Another night of dramatic scenery late and it couldn't have been more set for a team in St. Louis.
The Dodgers and Cardinals once again put together a dramatic finish that will go down in October lore once again with the eventual Cy Young winner and should-be MVP in Clayton Kershaw in the National League. All he had to do was be himself and it would have been another amazing night in St. Louis and a Game 5 would have been waiting in Los Angeles on Thursday night. Instead the Red Birds stole the show.
First of all, the umpires in this series and both the National League Divisional Series were absolute garbage. I can't remember the last time I saw this bad of umpire in the playoffs. The strike zones were inconsistent, the reviews were flaky and the check swing appeals were lack luster at best. Technicalities were missed on multiple occasions and numerous times I had to tweet the hash-tag SMH on my iPhone to numerous online chat goers. At the same time, it made for dramatic television and proves why baseball lives on and why the human element is much more fascinating than the perfection of the right call.
But let's pick it up in the 6th inning in St. Louis. The Dodgers struck first with two runs in the 6th inning to make it 2-0 giving Clayton Kershaw a lead heading late into the ball game. But that proved to be another relapse in the 7th inning when the Cardinals struck again with a 3 run homerun by Matt Adams making it 3-2 Cardinals. The Cardinals would ultimately win the game as they shut down the Dodgers in the final 6 outs and got themselves back to another NLCS.
Out in California there was a Gio Gonzalez sighting as he was out to attempt to save the Nationals from extinction for the rest of the 2014 season. But, the Giants had other ideas. The Giants scored 2 early runs in the 2nd inning to grab an early 2-0 forcing the Nationals to pick up their game. Well, Bryce Harper wasn't going to go down without a fight. Top of the 5th, RBI Double to cut the lead to 2-1 Giants, and a solo blast into the water to tie the score at 2-2 in the top of the 7th. He also cursed up a storm that bleeped out the sound on live air for about 5 seconds. Talk about intensity, Bryce Harper brought to pine to the park on Tuesday.
The Giants though, they had reservations as they beat around the Nationals in the 7th, and the Nationals were truly lucky they only gave up one run and that it was on a wild pitch. The Nationals also had an Intentional Walk goof as they threw the ball over the catchers head in an attempt to walk Pablo Sandoval to re-load the bases, Buster Posey (who again was the prime example of the no blocking the plate law that came into effect the past couple seasons) had a pitcher block the plate and tag him out. The Umpires ruled the pitcher didn't block the plate and Posey was out and the Giants ultimately came out of the 7th with only 1 run which is truly incredible.
The Giants got the next 6 outs and won 3-2 over the Nationals winning their NLDS 3-1 meeting up with the Cardinals and another year where it will either be the Giants or Cardinals representing the National League in the World Series. This will be the 5th straight year that either the Cardinals or Giants will be representing the National League.
There is also 2 days of no baseball, which means there will be 2 days of no blogs to write. I will more than likely write a blog on Thursday morning to predict what will happen in the NLCS & ALCS to give you an idea of what to expect. It should be an awesome Final Four in the world of Baseball!
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