6:27 - Put a cheeseburger pizza in the oven. It's gonna be a good night. The girlfriend is also in attendance on the basement couch for tonight's game. Hopefully, this doesn't throw off the loner karma that worked so well for the Cards in Game 1.
6:32 - Ron Washington special on Baseball Tonight just finished. After testing positive for coke, he went to two straight World Series with the Rangers. He lost the first. The second is yet to be determined... So in Hollywood he relates to Robert Downey Jr.? I mean, if being known as Iron Man is the "almost" pinnacle of Hollywood just like getting to the World Series is the "almost" pinnacle of the MLB, I'd say it's a spot on metaphor. (I am, in no way, saying Washington will lose this World Series. I'm just taking a current snapshot of his resume.)
6:44 - My rally meal tonight consists of a cheeseburger pizza, Cheetos twist puffs, and Reese's Klondike bar. Yes, be jealous. Beverage of choice: Cherry Coke, but only because it was the only soft drink available at the Mowery household.
6:51 - Ok. Time to talk some baseball. Garcia goes to the mound for the Cardinals. His home splits are encouraging for Cardinals' fans. Lewis, on the other hand (haha, get it?), has been the most reliable Texas starter during their run in the playoffs. I think this game could be middle-of-the-road scoring wise. Not like last night but not like the home run derby in Game 6 of the NLCS. Let's see what the "experts" on Baseball Tonight have prediction wise.
6:57 - Apparently in between snacking on Popeye's in the Red Sox dugout, David Ortiz did enough community work to win the Roberto Clemente Award... Meanwhile, the "experts" hop on the Cardinals' bandwagon and pick the home team to win... Funny how they didn't use that strategy yesterday.
7:00 - Now back with Joe and Tim. My best buddies!
7:06- First pitch from Jaime is a.... strike right down the pipe to my most feared hitter, Ian Kinsler. He then gets jammed on the next pitch and Furcal guns him out for the first out of the game. Good start.
7:08 - Andrus hits a hard grounder to Albert, who makes a lot simpler of a play than the second out of yesterday's game by tagging first on his own.
7:09 - Jaime gets a strange jammed ball that bounces in front of David Freese, who picks it up with a nonchalance Jim Edmonds would have been proud of and guns out Hamilton in plenty of time. Three up, three down for the second Mexican-born pitcher to start a World Series game.
7:12 - Lets see how the Cardinals offense decides to attack Colby Lewis tonight... Apparently slapping at the ball like Juan Pierre in his prime. Furcal hits a lazy fly to center. Out number one for the Cards.
7:14 - In a pansy move, Adrian Beltre waits 85 feet for a ball to roll foul that Jon Jay almost perfectly bunted down the line. How sad. It was the ground ball version of that play in Rookie of the Year, where Henry gives up the long bomb to the mullet guy in the play-in game that goes barely foul... Jay then proceeds to ground out to first.
7:16 - A graphic pops up on the screen that illustrates taht Colby Lewis has played for almost as many baseball teams as Octavio Dotel and that's saying something... Meanwhile, Pujols flies out to center field. Both teams are currently 0-6 in this game. Woof. Pujols is 0-3 in the Series. Double woof. Almost as bad as Buzz's girlfriend from Home Alone.
7:21 - Garcia strikes out Young on a very hittable cut fastball. Hopefully he doesn't throw that pitch to Napoli. It might go 500 feet... Another quick strikeout of Beltre on some nasty off-speed stuff. If Garcia can control his off-speed pitches, it could be good stuff.
7:24 - Apparently Garcia didn't get the memo I sent the Cardinals' pitching staff that said never try to pitch Nelson Cruz inside. He rips one just three feet foul of a home run on an inside fastball. Idiot! .. Then he gets him to pop up to the second baseman. You are forgiven for now Jaime.
7:30 - The Gray Bearded Puma (the artist formerly known as Lance) strikes out on a good inside pitch. Whoops.
7:31 - Holliday walks on 4 straight pitches to bring up the most dangerous hitter (of late) in the Cardinals' lineup. Let's see what happens... Fly out on the first pitch to center. Let's not try to up Lewis's pitch count or anything guys.
7:35 - Yadi strikes out on another high pitch. I think Yadier Molina has been replaced with bizzaro Yadi (aka one of his older brothers). 0-0 going to the top of the 3rd.
7:39 - Freese makes a nice play on a line drive and the girlfriend rips on his defensive from last night. She would make pop Mowery proud... Freese makes another solid play throwing out a surprisingly quick Gentry on a grounder. Ice to meet you!
7:41 - Garcia gets the AL pitcher to ground out to Furcal. Scoreless again. I might have just jinxed it, but boy is this a slug fest! I love when people getting paid to talk about sports are completely wrong. Then again, this game is only 2 and 1/2 innings old, but I'm running out of things to say...
7:47 - Apparently the Rangers' pitching coach is the brother of Greg Maddux. Man, who do you think is the parents' favorite child in that family?
