Friday Night at the Ballpark

My dad and I went to the Cardinals' game against the Pirates on Friday. The Cardinals were honoring Yadier Molina for winning the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year award, so it seemed like a good night. There was a question of whether we'd make it, since I was unable to buy a printable copy of our tickets off Stubhub. Meaning my dad had to decipher how to download their app onto his smartphone. We managed it with minimal fuss.

I was concerned how the game would go, because the Cardinals scored 17 runs in Thursday night's game. It feels like when there's an offensive explosion, they follow it up by scoring basically nothing the next night.

The Cardinals put Adam Wainwright on the mound, which made my dad happy. Waino is firmly in the last gasps of his career. It's an open question from one start to another whether he'll have his stuff or not. "Stuff" being a relative term; he can hit 92 on a good day, but works around 88-90 a lot. He went from 76 mph on one pitch to 69 mph the next. My dad laughed about 'going from slower to slowest'. I said keep going, which got my dad started in about Jim Kaat using the eephus pitch effectively.

Wainwright gave up a home run to the first batter of the game, Adam Frazier, but otherwise mostly cruised. The Pirates got first-and-third with two outs in the 4th, and Wainwright slowed his pace down significantly during that stretch, but otherwise they didn't threaten him again.

I was still leery when they let him come back out for the 6th, facing the lineup the third time. Most pitchers fare much worse the third time through, and with his limited stuff, it can get ugly real fast. But he retired the side in the 6th and 7th innings, no problem.

It helps the Pirates only have 3 guys actually hitting so far this year.

The Pirates used Trevor Williams on the mound, who seems like he's been solid this year, if not overpowering. And that was pretty much how things went. The Cardinals would get on base, and Williams would find a way out of trouble.

In the first, the Cards had the bases loaded with 2 outs, and Molina struck out. In the second, they got Kolten Wong to second with 2 outs, and Matt Carpenter hit one hard down the first base line, only for Josh Bell to make a nice grab and throw him out. They got runners on first and second in the third, but Jose Martinez hit into a double play. They got runners on first and third in the fourth with two outs, then Carpenter struck out. They left 7 men on base on the first 4 innings.

The Cardinals finally broke through in the 7th, probably because Clint Hurdle left Williams in to face the lineup a fourth time. Or maybe the Cards just got good bounces. Yairo Munoz pinch-hit for Wainwright, and hit a little dribbler the infielder misplayed, but the scorer gave him an infield single anyway. Paul Goldschmidt got his third single of the game, moving Munoz to third, and Paul DeJong followed with another single to score Munoz and tie the game, 1-1.

Andrew Miller came in to pitch the 8th. He was the Cards' big free-agent acquisition this offseason (Goldschimdt was acquired in a trade). Like all relief pitchers the Cardinals sign to fix their bullpen, he has immediately turned to shit. See also; Greg Holland, Luke Gregerson, Brett Cecil. Miller gave up a single, another single, struck a guy out, then allowed a third single that drove in Cole Tucker. 2-1 Pittsburgh.

The Pirates brought in Kyle Crick to pitch the 8th. Jose Martinez walked, then the Cards did a hit-and-run with Molina and it actually worked. Jose Martinez advanced to third. First and third, no outs! Molina's probably the best Cardinal to use for that, because he swings a lot and never strikes out. If you need a guy to make contact, he's your best bet. Then Dexter Fowler struck out, and Kolten Wong hit into a double play. *sad trombone*

The Cards used Jordan Hicks in the 9th, and the game slowed to a crawl. Hicks took a long time between each pitch, and couldn't find the plate with a road map. But he got through the inning without surrendering any more runs, somehow. Took about 30 pitches, though. The Cards went down 1-2-3 in the 9th and that was it.

Other notes:

- The ump really liked low strikes, but was at least consistent with it to my eye. My dad felt Williams was getting more benefit than Wainwright, which might be true, but Williams also might have been working at that level more consistently.

- The Wave started in the 8th, and actually took hold, unfortunately. It was funny the fans in front of us were in the middle of standing and going "Whooo" or whatever right as Miller was giving up the hit the let the winning run score. So all these Cardinals' fans look like they're celebrating falling behind again. Excellent work. Dumbasses.

- The Pirates looked like the worst defensive team in the league. Besides Munoz' "single" in the 7th, Marcell Ozuna hit a single into left-center the outfielder bobbled, so Ozuna went for second. I was horrified, sure he'd be thrown out, but he made it safely. Although he might have pulled his hamstring (he stayed in the game).

- Trevor Williams forgot how to catch the ball in the 4th. His catcher threw the ball back after a pitch, and it fell out of Williams' glove. Then Dexter Fowler hit a single to right. The rightfielder threw it in to an infielder, who then threw it back to Williams. Who missed the ball entirely, letting it roll past him to the dugout, and Fowler advanced to second.

- Immediately after that Fowler mishap, Cole Tucker misplayed a groundball, which is how Kolten Wong got on base. None of it ended up mattering, but it was funny.

- Molina still gets by far the loudest applause when he comes to the plate.

- Baseball-Reference says Adam Frazier is 5-10. I call bullshit. When he stands at the plate, he looks barely taller than Molina does while Yadi is crouched behind home plate (Molina's 5-11).

- They ran a text poll after the 3rd inning about who your favorite Pirate is: Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow, Long John Silver, or Chris Archer (Pirates' pitcher). Sparrow won easily, which got my dad on a 3-minute rant about how no one today remembers anything more than 5 months old, and most kids probably don't even know who Captain Hook or Peter Pan are. OK dad, just yell at the clouds until you feel better.

- We were discussing people who were getting to throw out first pitches before the game started. One middle-aged guy had to two-hop the ball and dad said he hoped he could at least get it across the plate. I said of course he could; all that time throwing the stick for his dog in the yard has to count for something. I suggested he throw softball style or sidearm like he used to do when he pitched to me in the backyard. He said the ball would probably end up in the dugout. As long as it's the Pirates' dugout no issue, says I. He agrees, stating it might get Clint Hurdle to charge the mound. Then he wondered if his back would hold up long enough to run away until Hurdle's knees give out.

- I'm not clear on what precisely my dad has against Clint Hurdle.

- They have the radio broadcast of the game in the bathroom. I was in there in the top of the 8th. The announce team were touting that Miller had been pitching well over his last three appearances or innings, and that this meant he was finding his command. Mike Shannon opined that if Miller got going, then the opposition was out of luck as far as the 8th inning goes. Miller then immediately gave up a leadoff single on what they described as a 'hanging slider', and the announcers hustled to mention that Miller hadn't actually pitched in a few games, so he might be rusty. Good damage control there, fellas.