Game 6 "Live" Blog

By JP

This will be a "live" blog in the sense that I will update the blog after each half inning.

Just a quick note: I am literally updating this as the game goes on. I changed tenses (sometimes past tense, sometimes present tense) throughout and I apologize for that. However, due to the extreme length of this post, I am not going to go back through and make changes. Again, I apologize for this.

Pre-game
The game hasn't even started yet, but I feel, outside of Pedro Martinez, the TBS crew has basically handed the game to LA. Hanley Ramirez is playing in the game now and Clayton Kershaw is pitching, so it's game over, LA wins.

They seem to be making a big deal about the Cardinals not liking Yasiel Puig acting like an immature rookie and Keith Olbermann made some ignorant comment about Cardinals fans revering Ozzie Smith and Smith did back flips when running onto the field. which is basically a celebration. Uh, no, Olbermann, it isn't the same thing. Smith didn't do a back flip after getting a big hit or hitting a home run. It was between innings.



The Cardinals do have a tough game ahead of them, but come on TBS, at least pretend you think the game still needs to be played.

Ramirez may not play now. Who knows whether he will or not? I suppose he does and Don Mattingly does.

It's nice to see a legend like Cal Ripken Jr. analyzing a game he's a smart guy and when he talks baseball, I pay attention.

Top 1st
A 12+ minute standoff between Scott Van Slyke and Joe Kelly, for some odd reason. Not sure if Kelly won or not. Dodgers seem to think Van Slyke won.

Carl Crawford barely reaches 1st on an infield hit to Pete Kozma. Erased that hit on a double play ball by Mark Ellis. Nice double play.

Adrian Gonzalez grounded out to David Freese. Only one half of an inning down and still a very looooooong game to go, but Michael Wacha looked good. Got a first pitch strike on two of the three batters and battled back from a 3-0 count against Mickey Mouse.

Bottom 1st
Well, damn, Matt Carpenter struck out. It's going to be a long, irritating game it seems right now.

Beltran hit a standup double, but, being the pessimistic fan that I am, I fully expect them to waste having a runner in scoring position.

Oops, Kershaw almost hit Matt Holliday with a pitch. It must have been intentional. Holliday struck out. Of course he did. Yet another game where they will waste opportunities with runners in scoring position. Yadier Molina is up to bat. Molina grounds out. It is hard to be a positive person when the Cardinals cant' seem to score runs this NLCS. It's ridiculous. And it pisses me off.

Top 2nd
Hanley Ramirez popped out to Shane Robinson in center field. Andre Ethier struck out. Puig struck out. Quick, smooth inning. 1.5 innings down, at least 7-7.5 to go. Wacha is looking good through 6 batters faced so far.

Bottom 2nd
David Freese pops out to shallow center. Matt Adams is about to strike out. Nope, he popped out. Shane Robinson is about to single. Yep, I was right!!!! Pete Kozma is about to strike out to end the inning. Hell of a glove, though. His bat could come around like Ozzie Smith did. Smith wasn't a very good hitter either when he was in the early days of his career.

Shane Robinson just reached 2nd on a ball in the dirt. Robinson to 3rd on a passed ball. Kozma looks very similar to Matt Carpenter...but then again, all white people look alike to me. I was right, yay. Kozma struck out. ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Top 3rd
Tough at bat, but Wacha struck Juan Uribe out. A.J. Ellis grounded out to Kozma. Kozma's bat kind of sucks, but he's a very good defensive short stop. The Ellis grounder was a routine play, but still like to see the out. 3-1 putout at first. Kershaw retired.

Bottom 3rd
Well, Wacha is about to strike out. Nope, ground out, but an out nonetheless. However, I like to see Cards' pitchers ground out instead of strike out. At least he didn't look foolish.

Matt Carpenter is having a decent at bat. Fouled off several balls. That's six or seven foul offs  now. Long at bat, but even if he gets out, still a good at bat. Forces Kershaw to throw a ton more pitches. Carpenter has a standup double on the 11th pitch of the at bat!! WOOHOO!!!

Carlos Beltran is up to bat now. Third straight inning the Cardinals have had a runner in scoring position. Beltran hits a single scoring Carpenter!!!! Advances to 2nd on throw. Beltran now 5-7 with RISP this post season.

Holliday helps the cause by...striking out. He didn't help the cause at all. With this Dodgers team, no lead is safe. Come on Molina! Do something. Well, 0-2 to Molina and he breaks his bat on the ground, frustrated at the last poor swing. 1-2, another Kershaw pitch in the dirt. 2-2 now. Molina gets a single, 2-0 ST. LOUIS! Still a long way to go, but looking good so far. LA could tie it up the next inning, though. We have seen St. Louis do that this series a couple of times.

