Wolf holds off Cardinals; Brewers rally to tie NLCS
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CBSSports.com wire reports
Oct. 13, 2011
ST. LOUIS -- Power pitching often dominates in the postseason. Soft tosses by Randy Wolf got the Milwaukee Brewers back to even in the NL Championship Series.
The 35-year-old lefty outfoxed the St. Louis Cardinals for seven innings to earn his first postseason win and the Brewers got two more hits from Ryan Braun in a 4-2 victory Thursday night that evened the NL Championship Series at 2.
"It was a big feeling just to be back out there again after my last start," said Wolf, hit hard by Arizona to force a deciding Game 5 in the first round of the playoffs. "Just to be able to get another opportunity to pitch again was important.
"You know, I'll be honest with you, the day after the Diamondbacks start, I didn't eat or shower that day," he said."
Flipping some pitches in the mid-60s mph, Wolf allowed two runs and six hits, striking out six with one walk.
Matt Holliday and Allen Craig homered for the Cardinals, representing their only runs in the last 16 innings.
"I think it's classic because playing each other so many times, we're dead even," manager Tony La Russa said. "It comes down to that day, who makes the pitch."
Francisco Rodriguez allowed a hit in the eighth and John Axford finished for his second save of the series and third this postseason.
The Brewers ended an eight-game road losing streak in the postseason dating to the 1982 World Series opener at St. Louis. And Wolf ended a lengthy drought of his own -- before Thursday, his 342 starts without a postseason victory were the most among active pitchers.
Game 4 losing pitcher Kyle Lohse moves to second on the list at 298 starts, trailing only Ted Lilly's 318.
Jaime Garcia will face Zack Greinke for the second time in the series in Game 5 on Friday night. Either way, the NLCS will be decided back at Miller Park.
"We're pretty much the only team that's played pretty well in Milwaukee. Flip the page and hopefully come back to tomorrow. It's a great series. Nobody is going to run away," Cardinals star Albert Pujols said.
Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled twice with an RBI and Wolf hit one of the Brewers' five doubles. Braun is batting .471 (16 for 34) in the postseason with two home runs and nine RBI.
The Cardinals needed more heavy duty from their bullpen, too, after Lohse, pitching on 12 days' rest, failed to make it out of the fifth.
"I'm not going to blame it on the layoff," Lohse said. "We're professionals and we've got get the job done. Tonight, we didn't do it."
Pujols was a quiet 1 for 4 for St. Louis, which was 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and is 0 for 15 after the first inning of Game 3.
"They have good pitching, but we have good pitching, too," Hairston said. "They've been good for us all year long."
Wolf kept the Cardinals off-balance with soft tosses and retired 13 of his last 15 hitters in his fourth career postseason start. It was a huge improvement from Game 4 of the NL Division Series at Arizona in which he surrendered seven runs in three innings.
Wolf also struggled in his last two regular-season starts, allowing 10 runs in 11 2/3 innings.
"Regardless of how the game went, I was satisfied with the fact that I was going to have that opportunity," Wolf said. "It's kind of a weird word, but it's redemption to go back out there."
For the fourth consecutive game, the Cardinals had to lean heavily on their relievers. Lohse sailed through three innings and then allowed three doubles and three runs to his last eight hitters, and was charged with three runs in 4 1/3 innings.
St. Louis relievers have worked 17 1/3 innings in the series.
Two of La Russa's moves paid off. Bumped down one spot to fifth, Holliday hit his first postseason home run and doubled.
Craig started in place of Lance Berkman, who was 3 for 32 lifetime against Wolf and had a minor right thigh bruise from getting hit by a pitch in Game 3. Craig hit his first career postseason homer made it 2-0 in the third.
The Brewers tied it in the fourth with their first runs since the third inning of Game 3 on doubles by Prince Fielder and Jerry Hairston Jr. and an RBI single by Yuniesky Betancourt.
Lohse was pulled after Nyjer Morgan doubled to start the fifth and advanced on a groundout, the heart of the order coming up. Braun's single off Mitchell Boggs put the Brewers in front although second baseman Ryan Theriot's sprawling stop transformed Fielder's smash into an inning-ending double play.
Rickie Weeks singled and Hairston doubled again to open the sixth, and the Brewers soon had a two-run cushion. George Kottaras hit a grounder against a drawn-in infield off Arthur Rhodes, and Theriot bobbled the ball on a short hop for an error.
The Cardinals' streak of scoring in the first inning ended at five games when they went down in order against Wolf, but they hurt the left-hander with opposite-field power the next two innings. Wolf fell behind the count to six of the first 14 hitters and the Cardinals were 4 for 5 with two home runs, a double, single and walk.
Notes
Injured Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright caught the ceremonial first ball for the second successive game, this time from former Cardinals CF Jim Edmonds, accompanied by a young son who also made a throw. Home plate umpire Mike Everitt got stung in the upper right arm area by a foul ball off the bat of Rafael Furcal but stayed in the game. Mark Kotsay started in RF in place of Corey Hart, 2 for 17 against Lohse. The longest of Wolf's three previous preseason starts was 5 1/3 innings with the Dodgers on Oct. 19, 2009, at Philadelphia.
