2014 NLDS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

bullpen more like lolpen

Cardinals were also last in the league in HR? Getting closer to a strange improbability that has surely never happened before.

if the cardinals play the orioles in the world series it will be the first time that teams named after birds have battled for the title. neat huh? #jaysonstark

lol almost had me there - right?

now the great Short Rest Test

i guess we don't have rain delays in the PS anymore, as in the days of Bowie Kuhn

yay, extra game(s?)

ah, wrong game lol

A rundown of the eight three-days-rest starts in divisional series since 2013, including Kershaw last year:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/52331/poll-right-move-to-start-kershaw

Two bad ones, six that more or less worked out. I voted for "Yes, but only if they're down in the series." They're down in the series.

You can't really justify not using the best pitcher in baseball in a must-win game. It's like losing a playoff game in the late innings without using your closer.

puig benched

plus having Zack for Game 5 should be good

Mattingly on Matt Carpenter: "I'm thinking Stan Musial is somewhere rolling around in that body."

So there's a clip when this is relayed to Carpenter in the post-game and he gives a nice "gosh that's flattering" answer. But right before it you hear Lackey say "siiick". Kind of funny.

Redbirds prepping Lynn to start Game 5 or Game 1 NLCS b/c of Waino's elbow. http://bit.ly/1uy4T3c

@truebluela
Don Mattingly keeps saying, "This gives us the best chance to win today" over and over again. Like he's trying to convince himself

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/10/7/6941103/nlds-2014-dodgers-cardinals-yasiel-puig-slump-don-mattingly-baseball-quotable

i'll be disappointed if there's no giants/dodgers series but at the same time, half a dozen parking lot murders will probably be avoided

@molly_knight
Yadi worked Puig like a marionette last post-season, and Puig knew it. He's in his head again.

@ProductiveOuts
"Just feel like mentally we feel like we have to give Yas a break." Mattingly on the KLAC pregame show

@KenTremendous
Well, it makes sense. I mean Puig led the team in OPS for the season, sure, but look at his last 12 at bats! #Mattingly

a nice long winter break

Has anyone read the Alan Licht book? I leafed through it a couple times (and enjoyed it!), but never pulled the trigger on it.

Lol wrong thread.

wrong "ILB"!

@robneyer
oh, and by the way, Shelby Miller throws a ton of fastballs and Puig is one of the Dodgers' best fastball hitters (Ethier isn't)

10 pitches, 10 fastballs in the 1st

That last one was...wobbly.

cardinals basically taking two strikes in each at-bat, kershaw at 30 pitches in two innings

The strikeouts are nice, but yeah, the meter's running.

Still, so far this is giving me the impression its working.

How could the Cardinals let that one pass? Obviously a foul ball. (I don't think the Dodgers would have won an appeal on the pick-off, though.)

94 pitches--"low-stress," they'd probably argue in the booth, but I'd be stressed. Maybe Mattingly will leave him out for the 7th and 8th if nobody reaches base.

Ethier w/ 2 walks, that aint hay

Pull him out, Mattingly.

here we go

welp

oof, Clayton's walk back to the dugout.

outmathenaged

I'll resist the second-guess. I'm watching, and even though every conceivable indication says to pull him, I'm thinking, "He can get this guy."

considering the bullpen and considering the lefty hitter, yeah

but still

That was awesome. Ps Harold Reynolds is just terrible

do not like neshek on b2b days p. Where is CarMart

Scully: "the dreaded 7th inning"

matt adams is a tub of goo btw

you should celebrate him as a 'bad body' success (also he is a surprisingly capable fielder)

maybe not in the same way as anthony recker tho

what lost opportunities did i miss, besides Ethier getting nailed off third?

Where are all the neshek haters now!?! Time for rosenthal heart attack

Bottom of the order coming up. Hmmm, any good pinch-hitters available?

I've gotten home just in time to enjoy the Rosenthal heart attack

That was funny. Generally pitchers take a few steps before they underhand-toss to first.

lol Mattingly

smdh

welp