So. 2-0 STL, two outs, Molina on 1st. David Freese up to bat. It looks like Kershaw is getting a little wild, but he could settle down. He's a Cy Young pitcher. Freese fouls off to the screen. 2-1. Freese gets a hit. Runners 1st and 2nd, two outs.

Adams up to bat, ball first pitch. Matt Adams struggles against left handers, being a lefty himself, so I can see him ending the inning here. 1-2 now. 2-2. I don't mean to be negative towards Adams, but he has basically been useless this series because of all the Dodgers lefties. Full count now. Walk ISN'T as good as a hit here, a hit scores a run. Walked him. Adams on first, Freese on 2nd, Molina on 3rd. Kershaw seems to be getting mad now, that's good.

Shane Robinson up to bat. First pitch is a strike. Robinson could help the cause here, but let's see what happens...Robinson gets a hit!!!! 4-0 Cards!!!

An intentional walk here to Pete Kozma loads the bases for Wacha. Probably an out, but still a great inning. Wacha is giving it all he has at the plate. Great at bat so far. Keep it up Wacha-Wacha! He struck out, but the Cards have scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning. Keep in mind, still a LONG way to go. Wacha is pitching well, yes, but as we have just seen, things can go bad in a hurry. A couple of good hits by LA and they are back in this. And no, I DO NOT want that to happen, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Damn, I am nervous.

Top 4th
Here we go. Wacha walks Carl Crawford. It's never good to walk the first batter of an inning. Mark Ellis pops out to Matt Adams. Gonzalez up to bat. Very good hitters. Had two home runs in game 5. Damn, 2-0 to Gonzales now. He was swinging for the fences on that one. 2-1. 2-2 now. long foul ball. That last one was close didn't miss the foul pole by much. Wacha gets Gonzalez to pop up to Freese. Two down.

Hanley Ramirez, who wasn't originally going to play in the game, last his bat and broke it. These TBS announcers sure seem to want LA to win. 3-1 to Ramirez. Wacha struggling this inning. The last long inning may have thrown off his timing. Ramirez pops up to Matt Carpenter. Three popups in the inning. Wacha struggled with his command a little bit, but he got the outs. That's what good pithcers do.

Cards top of the lineup to start the bottom of the 4th.

Bottom 4th
Carpenter fouled off a couple, but got out.

Beltran hit a long fly ball, but Carl Crawford caught it at the warning track for the out.

Matt Adams flied out. Quick half inning.

I don't care if the rest of the game goes this quickly as long as the Cardinals win when it's over.

Top 5th
Andre Ethier grounded out.

Puig hit a long fly ball, much like Beltran last inning, to the warning track, but it was just a long out.

Wow, Beltran just made a great catch in right field to get Juan Uribe out and end the inning. Beltran and Wacha were HUGE compensations for Albert Pujols. As much as Pujols did for the Cardinals, I fell like the Cardinals got the better end of the deal on that one.

Bottom 5th
Yadier gets a first pitch hit and then the ball goes off the glove of Yasiel Puig. The announcer said it looked like it took a bad hop on Puig, but Puig didn't get in front of the ball and nonchalantly reach for it with his glove. It was just piss poor play. Call it like it is, don't make experience.

Freese gets a hit, but Molina is held up at 3rd. I don't think Molina would have made it. Matt Adams up, but he hasn't been able to hit Kershaw. Adams did walk last at bat, though. Adams gets a DOUBLE! 5-0 St. Louis, 2nd and 3rd, no outs!!!!!! Very nice hit by Adams.

Pitching change, Kershaw out of the game. Wow, Kershaw has had a bad game. I am happy that the Cards have 5-0 lead, but Boston scored 6 on Detroit after losing 5-0. Still a long game to go.

Ronald Belisario is pitching for LA now. Shane Robinson up to bat. He hits to third base and gets Freese in a run down at home, but Robinson takes 2nd. 2nd and 3rd, one out.

Intentional walk to Pete Kozma again, Wacha up to bat. Bases loaded. One out. 0-2 count. Infield contact for Wacha...ADAMS safe at HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bases still loaded, one out! Wacha got himself an RBI!

Belisario out. JP Howell in for the Dodgers. Matt Carpenter up to bat. 6-0, Cards. Carpenter flies out, but Shane Robinson scores and Kozma to 3rd, Wacha to 2nd. 2nd and 3rd, two outs.

Carlos Beltran up to bat. Kozma scores on a passed ball!!!!!!! 8-0!!!!! Wacha to 3rd on the passed ball. My keyboard's exclamation point is going to get worn out tonight. Beltran gets a hit 9-0 Cardinals. The bats have come alive tonight!!!

