Wednesday, October 27, 2004
27 Outs
I admit that I’m surprised to see the series poised to end tonight. I expected the Cards to win last night and extend this to five or six games. Suppan’s base-running mistake was probably the nail in the Cards coffin: unable to score, the Cardinals hitters looked utterly baffled by Pedro after that. He seemed to be blowing fastballs by them (or having them chase curves in the dirt) all evening. It was a masterful performance to watch.
Game Three’s MVP was either Pedro or Manny:
- Pedro hurled seven shutout innings, surrendering just three hits and two walks.
- Manny hit the solo home run in the first inning and threw out Larry Walker at home, an impressive defensive play from a guy who made two boneheaded errors in Game One and misplayed so many balls in left in the ALCS.
Speaking of defense … Ortiz played a good game at first. Worries that the Red Sox would be looking at a downgrade defensively with Millar on the pine look to be unfounded.
Meanwhile, the Cards suffered. Of their eight position players, four got a hit or a walk. The Big 4 continued their futility: they were 2-for-13 last night, to run their record to 10-for-45. (.222 BA) In contrast, seven of the Red Sox eight position players had a hit or a walk.
The Cards pitching wasn’t bad, but the Red Sox pitching looked sterling last night too.
So tonight is Lowe v. Marquis. Advantage? I have no idea, but psychologically, you’d have to think that the Red Sox have the edge with Lowe on the mound. He helped them win Game 7 of the ALCS with a gutsy performance on the mound. Sweep? Probably. But, we’ll see …
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