It wasn't a great game. It was entertaining, for sure. I would once like to hear a player say, after a game like this, we won but we were lucky. Instead of saying we never give up, or we always find a way to win, or we wanted it more than they did, etc. No, the Cardinals were lucky. Either team could have won a game that had plenty of sloppy moments. The Cardinals third baseman dropped a little league popup. The Cardinals centerfielder rushing in on a flyball while calling out to the shortstop who was rushing out - to catch it! It was clearly the centerfielder's play. This same allstar centerfielder got picked off third base! The Rangers first baseman bobbled an easy groundball in the late innings that led to a Cardinals run. Then, there were the managing decisions. Why was Mark Lowe out there in the 11th inning when CJ Wilson was warming up, too? Lowe faced one batter and gave up the winning home run. But the biggest piece of luck in the game was the Rangers rightfielder's misplay of a ball hit over his head that allowed the game to be tied in the 9th inning. The Rangers had the game won. They had two strikes on the batter. There were two outs. They were two runs ahead. And the batter hit a ball over the head of the Rangers rightfielder. When he was supposed to be in a defensive posture designed to prevent that from happening. No balls hit over the outfielders heads! Except in the case of a home run. This went over his head for a triple scoring two runs and preventing the Rangers from celebrating. As luck would have it, the Cardinals won. Not a great game, not a classic, but a lot of fun to watch.
By the way, I read today (source: Tyler Kepner in the NY Times) that Josh Hamilton said God called his extra inning home run that almost won the game for the Rangers. He said God told him he was going to hit a home run. What God forgot to mention was that it would not be the game winner!
