Saturday, October 07, 2006

NLDS: Cards vs. Padres, Game 3

ESPN2 is televising the game at 1 PM ET. Game 3 is at Busch Stadium III.

TV Commentators
Play by Play: Jon Miller
Analysis: Joe Morgan
Sideline: Erin Andrews

ESPN Radio
Play by Play: Wayne Hagin
Analysis: Luis Gonzalez (Diamondbacks outfielder)

Have your brooms ready because you should not be taking anything for granted. Picking the Cardinals on Baseball Tonight: Kruk, Tino, Eduardo Perez picked the Cardinals. Brian Kenny picked the Padres. In the other game 3 today, Perez and Brian are the only ones so far to pick the Dodgers. As to the AL, Kruk was the only one to pick the Tigers.

Pujols has a .352 postseason career average. He's 5-8 with a home run and 3 RBI in the 2006 NLDS.

Lineups:
St. Louis Cardinals
David Eckstein SS
Chris Duncan LF
Albert Pujols 1B
Jim Edmonds CF
Scott Rolen 3B
Juan Encarnacion RF
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Yadier Molina C
Jeff Suppan P

San Diego Padres
Dave Roberts LF
Todd Walker 2B
Brian Giles RF
Mike Piazza C
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Mike Cameron CF
Russ Branyan 3B
Geoff Blum SS
Chris Young P

T1: Suppan delivers a strike to Roberts and the game is now underway at 1:11 PM et. 1-2. Base hit to left field for his fourth hit of the series. Walker at the plate. 0-1. Duncan misses the ball in what should have been a line out now means that there are two runners in scoring position. However, Duncan hustled enough to prevent the run. Giles is now batting. Grounded out to Jeff Suppan for the first out of the inning. Mike Piazza is up. In 17 career at bats, Piazza has several home runs against Suppan. 3-1. Grounded to Pujols who throws Roberts out at the plate. Two outs and we now have runners on the corners. Pujols will be getting a gold glove during the offseason. Gonzalez is now up. 1-0. Sweet! Molina picks off Mike Piazza after the pitch. The first inning is over. Cards 0, SD 0

B1: Eckstein leads off. 1-1. Base hit to left and Eckstein gets on with a single. Duncan got luck with a foul ball there and Bochy comes out to argue the call with the umpires. 1-2. Duncan goes down swinging. El Hombre now batting (For those of you stuck in the caves, that's Pujols). 2-0. Lined out to right for the second out. Jim Edmonds is now at the plate. 3-1 (Hey Joe, stop arguing about Pujols and Howard being MVP: "No one is more valuable to his team than Albert Pujols...but you could say the same thing about Ryan Howard"). Eckstein steals second. Edmonds is walked to get to Scott Rolen. Rolen has been slumping lately. 2-2. Rolen chased that one for the final out of the inning. Cards 0, SD 0

T2: Gonzalez is back at the plate. 3-2. Roberts goes down swinging. One out. Cameron due up. 3-2. Chris Duncan is having a bad day in left field and Cameron gets a double. Branyan. Flies out to Jim Edmonds. Blum. IBB'd to get to Chris Young for the final out of the inning. Young due up. 1-2. Strikeout to end the inning. Cards 0, SD 0

B2: Bob Gibson through out the first pitch today. Also, it was announced that the Comeback Players of the Year were Nomar Garciaparra and Jim Thome. Juan Encarnacion is due up. 1-0. Infield fly out. Belliard. 1-0. Grounded to second base. Molina, who came up big in the first, is up. 1-2. Goes down swinging. Cards 0, SD 0

T3: Top of the order due up. Roberts. 3-2. Tough play and Suppan drops the ball. It was scored a hit. Walker. 1-0. Good, a 1-6-3 double play and we now have two outs in the inning. Giles. 1-0. Flies out to shallow center where Eckstein calls for it. Cards 0, SD 0

B3: Suppan. 2-2. Strikeout. Eckstein. Deep left center, could be extra, but caught in center. Duncan. 2-1. That ball is back, back, and caught near the warning track in right field. Pujols to lead off the 4th inning. Cards 0, SD 0

T4: Piazza. Lined to Belliard on the first pitch. One away. Hey, we get an Erin Andrews update (she's an alumnus of the University of Florida). Gonzalez. 2-1. Base hit to right field. Cameron. 3-1. Walk. Branyan. 3-2. Crap! That base hit was extended to a double with him advancing to third on the throw. The Padres now have 2 runs on the board. Blum. 1-1. Sac fly but the run scores. SD now has three runs with two outs in the inning. Young. Strikeout. Cards 0, SD 3

B4: Pujols. 3-2. Strikeout. Edmonds. 0-2. He goes down swinging. Rolen. 1-2. Strikeout. Young has 7 strikeouts through 4 innings. Cards 0, SD 3

T5: No decision yet on who starts game 4 on Sunday for the Padres. Roberts. 2-1. Third base hit of the day for Roberts. He's now 6-11 in the series. Walker. 2-0. There's some activity in the bullpen with Josh Hancock warming up. There's a pitchout and Molina has a bad throw that gets into centerfield so Roberts goes to 3rd. Grounded out to first. Giles. 3-1. Walk. Runners on the corners. LaRussa makes a visit to the mound to take Suppan out of the game and Josh Hancock comes in to the game. Piazza. 0-2. Strikeout. Two outs now. Gonzalez. 3-2. Walks and the bases are now loaded. Mike Cameron comes up to the plate. 2-1 Grounded to third and Rolen throws to second for the force out. Cards 0, SD 3

