What was that Granderson slipped on?

So now I get my wish. A game 5 where the Cards could close out the series at Busch and a painful decision for Leyland.

You see, I couldn’t post the post below this one until after it happened. You can’t jinx it.

There’s a lot of kharma in sports. Baseball players have their lucky socks, Hockey players never shave in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Nuke Laloosh couldn’t pitch without wearing garters.

Anyone who has ever played any version of video game football in the post Super Tecmo Bowl era knows it all to well. There are few rules in playing such games. One, you NEVER try to run out the clock by waiting for the game clock to wind down. Doing so will lead to inexplicably bad things befalling your team.

The other rule is beware the NFW game. (The “N” stands for no, the “W” for way, the “F” for firetruck.) In the NFW game, your team will be leading until the computer decides its going to make you lose through a series of fumbles, int’s, and other bizarre occurances. You never try to wind down the clock because you fear the NFW game.

Detroit came out fighting in game 4. Or at least, Sean Casey and Pudge did. Watching the replays, the pitches to Casey didn’t appear to be bad pitches. He just squared them. An inning later it looked like Rolen had tied it, but his drive fell just short.

When the Tigers added two in the third, it felt like their night. But as soon as they got this lead, the Tigers started stepping out of the box, stepping off the mound, and Pudge set a record for mound visits in a three inning stretch.

The game ground to a halt. Why did Detroit do this? Well, with a lead in the third inning, and rain forecast for an hour later, Detroit appeared to be trying to run out the clock. It’s so rare to see it happen in baseball, what with the absence of a clock, and all.

The Cards doubled home a single run in the third and fourth on doubles by Eckstein, Rolen and Molina. Eckstein had three doubles, and Rolen had two. Two guys who, coming into the series, looked like they couldn’t lift their left arms above their heads.

But the Cards couldn’t break through, despite their opportunity in the 6th. I figured the rain would arrive as forecast between 9:30 and 10:00 (fifth and sixth innings), and the Tigers would win a cheapy.

Then came the 7th, and the first NFW inning I’ve seen in the World Series in a long time. In case you missed it, Granderson fell down. He fell. He slipped. He said it was on a patch of water. I say, on a patch of EA Sports Kharma.

Fernando Rodney lollipopped a throw to Polanco, and for the second time in the series, the Tiger Phenom Arms failed to get an out when they failed to accurately throw a ball to a base.

Good teams take advantage of mistakes like that. The Cards, for the first time since June, are a good team.

Even after taking the lead, the game didn’t feel over. Looper, who is about three blown saves from adapting the face of Sloth from the Goonies, gave up the tying run in a classic Cardinal inning.

Looper comes into the game, and I’m thinking, well, something I shouldn’t type. But who else was there? Perhaps Tyler Johnson would have been better, though a lefty against three righties is a tough call. You also don’t want to use Wainwright for two innings when you could be playing every night for four nights.

So what happened? Of course Looper gives up a leadoff hit, and Wainwright has to come in for two innings.

And why didn’t it matter? Because David Eckstein had the presense of mind to hit a double two centimeters to the right of where Monroe could have caught it. When that ball fell, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sean Casey kick the ground. For a brief moment, he stopped playing baseball to say NFW.

Wainwright may have pitched his best inning of the postseason in the 9th. The Tigers did everything they could to disrupt him. It didn’t work. Monroe, who led off the inning is a notorious first-ball, fastball hitter. Wainwright has a devastating curve. So Monroe, Adam, Molina and even Keith Law must have known Wainwright would throw that curve. He threw a slider. One strike, and one pitch inside Monroe’s head.

Two pitches later, Monroe saw the fastball, and swung through it.

Wainwright started Ordonez with the same slider. Magglio had to be hoping to reach for Sean Casey to bat. He swung at the first pitch that looked like a fastball. It was a slider, it was a grounder, it was the game.

So now it’s Weaver v. most likely Verlander at Busch. There is only one reason not to go with your insanely hot lefthanded pitcher at Busch tonight. Only one.

We wanted punishment for Rogers. Well, consider this a one game delay for him. Let’s hope it lasts six months.