Inning over, Holliday flies out to center, but the Cardinals score 5 more runs and lead 9-0. This is the kind of game I like. The Cardinals way ahead. Still a lot of baseball to play and anything can happen, but the Cardinals are in good shape.

Top 6th
A.J. Ellis gets a double to lead off the inning. Former Cardinal Skip Schumaker gets a standing ovation for the Dodgers.

Wacha is struggling to locate his pitchers right now. The long innings seem to throw off his timing. Count is 2-2. Schumaker strikes out. Wacha calming down thanks to Molina talking to him.

Carl Crawford lines out to Matt Carpenter. Carpenter made a nice play to jump and snag it. Two outs. Mark Ellis up to bat. Runner on 2nd.

Ellis fouled straight back. A ball. Another foul. A ball and two strikes. A ground out to Carpenter for the 4-3 putout. Three outs.

*NOTE: I may have given the wrong scoring on a Cardinals putout earlier, but I can't find it and I don't feel like going back to find it. 

Bottom 6th
Yadi up to bat now. Chris Withrow pitching for LA now. A.J. Ellis tried to get a popup, but it was just past the screen. Yadi foulded it off again. Full count to Yadi. Yadi flied out to Andre Ethier.

Freese works to a full count and then walks. One out.

Matt Adams up. 1-1 count. Hard swing for Adams, but swung through the ball. 1-2. Adams with a base hit, runners on 1st and 2nd one out. Shane Robinson up to bat.

Robinson hits into a double play. That much closer to the game being over. Kind of a boring inning, really. But that's why I love baseball. Every run counts, every at bat can be important.

Top 7th
1-2 to Adrian Gonzalez. He hit it right back to Wacha for the 1-3 putout. Hanley Ramirez up next.

2-1 to Ramirez, but he promptly lines out to center field. Two outs.

Andre Either quickly goes 0-2. STRIKES HIM OUT!!!!

Bottom 7th
Kozma leads off the inning, or as I like to now call him, the Matt Carpenter physical clone. Or the Twins. Don't know which I am going with yet. Maybe MCC, Matt Carpenter Clone. 3-1. Carlos Marmol is pitching and now the count is full. Kozma flies out.

Kolten Wong is pinch hitting for Michael Wacha. 2-1 for the 23 year old Wong. And he pops out in foul territory to A.J. Ellis.

Matt Carpenter up to bat now. Now the TBS broadcasters just cannot say enough good things about the Cardinals. Bandwagon jumpers.

Matt Carpenter flies out to Andre Ethier in centerfield. 1.5 innings to go!!!

Top 8th
Carlos Martinez in to pitch. He strikes out Puig, who some view as the second coming of the baseball god. Puig has had a bad game.

Uribe grounds out. 5-3 on the putout.

A.J. Ellis up now. First pitch strike. Second pitch strike. Third pitch spoiled by a foul straight back. Another foul. This time to the first base side stands. Darn. Ball. Another foul, again 1st base foul line. Martinez is throwing 100 MPH in a light rain. 1-2 with another foul out. A.J. Ellis stikes out. WOO HOO!!!

THREE OUTS AWAY!!!!!

Bottom 8th
Jon Jay leading off in the bottom half of the 8th inning. Jon Jay with a single to right field. Yippee!

Matt Holliday up to bat. Hasn't done much this game, but he has in others. I think the Cards should keep him around. Foul tip at the plate. Pops out to Mark Ellis at 2nd. Molina up to bat again. One out.

Molina is 2-4 tonight and has come out of his slump this game. Piss poor swing at what looked like a fastball. Swung right through it. Fouled straight back. Chants of Yadi! Yadi! Yadi! and then he strikes out.

Looks like Trevor Rosenthal is warming up to get an inning in. As the new closer, he won't get a save this game.

David Freese up to bat. All Dodgers players and fans look dejected. I know that feeling well. But the Dodgers were a tough team. David Freese up, count 2-2. Freese strikes out.

8 full innings down. Three outs away from the fourth trip to the World Series in the last ten seasons.

Top 9th
Michael Young pinch hitting. Trevor Rosenthal, as previously mentioned, in to finish off the game. 3-1 count. Young flies out to Jon Jay. Two outs away from a WS berth.

Carl Crawford up to bat. Flies out to Matt Holliday on the first pitch!

Mark Ellis up to bat. Count 1-1. 1-2 with a foul ball. Two outs. Darn, ball 2. 2-2 count. Geez, another foul ball. Ellis is sure delaying the inevitable here. ELLIS STRIKES OUT! ELLIS STRIKES OUT!!! GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!! GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

IT'S ALL OVER FOLKS, IT'S ALL OVER!!!