7:49 - Did Fox, in a desperate move to boost ratings (aka offense) for the World Series, purposely jinx both pitchers by flashing to the scoreboard in the THIRD INNING!?!?!?! ... As I type this Furcal rips a double in to right field. Way to go Fox.
7:50 - I think, at this point, the only thing Jon Jay can do is ground out to the right side. Apparently Skip Schumaker Syndrome (also known as SSS) is contagious.
7:52 - What the heck does an 8 year-old have an Iphone for?!?!?!?! And why does she not already know what a weasel looks like? This is what our failing society and educational system has done to our youth.
7:55 - Jaime gets robbed on a 2-2 pitch and then walks Ian Kinsler for the Rangers' first baserunner of the game. What a load of crap.
7:58 - Good response by Garcia to get Andrus to fly out to right field... Up comes the hobbled Josh Hamilton.... Who flies out to left because he is only swinging with his arms.
8:01 - For some reason, Jon Jay was playing on the warning track in center field and Young bounces one in front of him. Runners on first and third with two outs. Jaime's gotta bare down against Beltre here...
8:02 - Kinsler just brushed off his shoulder Jay-Z style after getting hit by a ball hit by his own teammate. That was strange.
8:04 - Garcia somehow gets out of a 3-1 count against Beltre with two good pitches low and inside. Big time K. Busch is a rocking and the heart of the order is coming up. Big momentum swing?
8:08 - Pujols now 0-4 in the Series. Ouch... Meanwhile, the first error of the Series is committed by the Rangers' Ian Kinsler. Texas was supposedly the stronger defensive team. Oh irony.
8:12 - Holliday grounds into a well-turned double play. So much for the middle of the order and a momentum swing. I guess I jinxed it.
8:16 - Garcia throws a cruve ball so nasty that Cruz hurls his bat into the front run from swinging at it. Good pitching sequence by Jaime there. His curve ball is looking better and better each inning... Napoli lines one to the Gray Bearded Puma who makes a ever-so-slightly awkward play. Two away... And strikes out Gentry on three straight pitches with some nasty breaking stuff. Jaime is a lot better at home. 0-0 heading to the bottom of the 5th.
8:23 - Freese juuuuuust misses a fastball middle of the plate and flies out to left. Shortly after, Molina partakes in the Cardinals' current favorite play: "the ground out to the right side of the infield play"... Meanwhile, Nick Punto picks up his second hit of the Series (two more than Pujols) with a single to the right side.
8:28 - Colby Lewis apparently thinks it's a good idea to walk the pitcher with two outs and the top of the order coming up. This could get interesting...
8:29 - Andrus makes an Ozzie Smith-like glove flip to Kinsler to barely get Garcia at second base. That's what I get for attempting to knock the Rangers' defense earlier. Furcal robbed of a run-scoring single. Brutal.
8:32 - You know the zombie theme has become a phenomenon when a non-related company uses a zombie movie ploy within a commercial advertising computers. When people look back in the history books, they'll say the economy was absolute shit and vampires and zombies were waaaaay more popular than necessary. (I do support the zombie movement. I play Left 4 Dead and watch the Walking Dead. And I like the movie Zombieland... Whoops)
8:34 - After getting the pitcher to strike out, the most dangerous hitter in the Rangers' lineup, Kinsler (from henceforth known as Danger) grounds a single to left field... Then the Cardinals turn a less-than-pretty double play. I was about to say how nervous I was, but Garcia induced a double play almost immediately. Gotta love that kind of response to giving up a hit.
8:40 - Jay's case of SSS is somewhat cured. He got the ball out of the infield by hitting a soft fly to center field... Pujols now 0-5 for the Series. Not good. Not good at all. Pujols has only batted under .300 in playoff series' twice. That stat might change if he doesn't get hot quick.
8:44 - The Gray Bearded Puma strikes out on a ball at his feet and the game is scoreless through 6 innings. Good pitching by both guys. They've kept the ball down, relied on some decent (at times, impressive) defense, and have pitched out of the limited trouble that has occurred.
8:48 - Jaime strikes out the Gimp (Josh Hamilton's new nickname) for his 7th of the game. The breaking stuff is finding the right spots against hitters... Soon after, Young grounds out to Punto. Two down... Beltre hits a ground past Furcal for a single. Dang.
8:52 - After falling behind 3-1 to Nelson Cruz, Garcia gets him to fly out to right field. Off the bad, I thought it might be a gapper but because Cruz is a pull hitter, the Gray Bearded Puma was pretty close to the right field gap. Scoreless through 6 and a 1/2. Jaime has only thrown 87 pitches through 7 innings of work. Not too shabby.
8:58 - Holliday swings through a 1-2 fastball to strike out. Not a very good at bat by the 5 hole... Meanwhile, Freese says, "Chill!!!!" to Colby Lewis as he singles to center field.
9:00 - Jose..er... I mean Yadier Molina flies out to left field on the first pitch. Two outs.
9:02 - PuntoOgando coming out of the bullpen and Allen Craig pinch-hitting for a pitcher who was having a great outing. The only thing left is deciding the conclusion.