B5: Encarnacion. 1-1. Juan flies out to deep left field. Belliard. Base hit for Belliard and we have the first hit since the first inning. I smell a rally. Molina. Come on Yadier, do your best Pujols impersonation! Flores is warming up in the pen. 2-2. Grounded into a double play. Hancock is likely to start the next inning. Cards 0, SD 3

T6: CARPENTER IS SCHEDULED TO PITCH TOMORROW IF WE LOSE TODAY. Branyan. 1-1. Infield fly out to Eckstein. Blum. 1-2. Chris is having a TERRIBLE day in left field. Blum is at second on what is scored as a double. Young. Flies out to Juan. Roberts. 3-1. Walk and he reaches for the 4th time today. Walker. 2-1. Grounded to a force out at second. Cards 0, SD 3

B6: Now is the time to start a rally. Khalil Greene moves to short stop. Blum moves to 3rd base and Branyan is done for the day. Aaron Miles pinch hits for Hancock. 3-2. Pops up in foul territory. One away. It's more and more likely that the Cards will be playing on Sunday. Eckstein. 1-1. Base hit. Barring a DP, Pujols will be up this inning. Can we tie it?!? I smell a rally starting! From Erin Andrews, we learn that Chris Young had a 1600 on his SAT as he is only the 4th Ivy Leaguer to start a postseason game (He went to Yale). Cla Meredith and Alan Embree are warming up for the Padres. Duncan. 3-2. Duncan walks and Pujols comes up to the plate. Bochy is coming out to the mound. 2-2. Pitch 1 was a ball but called a K. That was a brushback (pitch 2). Check swing that hit the bat (pitch 3). Up and away for a ball (pitch 4). He goes down swinging. Two away. Edmonds now coming up to the plate. You can hear it in the crowd. Back, back, back, and not quite gone. Caught by Roberts at the track. This was our best chance to rally. I think we're playing on Sunday. Cards 0, SD 3

T7: Randy Flores is now in for the Cards. Giles. Grounded to Flores and Albert takes care of it. Piazza. 2-0. Double as Juan doesn't play that very well. Cameron. 3-2. He gets walked. Looper comes in as Flores leaves. Flies out to Duncan. Two away. Greene. 2-1. Grounded out to short stop. Cards 0, SD 3

B7: Okay, time to start a rally. Scotty's been slumping so I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Spiezio pinch hits here. Chris Young is still pitching. Rolen. 3-1. He pops up to Piazza and surprisingly, he catches the ball. I think Rolen is suffering from a fatigued shoulder. Encarnacion. 2-2. Caught looking. Two outs. Belliard. He rips it down the line for a double! Belliard and Eckstein have two hits each. Molina will be pinch hit by Scott Spiezio. There's a double switch and Chris Young will be taken out of the game and replaced by Alan Embree. Rob Bowen replaces Piazza at catcher. 3-2. Taguchi to pinch hit for Looper if he comes to the plate. Spiezio goes down with a strikeout. Cards 0, SD 3

T8: Gary Bennett is now catching and Looper stays on the mound. Blum. Duncan makes the catch on left. One away. Bowen. 2-2. Lines to Duncan but he couldn't hold on to it. That's something Duncan has to work on. IT scores as a hit. Roberts. Bunted for a hit but he's thrown out. Two away. Walker. 2-2. Grounded to second to end the inning. Despite the defensive errors, the Cardinals bullpen have managed to hold the Padres at rthree runs. Cards 0, SD 3

B8: The Cardinals are inching closer and closer to playing on Sunday barring a late inning rally this afternoon. So Taguchi is going to pinch hit for Looper despite Scott Linebrink now coming in. I'd rather have JRod in this scenario but nope, we are stuck with So. 0-2. Forget JRod, SO went yard and the Cards are down 3-1 now. Eckstein. 3-2. Grounded out to third. Can we get a home run or base hit out of Duncan? 3-2. Duncan is walked. The Great Pujols is at the plate (5-10 with HR against Linebrink). 0-1. So much for the rally, Pujols grounds into a double play. Cards 1, SD 3

T9: Tyler Johnson relieves Braden Looper. So Taguchi remains in the game to play left field. Trevor Hoffman is warming up for the Padres. Giles. 2-2. Strikeout. Josh Barfield is pinch hitting for Linebrink. 3-0. Walked. Brad Thompson is warming up. Gonzalez. 0-1. Base hit. TLR is going to the pen and getting Thompson in. Cameron. 3-2. Walked. Greene. 0-2. Strikeout. Blum. 0-2. Flies out to Jimmy in centerfield. Cards 1, SD 3

B9: The Padres go to their closer to try and shut the door. Edmonds. That was not deep enough to go yard and is out #1. Rolen. 1-1. Grounded to short for the second out. Encarnacion. 0-2. That's game and the Cards will be playing tomorrow afternoon or evening.

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