NL Wild Card: St. Louis Cardinals vs Los Angeles Dodgers

lol, it's a Joe West game at home plate, excellent

xp!

Bee are you rooting for the cardinals? i'm assuming you'd rather not play the dodgers, with their rotation

if you face the cardinals, they will have to face the likes of proven veteran Jon Lester

but i could understand wanting to face the rival, just to beat them for good

Of course I'm rooting for the Cards

One of four apparently

there are only 2 others. all of the others saw los angeles dodgers as an option and then chose it, which is just unbelievable

wow, really excellent play from Betts there

Didn't think that would be how the first run would score

couple defensive miscues there, surprising.

man, i didn't realize that dodgers fans hated yadi too! i forget their reason

(for being a whining asshole, probably, lol)

Only one run out of that mess, hope it doesn't cost them

Who is this fumbly guy at SS?

check this guy out

https://i.imgur.com/3Olf5JF.jpg

xp that's sosa

he's a rookie, first off and he only became the starter over the last month of the season or so. dejong was bad this year and got injured in september/october, and right when sosa took over he played very, very well and the team went on a 17-game winning streak. but when dejong came back, there was a question of who the starter was. seems like it's sosa, now!

despite appearances, he's actually very, very good with the glove. overall, an equal to dejong defensively, which is impressive because dejong is one of the best defensive shortstops in the NL at least. they have very different styles, though. Dejong's defensive value comes in the form of his strong and accurate arm, his consistency. Sosa has very good range and a very strong arm as well. that first hit to him that he bobbled wasn't exactly an easy play, either - it was 99 off the bat

Going back to Ozzie and Tom Niedenfeur - the Cards have kinda had the Dodgers number in the playoffs. Got to say, I would rather the Cards continue this as I have an eternal loathing of the Dodgers.

also: sosa is very, very fast. fastest on the team at 29.8 mph sprint speed, good for 13th in MLB.

faster: trea turner, 2nd, 30.6
just slightly slower: tyler o'neill, 14th, 29.7, harrison bader, 20th, 29.5

very glad to get up to 35 pitches on scherzer, still going in the 2nd.

my nightmare scenario was one of those class scherzer games where somehow it's the 8th inning and he has 10 strikeouts and seems to be getting stronger

Hi-five earlash

anyone watching on TBS hear those tones in the background of the audio? kind of sounds like an ice cream truck?

wainwright is a low-key _excellent_ bunter

I'm still pissed at the Giants over that grand slam though by Posey against the Reds though.

Can't hate Johnny Cueto though...

Even when I am not drinking I still post like I am...

IXLOR is cruel like life, you get no chance to edit.

also, re: sosa: as a prospect he has long been seen as passable with the bat, but as a reliable defensive replacement. he's gained the starting spot recently because he's had some luck hitting this year. he's so fast, though, and makes consistent enough strong contact that it seems like he may be underrated as a hitter. he's one of those guys that makes routine plays close and forces some "errors"

xp IXLOR!

That was such a huge moment for Posey

Several Xpost

I'm sure Posey and Gene Tenace have a good laugh whenever they get together.

Tenace also won a 4th ring with the Cardinals to complete the chain.

Where is the strike box TBS?

Annoying

Circa 1982 my father had a dream in which Gene Tenace held a bat as if it were a mic and sang "My Way."

Growing up in St. Louis was weird, circa 1982

i always forget tenace was on that '82 cardinals team!

his fangraphs stats are kind of insane for that season, surprisingly so. he only got into 66 games, 165 PAs, and somehow put up a 168 wRC+ and 2.1 fWAR!! over 600 PAs, that would be like a 8 WAR season!

They're also not showing MPH

i said "wow!" out loud at the tommy edman play, and then the announcer yelled "wow!"

they show the strike box in the replay sometimes, after a close pitch

you can also see it here: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=10/6/2021&gamePk=660937&chartType=pitch&legendType=pitchName&playerType=pitcher&inning=&count=&pitchHand=&batSide=&descFilter=&ptFilter=&resultFilter=&hf=scoreboard#660937

SICCCC

Note: I have utterly no sports allegiances except, paradoxically, for the 1982 Cardinals.

So I have lived for 50 years, mostly just keeping silent during most sports-related conversations. Unless they happened to veer into territory that might somehow involve the Cardinals from 1978-1984.

Imagine spending four decades like this: mostly remaining silent, but patiently hoping that Ozzie Smith or Bruce Sutter or Joaquin Andujar might come up in conversation.

And who should come up but: GENE muthaflippin TENACE?

Imagine spending four decades like this: mostly remaining silent, but patiently hoping that Ozzie Smith or Bruce Sutter or Joaquin Andujar might come up in conversation.

i can heavily relate to this

I had to google Joaquin Andujar

the legend goes that he was an angry man sometimes

Fumbly!

That short stop sucks

Yes

I had no idea Bellinger was that awful this year. Wow.

Andujar's meltdown against the Royals was an all-timer. Dude made Carlos Zambrano seem even-keeled.

Tenace reference...I was 3 years old and got drunk as f'k.

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/23/archives/as-beat-reds-32-in-seventh-game-and-take-series-tenace-bats-in-2.html

I can wax poetic on Merv Rettenmund too who played college baseball at Ball State.

Tank Howard was the next BSU Cardinal to play in the bigs. Saw him play a game in college, dude looked like a ball player. Mike Roesler who was at Ball St. also the same time got a cup of coffee eventually with the Reds too.

Solo shots should not kill you

Tank Howard's long career also ended as a Cardinal (St. Louis- this time) to bring this thread hijack full circle.

runners are being left on base at a healthy clip

The Andujar meltdown was something else--not sure if he was slightly more or less crazed than pine-tar Brett.

all the shortstop miscues cost them 0 runs (this game), and over the season they came out ahead!

dodgers came out ahead and were the better team for sure, but they'll be the "better" team through this postseason (including against the giants)

looking at the video, reyes barely even flinched after taylor's swing -- just started walking toward the dugout

only thing i have to say about this game is that it was cute and good that juan soto was there cheering on scherzer and trea turner

ya – seeing Soto there was great.