ST. LOUIS — And the Cardinals trail this World Series, two games to two.
OK, that's of course not technically accurate. After the Red Sox prevailed in Sunday night's Game 4, 4-2 at Busch Stadium, we're actually, in the Fall Classic, guaranteed a return to Fenway Park for Game 6 Tuesday night. Furthermore, we've learned repeatedly over the last few years that it would be folly to declare this St. Louis club down for the count.
Nevertheless, the Cardinals, after failing to come through in clutch situations, making at least one questionable managerial decision and ending the game in hair-pulling fashion, have to be kicking themselves right now. As well as wondering where they would be if not for the grace of two horrible Red Sox throws from behind home plate over their third basemen's heads, which have led directly to the Cardinals' two victories this past week.
"We weren't able to put together a good rally," Carlos Beltran said. "… We just couldn't put anything together."
When the Cardinals prevailed in Game 3, 5-4 thanks to the correct obstruction call on Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks (which resulted from one of those poor throws to third, this one by Jarrod Saltalamacchia), the Red Sox looked to be in serious trouble. The Cards had a chance to wrap this up at home with two more victories, and Boston desperately needed a solid outing from its ailing right-hander Clay Buchholz who has been battling shoulder tightness.
Instead, Buchholz, despite throwing the ball with diminished velocity — his fastball hovered in the high 80s, rather than the standard 91 or 92 mph range — hung in there for four innings, allowing just one run and stranding five Cardinals baserunners. Left-hander Felix Doubront, who contributed two shutout innings on Saturday night, came right back and delivered another 2²/₃ solid innings, allowing just one run. Doubront became the winner when feisty yet slumping Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes crushed a sixth-inning, three-run homer over the left-field wall, against just-inserted reliever Seth Maness, to break a 1-1 tie and get Boston right back into this Series.
So the Red Sox have regained the home-field advantage and go with their ace, Jon Lester, against Cardinals ace, Adam Wainwright, in Monday night's Game 5 at Busch. This represents a rematch of Game 1 at Fenway Park, in which Lester and the Red Sox dominated Wainwright and the Cardinals, 8-1.
For sure, the Red Sox no longer look like surprise finalists whose tanks are running low. And the Cardinals no longer appear to be a dynasty getting ready for the next parade.
"We didn't have a lot of movement," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We didn't get a lot going, and didn't have any momentum offensively."
As Buchholz, who seemed like a crisis waiting to happen, hung around to keep the Red Sox in the game, Boston knotted the score at 1-1 in the fifth. When Dustin Pedroia lined a two-out single to left-center field in the sixth inning, Matheny kept his starter, Lance Lynn, in the game to face David Ortiz. Even though the ridiculously dangerous Ortiz already had a single and double on the day, and even though Cardinals lefty specialist Randy Choate was warming up in the bullpen.
Choate was ready, Matheny confirmed, and added, "We just weren't going there." Ortiz hit a single off Choate in Game 3.
So Lynn threw around Ortiz, walking him, and then Matheny went to Maness to pitch to Gomes, who entered the at-bat 0-for-9 with a walk in this Series.
"With Seth, he's been a guy who's been able to help us out and do an incredible job in that situation all season long," Matheny said. "He's been able to come in and get the big out when we needed it, and we wanted to give him a shot. And it just didn't work out tonight."
At 2-and-2, Maness said, he wanted to pitch a fastball away. Instead, he explained: "Fastball down the middle up. Wasn't the spot I was looking for."
Gomes delivered his homer, and the entire tenor of the series changed. And when pinch-hitter Allen Craig blasted a long single with one out in the ninth and Matt Carpenter popped out to second base, the game was up to Beltran, exactly the guy the Cardinals would want up. Except that Red Sox closer Koji Uehara picked Craig's pinch-runner Kolten Wong off first base, giving this series the second straight wacky last play.
"I knew I was dead once I went to plant and push off, and I felt nothing go," Wong told reporters. "My foot slipped out and I was done.''
Photo: Gifdsports
"We talk very clearly about a very good pick-off move," Matheny said. "He was reminded once he got on base, and also he was reminded that run didn't mean much. 'Be careful. Shorten up.' "
The Cardinals have slipped, for sure. Are they done? Not yet. Yet they have made their task considerably harder than it could have been.
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