Down 2 games to none after a visit to Shiner, Santa Fe returned home hoping to keep their title hopes alive!
Game Three Adam Wainwright (22-5, 2.80) vs Joel Pineiro (15-4, 3.22)
Shiner took a first-inning lead on a Pujols sacrifice fly, but Jose Bautista finally had his first hit of the series leading off the second with a long home run. Huff followed with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 SFE. The lead didn't last long, however, as the Blondes scored 3 runs on 4 singles and a walk in the 4th inning to go up 4-2.
Pineiro stayed in just a little too long to hold the lead, however, surrendering a run in the 5th and departing with two men on and two out for Eric O'Flaherty. Betemit worked the count for a walk but then Bautista was induced to bounce into a slow grounder to short....which Renteria watched go right under his glove for a 2-run "single"!
Wainwright would not waste that gift, allowing only a single and a walk in the rest of the game to lead Santa Fe to a 6-4 victory.
Game Four: Lincecum vs Bruce Chen (14-4, 4.47)
Prado and Dunn launched solo homers in the bottom of the first for the ritual early Shiner lead, but Wright promptly countered with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning. Betemit broke the tie in the second with an RBI double before both starters finally settled down.
As has become customary, however, the pitchers lost effectiveness, or at least the managers lost faith in them, in the 5th. After a leadoff walk to Betemit, Shiner put in Ogando to face the SFE string of RH batters. Ogando incuded Uggla to hit into a force out and then Molina ruthlessly gunned Uggla down after he foolishly tried to steal second base. The pesky Wright managed to draw a walk, and SFE decided to leave low-OB/high-power Napoli in to face Ogando. It was the right call, as he smashed a 2-run blast to make it 5-2.
Those runs would loom large, as Lincecum allowed solo home runs to the insanely-on-fire Pujols and Weeks in the sixth inning before being replaced by Joe Thatcher. Thatcher, who may end up tossing more innings in the World Series than he did in the regular season, was perfect for 1.2 innings before yielding to shutdown closer Mariano Rivera. With 2 out and none on in the 8th, SFE learned why Ron Washington kept intentionally walking Pujols, as the inhuman monster crushed a cutter to tie the game at 5!
A suddenly hushed home crowd regained their voices quickly enough, however, as team MVP Huff obliterated a Meek fastball in the bottom of the inning to go back up 6-5 and a chastened Rivera got a 1-2-3 9th to even the series at two games apiece!
Shiner had 5 hits in the game....all of which were solo homers in a 1-run loss. Oof.
Game Five: Halladay vs Dickey
There was a new early hero for SFE in this game, as Geovany Soto hit a solo home run in the second and then a two-run shot in the 4th to put SFE up 3-0. Weeks led off the 5th with yet another SHI solo homer, however, and Willingham and Dunn added RBI hits to even the score. With 2 on and 2 out, surprise starter Marcus Thames seemed to crush a Halladay slider, but it lost velocity just in time for Bautista to catch it with his back against the wall.
Branyan and Uggla broke the tie with solo shots out of the launching pad in the 6th and Wright added another in the 7th, but Shiner wasn't through yet. With two out and two on in the 8th, Ramon Hernandez made his first appearance in the Series, pinch-hitting against Rivera, and he hit a long double to plate two runs and bring the tally to 6-5. Rivera would regroup to retire Willingham, however, and made it through the 9th allowing only a single to put SFE up 3 games to 2!
Three close, tense, fun (for me, anyway) games, each won by SFE with the ominously demonic run totals of 6-6-6. The series finishes this weekend with SFE travelling back to SHI.
Ugh. That was a very brutal trip to Santa Fe. I intensely hate that cesspool of a park and its accursed ballpark homer bias. Shiner was painfully close to winning each of those games, but left with 3 close losses. I'm not feeling so confident about recapturing my luck in Shiner and pulling this thing out, but it could happen. Obviously, the key is to keep the demonic Gecko Lizards from scoring 6 runs!
It's also obvious that now would be a great time to pitch me a deal that would make next year's Shiner team better!
A 9-6 homer advantage may not seem so big, but the run differential was only 18-14. It's too not surprising that your RH hitters were so successful in hitting that 1-15 BP number, but my misses (particularly the one by Thames) really hurt. I demand satisfaction!
