Weaver Clemens
7-14, 5.84 7-5, 2.37
Well, at least you can't say the team didn't give it a "hard 9" effort last night. Facing Roy Oswalt is always a challenging task, and Chris Duncan's 2 run shot in the 7th may have been a typical el cheapo Crawford Boxes homer, but it was good enough to tie the game. And LaRussa pulled the right lever by having Vizcaino pinch-hit rather then the struggling Scott Rolen, and Vizcaino answered with a double and would later come around and tie it. I don't think LaRussa was completely wrong for having Tyler Johnson in the 9th to face turn around Lance Berkman and face Luke Scott. It just didn't work out. I just don't think you can find much fault in the team or the players on this one, sometimes baseball is just "cruel" as Tony LaRussa puts it. I suppose you could fault Oquendo for waiving around Pujols, but do you really want the bad karma that comes with faulting "the Secret Weapon"?
I guess my biggest beef is using Tyler Johnson instead of Randy Flores. Neither have been particularly brilliant all year, but Flores done more in terms of positive win expectancy in higher leverage situations.
Well, it's Weaver verses Clemens, and it could be Clemens "last game ever", like we've never heard that before. If hearing over and over about Roger Clemens is the greatest pitcher alive makes you sick, I suggest you hit the mute button, as this baby is going to be carried by ESPN. I admit Roger and maybe Greg Maddux have been the greatest pitchers of my generation, but hearing about it until my ears bleed by the national media gets a little tiring. Until he retires and stays out of baseball for over a season, I'll never believe he'll retire. Please Cards, just win a game.