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Tony LaRussa Beat by Small Ball from Heavy Hitting Josh Hamilton and Michael Young
The St. Louis Cardinals led 1 – 0 going into the top of the ninth. Their pitching had been dominant. And their bullpen had been unreachable.
Facing a 2-0 deficit is almost certainly the kiss of death in a World Series. The visiting teams needs to leave the first two games with a 1 – 1 split if at all possible. It gives them a chance to get their nerves out, get the pressure of being in the World Series of their back, and getting to their home stadium with a fresh positive attitude. When a team is 0 – 2, there is just too much stress to win game 3, and since the game 3 pitcher is usually not the team’s ace, it can be problematic.
So, it looked to the Texas Rangers and the Cardinals that the deficit was going to be an insurmountable 2 - 0 as the Rangers entered the top of the ninth The Cardinals unlikely move from 9 ½ games out in mid-August to becoming World Series champs seemed only 3 outs away.
Under normal circumstances, the Texas fans would hope for someone to get on via a walk, a hit batsman, a bloop single, anything, and then Josh Hamilton or Michael Young would hit a two run home run to give them the lead.
But, while they did get the bloop single from Ian Kinsler, it was followed by a ho-hum single by Elvis Andrus, that great fielding shortstop who was a big reason why it was only a 1 – 0 game in the ninth. But, a funny thing happened on the play – the throw from John Jay missed cutoff man Albert Pujols, and an observant Andrus ran to second. Very, very small ball.
Now, with Josh Hamilton up, the Texas faithful was thinking 3-run homerun, or at a minimum a single, or given Tony LaRussa’s excessive and obsessive manipulations, perhaps an intentional walk. Hamilton didn’t get that fast ball down the middle that he needed to rock it over the fence, but he was able to send a lazy fly ball far enough for both runners to move up, and Texas had tied the game.
Then, rather than singling or homering himself, Michael Young hit a similar lazy fly ball that was enough of a sacrifice fly to get Andrus home, and the Rangers led 2 – 1.
But, this wasn’t the end of it. Albert Pujols was batting in the ninth, in what would be his last St. Louis at bat before free agency if Texas sweeps at home. Albert almost made it memorable, but it went deep to center field and was caught against the fence. Albert is 0 -6 in the World Series so far. He’ll need to get rocking in order for his team to win
