This is it. Six months of waiting and anticipating. A long spring, summer and fall season will culminate tonight, and hopefully this weekend. Adam Wainwright will take the mound with the Cardinals down 3 games to 1 in the National League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants at 7pm tonight. He will do that with the noise and whispers around him coming nonstop. As the team has done since he took over as ace in 2007, the losing streak falls on Waino’s desk for him to stop. People are questioning his playoff legacy and what he will truly be remembered for. He hasn’t pitched like the ace fans come to expect in the first two playoff games, so what happens tonight? Is the dead arm issue hurting him this month? Like it or not, the story tonight will revolve around Wainwright and his ability to hold off the Giants. The Cards have shown the ability to score runs off every Giants starter except Madison Bumgarner.
So the story goes, can Waino hold the Giants in check while the Cards figure out how to score runs off him?
Can they delay the inevitable fall from grace?
Will Thursday night represent the end of a thrilling, frustrating and exhausting season for the Cardinals?
Know the answers to any of those questions? If so, please pass them on in the comments section. I wouldn’t mind knowing ahead of time.
There are lots of things to complain about during the past two games? More than a few questions. Take your pick:
*Why hasn’t Mike Matheny used Michael Wacha after John Mozeliak put him on two playoff rosters?
*Why can Seth Maness throw more than inning and Carlos Martinez can not?
*Why did Randy Choate appear in the 4th inning last night? Why hasn’t he been escorted from the premises?
*How come the Cards have been so rough on defense in San Francisco?
Game 3 was tragic and absurd. Game 4 was just the Giants doing the little things right and taking advantage of bad Cardinal defense.
At this point, I am done pointing fingers. Mike Matheny is a good guy and wants to be a good manager, but he makes ridiculous decisions. He keeps sending Daniel Descalso to the plate, hoping for a miracle. He keeps using “his guys” even though they aren’t that good. I am past taking shots at him because I did freely on Monday night. Now I am just wondering about the end.
Tonight, the fans will see what this team has left in the tank. Are they tired? After all the close division battles and tumultuous season, are the Cardinals out of gas? Do they have any miracles left? Is there is a big hit or two left in them? Instead of begging for a dramatic comeback, I ask for a win tonight. A competent performance. Something to build on.
As Arch City Sports editor in chief Mick Lite proclaimed on the Facebook page today, “Win tonight, win Saturday, win Sunday and that’s a winning streak.” Positive vibes only, right!?! Well, that’s hard for me. I carry the devil on one shoulder and a gambler on the other.
Part of me wants to think the Cards will exact revenge on the Giants for 2012 and come back from a 3-1 deficit. The other shoulder says no way. Tonight it all ends. Then I think about the Matrix….anyway, it gets away from me.
One or another, tomorrow morning will tell us where the Cardinals stand. Can they do the impossible and upend Bumgarner? The Giants ace has been lights out in the postseason, compiling a 0.76 ERA in 23.2 innings. I would like to see the Cardinals get the Bumgarner from September 23rd, who allowed 4 earned runs(3 home runs) in 7.1 innings to the Dodgers. One can never tell.
All I can do is wait and see. Write about it. Hope for more baseball. Then again, is it crazy that Game #171 is hanging over me like a grenade with the pin barely staying in?
What can I say? I am tired but wouldn’t mind more baseball. How about you?
