Game 2 Wrapup

He’s 2 for 2 in the post-season, with a slugging percentage at 4.000. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you So Taguchi. He’s got two homers that have cleared the fence by a combined five feet. That was huge.

I've been down on So this year, but that was a tremendous at-bat. So laid off the inside slider, and worked the count full. Wagner knew So couldn't hit a 98 MPH fastball. Wagner knew he couldn't walk So in front of Albert. Only problem was, So knew it too. So was sitting fastball, and Wagner hasn't been able to locate as well for most of this year. The homer was an experience homer. It was huge.

There were many important questions answered by the Cards tonight.

The question as to what happened to Weaver's pitching arm was answered, when Carpenter took the hill with Weaver-like stuff. It looks like Carp is a bit tired. He only threw 92 pitches tonight, so perhaps he can rebound for game 6.

But the Cards needed this game, and they played well with the pressure on. They fell behind 3-0 in the bottom of the first, and added 2 runs in next half inning. They fell behind 4-2 in the bottom of the second, and scored 2 more in the next half inning.

This Cards team has heart. More heart than me, aparently, as I was ready to give up at 5-4. Led by Spezio, our Shane Falco, this team proved it could rebound.

Spezio is the answer. You’ve got to put this guy in the lineup. He has battled in every at-bat during the past two weeks. He's hitting .700 in the post season with runners in scoring position. .700. In 20 AB's. That's astounding. Even if you want to play Rolen against Oliver Perez, the lefty, you have to get Spezio in there somehow. Perhaps play him in left instead of Wilson, or perhaps instead of Encarnacion.

The bullpen was shaky tonight, giving up a run and five baserunners in the three innings before the 9th. But they didn’t break under the pressure. Let’s not fool ourselves. Johnson/Flores/Kinney et al are going to give up runs. But they kept battling. They made pitches when they needed to. More importantly, they didn’t let the big stage change them.

The pen benefited from amazing defense from Ronnie Belliard. At the plate, he’s awful. He’s got the swagger, but he just can’t back it up. When hitting, he’s the homelessman’s Manny Ramirez.

But defensively he’s been fantastic. The play to the leftfield side of second, the attempt at the double play when he glove-flipped to Eck, and the start of the double play in the 8th against Beltran were all big.

When the Cards got Belliard, I figured he would add a dangerous bat to the lineup, but be a downgrade defensively. He’s always killed us at the plate. Turns out he can play defense, and can’t hit. It’s like if you were to start dating Paris Hilton. She has obvious talents and shortcomings. Then imagine she gained 75 lbs, and then used her wealth for a great humanitarian cause…you know, like destroying Tim McCarver. She would have turned out to be worth it, despite the shortcomings.

Edmonds just may have found his stroke, with two long flies to leftcenter. He does that when he’s on. He also draws walks when he’s seeing the ball. He walked twice.

The Mighty Mets bullpen can be hit. They threw 112 pitches in Game 2. That seems like a lot. Mota threw 23, the day after he threw 19. Wagner threw 24, the day after throwing 15. Heilman threw 33, and Bradford 29.

I imagine Mota is available, but you have to wonder about Wagner. He is 35 with a history of injuries. You’d also have to wonder about the effectiveness of Heilman or Mota after working this hard in New York.

The Mets put some serious pressure on the Cards in Game 2. The Cards responded. It’s a series in St. Louis.