Giants Win 6-4 Take 3 Games to 1 Lead in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants took a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS with a 6-4 win last night at AT&T Park on the west coast. Yusmeiro Petit got the win, in relief of starter Ryan Vogelsong, with 3 innings of effective relief work. Santiago Casilla picked up the save. Marco Gonzalez took the loss for St. Louis.

St. Louis broke on top with a run in the top of the 1st. Matt Carpenter doubled and Jon Jay walked. With one out, Matt Adams singled to left to drive in Carpenter. The Cards had the 1-0 lead.

The Giants answered in the bottom of the 1st. Gregor Blanco doubled to right to lead off. Joe Panik followed with a single that got Blanco to third. Buster Posey, who had 3 RBIs on the night, got Blanco home with a sacrifice fly to center. The score was tied 1-1.

The Redbirds would score another run in their half of the 2nd. Kolten Wong doubled to lead off the inning. AJ Pierzynski singled to drive in Wong and the Cards were back on top 2-1.

The Cardinals scored two more times in the 3rd. Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams singled with Holliday stopping at third. Jhonny Peralta hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Holliday. Kolten Wong hit a 3-2 pitch from Ryan Vogelsong over the right field fence to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. Kolten Wong his 7 hits this postseason...all for extra bases.

Joaquin Arias, pinch hitting for Vogelsong in the third, singled. Gregor Blanco grounded out to first as Arias moved to second. Joe Panik flied out to center and Arias took third. Buster Posey singled to left and Arias scored. Pablo Sandoval walked and Hunter Pence singled to drive in Posey. The Giants had cut the lead to 4-3.

Marco Gonzalez took the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 6th. Juan Perez walked to lead off the inning for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to right and Perez stopped at second. Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Yusmeiro Petit, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Perez to third and Crawford to second. Gregor Blanco grounded to first and Matt Adams decided to throw home to get Perez but Adam's throw short hopped the catcher and Perez scored. The next batter, Joe Panik grounded to first. Adams stepped on the bag to get Panik but threw wildly to second trying to get Blanco. Crawford scored and the Giants had their first lead, 5-4. With Blanco on second, Buster Posey singled to left off of Cardinal reliever, Seth Maness, and Blanco scored giving the Giants the 6-4 lead.

With the 6-4 win and a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, the Giants face the Cardinals tonight in game 5 at AT&T Park. If the Giants win game 5 they will face the Kansas City Royals in game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday the 21st of October. If the Cardinals win game 5, the NLCS heads back to St. Louis for game 6 and, if necessary, game 7.

dr. howl of SBNation has a great article on this game, and the series from a Cardinal point of view here.

Cards Beat Giants 5-4 on Kolten Wong Walkoff Home Run

The St. Louis Cardinals have tied the NLDS at one game apiece thanks to some good pitching, poor hitting by the Giants and a power surge of home runs.

The Redbirds hit 4 home runs last night. They were all solo shots. Matt Carpenter connected in the 3rd, Rookie Oscar Taveras, pinch hitting for pitcher Carlos Martinez, in the 7th, Matt Adams in the 8th and Wong's walkoff in the 9th. Randal Grichuk drove in the second run for the Cards on a single in the 4th.

The Giants had tied the score at 4 in the top of the 9th on a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal with the Bases loaded.

Sergio Romo took the loss for the Giants while Seth Maness picked up the win.

These two teams now head to San Francisco for games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLDS. If necessary games 6 and 7 would be played in St. Louis.

Read the ESPN story here.

Cards Take 2-1 in NLDS Series Over Dodgers

John Lackey pitched masterfully and home runs by Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong powered the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory in game three of the NLDS.

Matt Carpenter became the first player in MLB Playoff history to have a home run and a double in three consecutive playoff games.

Carpenter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd to give Lackey the lead.

In the top of the 6th, Yasiel Puig tripled. Puig had struck out in his previous 7 at bats. Nanley Rameriz then doubled to score Puig with the tying run.

Kolten Wong stepped to the plate with Ydier Molina on second and drove a ball over the right center field wall off of reliever Scott Elbert to push the lead to 3-1.

Read the ESPN story here

Dodgers Even Series With Cardinals After 3-2 Win on Saturday

Zack Greinke, for the Dodgers, and Lance Lynn, for the Cards, pitched extremely well in the second game of the NLDS series between the two teams. Greinke gave up 2 hits, both doubles, in his 7 inning stint. Lynn, although giving up 7 hits, held the Dodgers to just 2 runs and kept the Cardinals in the game for 6 innings.

J.P. Howell relieved Greinke to start the top of the 8th. Dodger manager, Don Mattingly, had the game set up the way he wanted it. Howell, a lefty, would face three left handed batters in pinch hitter Oscar Taveras, Matt Carpenter and Jon Jay.

Taveras singled singled on an 0-2 count. Matt Carpenter jumped on the first pitch he saw from Howell and drove it 400' over the right center field wall for a 2 run home run. Zack Greinke had thrown 105 pitches in his 7 inning shutout performance and the Cardinals tied the game on 4 pitches from Howell.

The Dodgers scored their two runs in the bottom of the third. AJ Ellis led off the inning with a double to right center. Greinke followed with a single to right and LA had runners at the corners with no outs.

Dee Gordon hit a slow roller to second. Greinke hesitated just long enough that the Cardinal 2nd baseman, Kolten Wong, in his haste to get the speedy Gordon at first, tagged Greinke with the glove only and threw to first to complete what appeared to be a double play. Ellis would score on the play.

Don Mattingly challenged the play noting that Wong did not have the ball in the glove when he applied the tag. Mattingly won the challenge and Greinke was awarded 2nd base and the double play was just a 4-3 ground out.

Two batters later, Adrian Gonzalez singled to right to score Greinke for the 2-0 Dodger lead.

Carpenter's home run in the top of the 8th, silenced the 54,000+ Dodger fans who had been very loud throughout the game. The crowd wasn't silent too long as Matt Kemp, leading off the bottom of the 8th, sent a 2-1 slider from reliever Pat Neshek into the bleachers in left to regain the lead for the Dodgers.

Kenley Jensen set the Cardinals down in order in the top of the 9th to preserve the win for Brandon League while Neshek took the loss for the Redbirds.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the teams head to St. Louis to continue the NLDS on Monday the 6th of October.