2014 NLCS Game 4 Recap: Cardinals Fall To Giants In A 'Travesty Of Justice' 6-4 Loss

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=420&w=420&date=2014-10-15&team=Giants&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="420" width = "420" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-10-15&team=Giants&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>

What Did I Just Watch

An old friend of mine came up with this term, or idea, of the "travesty of justice". We would joke around about it and give the nickname to things we could not stand or even understand. So using this descriptor, I have to dub Game 4 a Travesty of Justice.

It just sounds overbearingly awful, and that's just what this game was. Don't get me wrong, it was certainly action packed and exciting, a tough fought battle pretty much throughout, like most of if not all the Cardinals 2014 postseason has been. The last one I was able to shrug off though. Sure, the Giants do this type of thing, all the time! We deserve to lose because Choate was not taken out of the game in time, and sure, even a major league veteran can throw the ball away in a close game. I guess those were my thoughts about it.

Well, that specter returned in this game, and a whole host of new ones to contemplate. As well as old ones like OK, enough's enough, Taveras is hitting well as a pinch hitter, does he really have to remain being just that? How will Grichuk magically be able to defeat his lefty/righty split? Why can't Taveras start a couple of those games, here and there? Or just put Jay there, and continue having 2 center fielders on that side of the field. Whatever you want!

The comparison of having one arm tied behind your back is an apt one, to describe how the Cardinals have been playing. Matheny has been difficult to justify, decision-wise, more often than anyone would like to see. And the team has not been executing on their usual elite level of defense, as shown on numerous occasions in Game 4.

The Giants are not an opponent that will let you get away with mental mistakes, not having luck on your side, and general floundering about. Matt Adams cost the team out there with a couple of related defensive blunders that were more mental than physical, but it was a crazy game today. 22 hits! 11 each team. Pretty chaotic, yet no wind. It was acatastrophe. But also remember that he made a lot of key plays over at first base for this game. Both teams were seeing the ball very well from the get go.

It's just that the Cardinals did their scoring early and could not quite put together more rallies, or hit more unexpected home runs (I think a Kolten Wong home run is beginning to be expected). Tomorrow they will need Adam Wainwright to be spot on, or early action on giving him a way out of the game via a different bullpen than we've seen lately.

I was happy to see the Cardinals get to Vogelsong tonight, but the Giants bullpen stepped up their game to save their starter. Shelby Miller gave up 6 hits before being relieved. He walked a couple and struck out 3. As a team they gave up no home runs, but instead walked 6 batters today. The pesky Giants offense was lead by Buster Posey, who had a 2 for 3, 1 walk, 3 RBI day. Joining Buster was Hunter Pence and Brandon Crawford, who also went 2 for 3 with a walk.

The Cards had no such trio of hitters, but levels of great excitement were attained when Kolten Wong volcanoed a Vogelsong pitch to nearly the Pacific, and the emergence of Matt Holliday from the proverbial hitter's sewer with a 3 for 5 performance. Just another travesty of justice though, as we ended the game watching the sculpted hulk of Matt Holliday's lifeless frame stand there watching the game go by softly into the night.

And Jon Jay, the Chief Justice! Why can't they just win it for him? It would be a "Travesty of Justice" to let this season go by without at least a Happy Flight back home. Do we really want to let Jon Jay's valiant 1.061 OPS, .581 OBP performance go the way of the A.J. Ellis's of the world? When he's bettering Erik Hosmer in postseason batting average? No way!

And the Hawaiian Hammer's brilliant triumph over adversity, garnering both a nickname describing his powerful offense and a nickname describing his solid defense, the Keystone Kahuna. Kolten Wong has a much more modest batting average, but 3 very important home runs! They need to win this thing for Kolten!

The Grich and Jhonny Peralta, two guys who can certainly hit it out of the park, whiffed all night long, both going 0 for 4 and striking out a total of 3 times between them. While there was a Matt matted in, the Matts were kind of a letdown tonight, as two of them watched the ball sail by for strike 3 and the other's defensive buffoonery.

The game ended by getting mowed down by a pitcher that has not even given up any earned runs this postseason.

The Giants are freakin' crazy. But, we have our own brand of krazy...

Mathenaging

Attempted to bunt over AJ Pierzysnki but in the twilight of his career, he is very slow. Granted, it was just the pitcher hitting, but still probably not a good idea. He used Choate and scared us all. Grichuk going 0-4 is not cool either, when Oscar Taveras continues to be on a tear, albeit while pinch-hitting.

He threw away a challenge on a pretty clearcut play, that should not have been challenged. Could blame whoever talked him into challenging it, but he's the manager, so, that's his responsibility in the end.

Oh, there's more, but it's not even worth talking about anymore. Please list your concerns.

'Thread O' Game

Writing about this loss is cathartic, but what could be more cathartic than poring over VEB's comments though?

Listen, Vogelsong sucks. We must make sure reality happens. -Hardcore Legend

LET THE DOG FLY. -nota bena

• Rebird Thunder emerges from lurking for the gamethreadery ...but did not form a haiku.

this year was, like, zero years ago! -mister_manager

How the hell do they do this? Invoke shitty play from the opponent and win without doing much -Paulspike

We just Giants'd the Giants! -Hardcore Legend

AT&T's outfield is on top of a cemetery. -TBender

• in reference to this here event:

Yeah, AJ has watched some rasslin' in his day. -The Continental

I think AJ just earned himself a ten year personal services contract. -Notorious PSC

ghost wolf ebola -mattswithbats

Joltin' Kolten... The Tropical Thunder... The Pipeline Pulverizer -mattybobo

Matt Adams is pretty good with the glove... he just took a double away from Blanco -nota bena

• first guy from the bullpen is the guy that lost the last game, Choate walks first batter:

MM is trolling VEB -huja

ok you Matheny haters,... I am approaching the bandwagon -exacta

Wait... Did Mo fire MM and not tell us? Is the absence of a manager why Shelby is hitting? Goal for 2015: have season tickets behind the visitors dugout at Busch so I can hold up signs tell MM what he should be doing as manager. -JMedwick

Choate has Rosenebola walking fever -KYOstrich

Did Harold Just Say, "They've frozen the ice king"? -flood

• there was another AJ Pierzynski entertaining moment, after the Oscar award winning performance, where he did an epic bat flip after getting on base with a walk

Why can't anyone throw strikes? -Paulspike

this game is a total abomination -zoomzoomj88

There is no understanding. Only sad submission. -augustinius

Watching the Giants back their way through another CS... is like watching Eli Manning win the Super Bowl.. same level of unfathomable BS.. -TopSirloin

hey at least we have a pinch hitter coming up 3rd this inning... Get ready Descalso! -nortexgringo

Outlook

The outlook seems pretty doomy. The team is in do-or-die mode now, and must rely on the happy flight and zombie-ism. They will need the big bats to step up, namely Carpenter, Holliday and Peralta, and have more Kolten Wong top flight play. They'll need to bring their own form of magic to make it back to St. Louis and prolong the series to the wonderland of Game 7.

The Cards have shown the ability to hang around in games, and even though both games 3 & 4 seemed like rough losses, the team was basically one or two big hits away from winning. Still, tomorrow's game will be a tough challenge. We shall see if Bumgarner will finally be hittable, and what Wainwright is capable of. The gauntlet continues into Game 5 on Fox Sports One at 7pm Thursday night.

Music

Been digging this band a ton lately, and there's a very pretty song on this album 'Caterwaul' called "Fall". Check out their sounds here.

Or the melvins have a new album out with the string section of the punk rock band the butthole surfers, for a more straight up high energy badass drumming rifftastic extravaganza of an album called 'Hold It In'.