Busch Stadium – St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals face a daunting task, in that no NL club has ever lost the first two games of a Division Series and advanced. But they head back to St. Louis ready to chisel away at the Dodgers and hopefully return to Los Angeles.
Going only on reputations, it seems that people look forward to Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright pitching — then look forward to their turns coming up again. Make no mistake, though: Joel Pineiro rates, and St. Louis players, fans and the manager feel as confident with him on the mound as either of his higher-profile partners.
Adam Wainwright tendered a postseason masterpiece for eight innings of Game 2 of the National League Division Series, repeatedly going through the Dodgers’ lineup, raising his esteem and their frustration.
St. Louis faces what has historically been an insurmountable deficit in its National League Division Series after a botched bottom of the ninth resulted in a 3-2 loss to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
The Dodgers won exactly 95 games this season, which indicates their high level of success, but may not portend a happy ending to their postseason run.
It will be a long time before Matt Holliday lives down his costly error in Game 2 of the NLDS, but he can take solace in that he’s not alone. Holliday is the latest in a long line of players who have committed miscues at the worst possible times.
At some point, the Cardinals will start driving runners in. The law of average assures us of that. However, the question remains: Will it be nothing more than too little, too late?
Ryan Ludwick is in his first Major League postseason, 10 years after he signed a professional contract as a second-round Draft pick of the A’s.
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