"You should treat that Cardinals-Phillies game like a Mets walk-off win. It was as important as any Mets win this season."
-- E-mail from my dad at around midnight, as we chuckled at the notion of the season coming down to rooting for Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina.
OK, I can do that...
* Let's start here: Yadier Molina is the first player in baseball history to beat the Mets with a Game 7 9th inning home run, then help them out with a walk-off hit the following season.
* It was Molina's 3rd career walk-off hit, his first since 2005. The first of the three came against the Mets and Mike Stanton, on August 7, 2004, a bases loaded, two-out single to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win.
* Molina's 3 walk-off hits break a tie with Bengie for most hits by a Molina brother. Bengie has 2. Jose has none.
* It was the Cardinals 4th walk-off win of the season and their first against the Phillies since a Jim Edmonds 13th inning walk-off home run on April 29, 2004.
* It was the Phillies 8th walk-off loss of the season and the 2nd that ended with Brett Myers on the mound. It was their second 2-1 walk-off loss of the season, with the other occurring against the Reds (Brandon Phillips single) on April 20).
* It was the first time since August 2, 1997, in which the Cardinals beat the Phillies, despite scoring 2 or fewer runs. The Cardinals had lost their last 7 games to the Phillies in which they scored 2 or fewer runs.
* The difference in the standings? Well, this is the 3rd time this season that the Phillies have lost a game in which they allowed 2 runs or fewer. They were 32-0 in such games last season.
* Had it been the Mets winning, it would have been only the 2nd time in team history that they earned a 2-1 walk-off win against the Phillies. The other was on April 8, 1975, when Joe Torre opened the season with a game-ending hit.
True Melinas know...This was not the most crushing Phillies walk-off defeat to take place on a September 19. Let's harken back to September 19, 1964, for a moment. The first-place Phillies went 16 innings with the Dodgers, losing 4-3. The winning run scored on a straight steal of home by daring Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis. The loss didn't seem like such a big deal at the time, since the Phils still led the NL by 5 1/2 games, but it turned out to be. Two days later began a 10-game losing streak and a historic Phillies collapse that ended with the Cardinals as NL (and eventual World Series) champs.
-- E-mail from my dad at around midnight, as we chuckled at the notion of the season coming down to rooting for Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina.
OK, I can do that...
* Let's start here: Yadier Molina is the first player in baseball history to beat the Mets with a Game 7 9th inning home run, then help them out with a walk-off hit the following season.
* It was Molina's 3rd career walk-off hit, his first since 2005. The first of the three came against the Mets and Mike Stanton, on August 7, 2004, a bases loaded, two-out single to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win.
* Molina's 3 walk-off hits break a tie with Bengie for most hits by a Molina brother. Bengie has 2. Jose has none.
* It was the Cardinals 4th walk-off win of the season and their first against the Phillies since a Jim Edmonds 13th inning walk-off home run on April 29, 2004.
* It was the Phillies 8th walk-off loss of the season and the 2nd that ended with Brett Myers on the mound. It was their second 2-1 walk-off loss of the season, with the other occurring against the Reds (Brandon Phillips single) on April 20).
* It was the first time since August 2, 1997, in which the Cardinals beat the Phillies, despite scoring 2 or fewer runs. The Cardinals had lost their last 7 games to the Phillies in which they scored 2 or fewer runs.
* The difference in the standings? Well, this is the 3rd time this season that the Phillies have lost a game in which they allowed 2 runs or fewer. They were 32-0 in such games last season.
* Had it been the Mets winning, it would have been only the 2nd time in team history that they earned a 2-1 walk-off win against the Phillies. The other was on April 8, 1975, when Joe Torre opened the season with a game-ending hit.
True Melinas know...This was not the most crushing Phillies walk-off defeat to take place on a September 19. Let's harken back to September 19, 1964, for a moment. The first-place Phillies went 16 innings with the Dodgers, losing 4-3. The winning run scored on a straight steal of home by daring Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis. The loss didn't seem like such a big deal at the time, since the Phils still led the NL by 5 1/2 games, but it turned out to be. Two days later began a 10-game losing streak and a historic Phillies collapse that ended with the Cardinals as NL (and eventual World Series) champs.
Comments