinals certainly need to take two of three at home, and they have both today and tomorrow to make that happen. It would be a pretty big relief if they were able to go ahead and secure that second home victory tonight. Hell, while they’re at it why not win while Spencer’s at the game tomorrow night and just grab a spot against the Tigers in the World Series?
Tonight’s match-up is one that would have dazzled fans only a couple of years ago. The Cardinals send Adam Wainwright to the hill, while Tim Lincecum gets starting duties for the Giants. Wainwright has recovered to what pretty much amounts to his previous form after undergoing Tommy John surgery a year ago, though the Nationals battered him in his last start. Lincecum has endured what has easily been the worst season of his career and a playoff bullpen demotion. Wainwright has been a playoff strikeout machine, while Lincecum has been great coming out of the ‘pen, so it’s still very possible we get a pitcher’s duel tonight. Then again, who really knows?
Also, I just witnessed Delmon Young being called a class act after winning the ALCS MVP award. There are about a million articles about the guy I could link here to prove otherwise, but maybe he’s perfectly nice if you aren’t an umpire or Jewish.