9:06 - Allen Craig does it for Torty. Again. Hits one just over Kinsler at second into right field for an RBI. 1-0. Unbelievable. How often does that happen? Craig has two pinch-hit RBIs in two World Series plate appearances. Only in baseball.
9:10 - Furcal dinks one to third and Beltre chases Punto out of the base path for the out. Slightly unusual approach there but equally as effective as throwing to first. Going to the 8th 1-0 Cardinals. The Tortmeister has done it again.
9:11 - So Pitbull now has two really bad beverage commercials. One for Dr. Pepper. One for A-B/InBev. Unfortunate because I would buy either product more had they not published those commercials...
9:15 - Fernando Salas strikes out the ever-dangerous Mike Napoli. In typical Tony fashion, Salas only throws to one batter. Scrabble is trotting in from the bullpen. Here. We. Go.
9:19 - I think I get more nervous when the Cardinals are ahead because the devastation from a comeback win is so much greater than never being ahead in a game. I have a feeling of dread in my stomach... Scrabble settles this feeling a bit by striking out Torrealba on three straight pitches. The last one of which I think hit home plate. The Rangers are completely befuddled by our bullpen right now. Good sign.
9:21 - A one pitch at bat for German. Grounded out harmlessly to Pujols at first. Going to the bottom of the 8th at 1-0. "This game has gone fast," notes the girlfriend.
9:25 - A one pitch at bat for Jay which ends in a weak fly ball to center. Man, he hasn't looked good thus far this series. But he has held up his end of the bargin defensively, so I should probably stop complaining.
9:26 - For the second night in a row, I got the Fox trivia question correct... Meanwhile, Pujols displays some wondrous warning track power. He is now 0-6 in this series. Gulp.
9:30 - The Gray Bearded Puma gets a hit on a ball that sneaks under Danger's glove. The endangered species lives on!
9:34 - Holliday draws a walk from Adams. Decent at bat. Took most of the pitches. But at least he's finding ways to get on-base in the series... #lemonsoutoflemonade
9:37 - Dirty Dan hits a deep grounder to Danger, who makes the play this time around. The Cards strand two base runners. Going to the top of the 9th with another one run lead. My stomach is churning like an Amish person churns butter.
9:39 - OMG! I cannot WAIT for Happy Feet 2!.... Oh sorry, either a seven year-old or a guy high on peyote just high jacked my computer. My bad.
9:40 - Motte is facing Danger. I'm scared.
9:42 - And of course, Danger blops one in perfectly between Holliday, Jay, and Furcal. I might throw up right now.
9:44 - Danger barely beats out a perfect throw by Yadi to steal second. I feel like I just contracted salmonella.
9:46 - Andrus hits one out to right field. Kinsler is held at third. Good. However, Pujols misses catching the relay throw and allows Andrus to advance to second. Bad. Second and third no outs. Disgusting.
9:49 - After a lengthy mound visit, LaRussa pulls a Tony and goes to Rhodes to face Hamilton. This move is only good if he strikes out the Gimp.
9:52 - Arthur fails his job and allows the Gimp to hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Andrus advances to third. Tied 1-1. I'm metaphorically puking my guts out right now. One out. Tony to the 'pen again. Lance Lynn into the game.
9:57 - After falling behind in the count 3-0, Lynn allows Young to fly out to center... which scores Andrus. 2-1 Rangers, who take their first lead of the series... Beltre grounds to Dirty Dan at third. Heading to the bottom of the 9th. Neftali Feliz to come in for the save.
10:02 - Feliz walks Molina on five pitches... And we pitch-run Molina with Laird? WHAT!? The two slowest guys on our team just switch spots? I'm confused.
10:03 - The friends are relentless with the second-guessing of Tony immediately following the top of the ninth inning. Just as a side note.
10:05 - Punto fails miserably to bunt and swings feebly at 99 mph cheese. The girlfriends mutters something under her breath. Not a good sign.
10:06 - Fox posts something about Schumaker's last walk-off home run. If Skip walks off here, I'll buy his jersey, I swear... And he swings through a fastball down the middle for strike two.
10:08 - In typical fashion, Schumaker swings at a ball near his feet for the second out of the game. No wonder he hasn't been in the lineup lately.
10:09 - Would it kill Furcal to take a pitch? I don't think I've ever seen it happen... Until the 0-2 is taken for a ball outside... And the 1-2 is taken for a ball inside...
10:11 - He then flies weakly to right field. Poop. That's poop Mr. Furcal. Big poopmouth. And Mr. Motte. I hate you Jason Motte, I hate you.
10:12 - Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
10:16 - Well, the way I see it, the Cardinals won the pitching duel of the starters. The Rangers won the pitching duel of the relievers. Most important statistic is probably that the 1-5 hitters on the Cardinals went a combined 2-19. If they want to compete in Texas, they have to do better than that. Series is tied at 1. Should be interesting heading to Arlington. Go get 'em Cards.
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