My post wasn't pointed at you at all. I just hear statisticians say "there's no such thing as clutch"...Beltran seems to defy that. He's had a healthy sample size of postseason AB's by now...and he certainly seems to perform better in those than he does in the regular season.
The injury bug has really hurt the Dodgers. There was the likes of Matt Kemp during the regular season, of course, but after getting Ethier back last night, he is out of the starting lineup today and Hanley Ramirez was scratched as well. In any event, we've got a good one going on at Busch right now. Michael Wacha outdueled Clayton Kershaw and now it's in the bullpens with the Cardinals leading 1-0 in the bottom of the 8th. Before the series, I figured the Cardinals would be in good shape if they could steal one of Kershaw's starts and they just might do it here. If you are the Dodgers, you hate the idea of a must-win game in game three with Adam Wainwright on the mound for St. Louis.
Wow. After throwing two innings last night, Trevor Rosenthal just came in and blew away the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the ninth, all on Ks. The Cardinals beat Greinke and Kershaw in back to back days. You have to like Wainwright against whoever LA chooses (either Ryu, who got hit hard in the NLDS or Nolasco, who they skipped in the NLDS). Then in game four, they have to choose between the guy that didn't throw in game three and bringing back Greinke early.
Ryu did so well. It's amazing that if you said out of three games with Greinke, Kershaw, and Ryu on the mound, the Dodgers would only win one of them. I wouldn't have guessed it would be the one that Ryu pitched. The Cardinals made some bonehead plays they don't normally make, but even that may not have been enough for them to win last night.
Cardinals are joining the Braves in being whiny. I don't care for the Dodgers, but things like that make me want them to win - emotion in sports is a good thing if it's just celebratory as opposed to taunting.
Yeah, plus if I were them, I wouldn't say a thing. I don't want to discourage someone from doing something silly that could potentially hurt them. If Puig did that again, maybe next time, he wouldn't make it to third, or even get thrown out. If I were a Cardinal, I'd encourage Dodger errors, not try and discourage them. The Cards were up 3-1 last year, and managed to collapse and not make it to the World Series. It's not likely that it happens again, but I'd be happy if it did.
I have hated both teams in my days as an Astro fan but it seems like I could tolerate the Dodgers winning a lot easier.
Off to the World Series. Just beat what I thought is the best team in baseball. Also out-Kershawed Kershaw. TWICE! It's amazing what this team does year in, year out.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Your Cardinals are headed to the WORLD SERIES! <a href="http://t.co/ytkjr0LksF">pic.twitter.com/ytkjr0LksF</a></p>— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals/statuses/391407714393260032">October 19, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
