Game 2 of the World Series

Good night ...

From earlier

Welcome to Game 2 of the World Series (from my living room).

Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia face off tonight after the Cardinals' 3-2 win last night over the Rangers.

Enjoy the game, feel free to post comments. I may be in and out tonight due to some prior obligations but make yourself at home.

I'll post top, down so you can refresh and read quickly.

WRAP UP

How many times did the Cardinals blow a lead in the ninth this season? How many times did you count them out? Throw up your hands in disgust as another win slipped away?

Cardinals head to Texas tied 1-1 in the World Series. Think about that. Three wins away from a title.

Motte didn't blow it. A bloop single, a stolen base, a missed cut-off throw and two sac flies beat the Cardinals, who left nine runners stranded. Garcia pitched a whale of a game, which the Cards will (hopefully) need down the road.

Will see if the Resilient Redbirds show up.

NINTH

Jason 'Don't-call-him-the-closer' Motte in to pitch. This was always a nervous time watching the pre-September Cardinals.

Spoke too soon. ... lead off hit puts tying run on with nobody out.

Elvis Andrus singles to center, takes second on throw to the plate but Pujols can't cut off the throw. That's bad news, two in scoring position with nobody out.

Hamilton hits sac fly off Rhodes and, even worse, Elvis reaches third.

Another sac fly by Young, off Lynn, and the Rangers lead for the first time in the Series.

Rangers lead 2-1 heading to the bottom of the ninth.

RALLY SQUIRREL TIME!

Molina, Punto and Schumaker due up for the Cardinals (7-8-9) Can they get to Pujols?

Feliz rocking that Abe Lincoln beard.

Leadoff walk by your closer. That's worth than Motte's start.

Punto strikes out, I smell a GIDP to end it. ... Skippy strikes out.

Fly out to end it. FINAL.

Rangers win 2-1.

Ouch.

EIGHTH

Cardinals bullpen takes care of top half.

Jen has fallen asleep on one end of couch, the dog on the other end. One is snoring very loudly, not sure which.

Perfect time for Pujols to go yard ... missed it by that much.

By the way, I think the Fox guys are reading this because McCarver just brought up my point of Craig being an MVP as a pinch hitter. Just in case, no more jokes about Joe Buck.

I loved the shot of the kid wearing a winter cap and short sleeves.

A two-out hit by Berkman and a walk by Holliday but a ground out ends the rally.

Heading to the ninth, Cards lead 1-0.

SEVENTH

Wow! Big out by Garcia to end the top of the seventh, getting Cruz to fly out on a 3-1 pitch. That was huge. Just ask Tiger fans. (Sorry Rob)

Time to stretch.

This brings up a question from Jen: Why isn't "God Bless America" the National Anthem?

I guess because "Star Spangled Banner" came first then look it up to find I'm half right.

"God Bless America" was written in 1918. "Star Spangled Banner was written in 1812 but wasn't officially named the National Anthem until 1931 according to Wikipedia.

This is why baseball is great. You can watch it and have a conversation. Of course, having the internet helps.

Rangers decide to pitch to Punto with two outs, he singles off the glove of Young at first base/

Jen: Is that an error?

Tough call.

Here's come Craig as a pinch-hitter vs. Ogando II ... Torty does it again! Single to the opposite field, scores a run.

Can a pinch hitter be a Series MVP? So far the answer is yes.

Cardinals lead 1-0, hand it over to the bullpen.

SIXTH

At least Brewers fans get to see Aaron Rodgers in a commercial to make them happy. Oh wait, they're probably not watching.

Nice double play by the Cardinals to end the top of sixth. Great defensive Series so far.

Jack does a magic trick between innings and pops popcorn. Somebody wants to stay up late. His trick was pretty good, made something disappear.

Third time up for Pujols, who smoked one last time up ... grounds out. Last HR by Pujols in WS was in Game 1 of 2006? Another case that the stars may get you there but it's those guys who step up that win it (David Eckstein in 2006).

Still tied 0-0.

FIFTH

Heard on the ESPN Radio play-by-play that Rangers manager Ron Washington didn't want to walk Punto in the sixth inning to bring up Carpenter. Pinch-hitter Allen Craig hit the go-ahead single after that. Looked for the quote online but couldn't

Raise your hand if you thought it would be a 0-0 honor-dual between Garcia and Lewis through five innings?

Jack gives me one of his Reese's minis and Garcia draws a two-out walk to put Punto on second after a two-out hit. ...

Meanwhile, Jen is trading texts with my sister-in-law about baby names.

Nice play to end the inning on a ball hit up the middle.

Still tied 0-0.

FOURTH

A Ranger was walked, i guess the lead off hitter? That can't be good this early in game. Rangers get another hit, players on first and third.

Huge strike out there to end the inning, stil tied 0-0

I'm back

Clint Eastwood directs, Leo DiCaprio acts, "J.Edgar" I smell Oscar.

Speaking of drama, now that we're going through the lineup a second time we should see some.

Upon seeing that Jen is eating Reese's mini I ask for one

Jen: "Sorry, they went a lot faster than I thought they would."

Nice double play by the Rangers. That's GIDP No.1,367 this year for the Cardinals.

End of fourth, tied 0-0

THIRD

Jen is taking over for me, I'll be back soon.

I am sure I should be typing something important about the game, but still thinking about the ice tea, ice cream, toasted ravioli and bbq sauce. Wait! something happen...one of the Cards got on second base. And another out, still no score, onto the fourth.

SECOND

Arch shot No. 77 brings into the second inning.

Why is this a big game for the Rangers? Buster Olney of ESPN tweets that last team to come back from being down 2-0 was the 1996 Yankees over the Braves.

Garcia dodges a Cruz missile down the left-field line there.

After 2nd, 0-0.

FIRST

Great start for Garcia, 3 up, 3 down in first.

That ball rolling down the third base line of Jay's bat reminds me of the ending of the movie "The Rookie"

"Stay fair! stay fair!" "Go foul! Go foul!"

Lewis pitched in Japan for the Carp? That's a good sign right? Who do like in this pitching matchup, the guy who pitched in Japan or the rookie?

After 1st, 0-0

TWITTER

Remember fans of Twitter should use the #world series, #stcards or #11in11.

Tonight's top tweet from @TortyCraig: "'I can't believe you guys didn't eat LOBster yesterday,' said Berkman. 'Only Craig & I ate LOBster? Gee whiz did we ever get lucky!'"

It's a running joke that the Cardinals eat LOBster to avoid leaving runners on base (LOB).

And this from @rbfallstromAP who wrote three stories last night (one about the Rams): "Lou Brock and Red Schoendienst, impeccably dressed in red sportcoats, throw out first pitches."