Dodgers spoil the Strasburg sharply back behind NATs rally
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Dodgers spoil Strasburg's sharp return, rally past NatsCBSSports.com wire reports
Sep. 6, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Stephen Strasburg's lost year appeared to evaporate from the moment he started his walk from the bullpen. The crowd again gave him a standing ovation, all the way to the dugout. Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty again joked he was the "Steve" the fans had come to see.
The radar gun again registered in the high 90s. The 90 mph changeup remained almost unhittable. The main man himself downplayed his accomplishments, as he always does, while his manager, teammates and opponents exhausted their supply of superlatives.
In his first major league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery, the 2011 edition of Strasburg was every bit as impressive as the 2010 version that wowed the baseball world. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed two hits over five shutout innings before the bullpen blew the lead in the Nationals' 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"He was outstanding. He looked totally relaxed, totally in control," manager Davey Johnson said. "He had all his pitches working. He made it look easy. Real low pitch count. Looked strong at the end. ... It was just like he hadn't been out."
Last year's magical days of "Strasmus" came to an abrupt end when the 2009 No. 1 overall draft pick felt his elbow pop on Aug. 21 in Philadelphia, and his long road back began when he had the now-familiar, career-saving ligament replacement surgery last Sept. 3. He wound his way through six minor league rehab starts with four teams in four states over the last month, culminating with a return to the majors that was easily the most anticipated event of the season for a Nationals club trying to avoid a fourth consecutive last-place NL East finish.
Daylong rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee threatened to postpone the game, but, when it came time to play, the weather put itself on hold for the pitcher wearing jersey No. 37 and those gotta-love-'em traditional high red knee-socks.
His workload carefully monitored, Strasburg threw 56 pitches, 40 for strikes. The fastball peaked at 99 mph. He struck out four, didn't walk a batter, and a string of 11 retired in a row ended when Juan Rivera was generously given a hit for a ground ball that went under shortstop Ian Desmond's glove.
"The game seemed it was in slow motion out there," Strasburg said. "From what it felt like in the debut last year, I felt I'd kind of been through it before, so I was definitely a lot more relaxed out there, really focusing on just trying to execute pitches and get guys out."
Strasburg emphasized again he is much stronger than before, having spent his year conditioning the rest of his body. He's expected to get three more starts this season, but he doesn't expect the full payoff to come until 2012.
"It's not like I was waiting 368 days for this time," he said. "I'm still on a mission here. I wanted to get stronger, mentally and physically, through this process. I had something that I wanted to work on every single day. I didn't waste a minute waiting for this time to come, because I knew it was going to come sooner or later."
Strasburg was set to get the win when he departed with a 3-0 lead, but Dodgers tied it in the sixth. Then even the weather gave up on the game, at least temporarily, as the rain returned in the seventh to force a 31-minute delay and empty the ballpark of all but a hardy few.
Those that remained saw Rod Barajas' two-run double in the eighth inning off Henry Rodriguez (3-3) put the Dodgers ahead for good, giving Kenley Jansen (2-1) the win.
Strasburg even scored his first career run, part of a three-run second inning. He reached by laying down a sacrifice that turned into a two-base throwing error. Strasburg wound up at second on the play, went to third on Desmond's single and came home on Jayson Werth's groundout.
Of course, there was no way Strasburg could match his major league debut, when he struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates on June 8, 2010. He finished 5-3 as a rookie, with a 2.91 ERA in 12 starts.
Only a few thousand fans were in the stands when Strasburg started tossing in the outfield at 6:44 p.m., and there were dozens -- instead of hundreds -- peering over the railing when he entered the bullpen to start his warmups. More filtered in as the game went along, but Nationals Park was never more than half-full despite the announced attendance of 29,092 - well short of the expected sellout.
The game started five minutes late, and Strasburg's first pitch was a 96 mph fastball that was fouled away by Dee Gordon. On a 2-1 pitch -- clocking 97 mph -- Gordon punched the ball to left-center and legged out a double. He was left stranded when Strasburg retired the next three batters.
Strasburg started cruising in the second, striking out Andre Ethier with a 90 mph changeup and Aaron Miles with a 99 mph fastball. He worked fast -- just as he did as a rookie - barely pausing between pitches and making everyone else look like slowpokes by comparison.
Sensing Strasburg's night was nearly done, the crowd was on its feet with two outs in the fifth. Strasburg rewarded them by getting Justin Sellers to foul out to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on a 97 mph fastball. Strasburg then headed toward the dugout, where he was greeted on the top step with a handshake from Johnson.
"He's someone that the Nationals should probably trade to us if they knew what was best for us," Dodgers starter Ted Lily said with a laugh. "Maybe things will work for him over here."
Notes
Strasburg was activated from the 60-day disabled list before the game. The Nationals also recalled RHPs Yunesky Maya and Craig Stammen, LHP Atahualpa Severino and OF Corey Brown from Triple-A Syracuse, and purchased the contracts of RHP Brad Peacock and INF Steve Lombardozzi from Syracuse. Peacock, Severino, Lombardozzi and Brown made their major league debuts. Washington moved RHP Cole Kimball (right shoulder) to the 60-day DL, released RHP Adam Carr and designated RHP Garrett Mock for assignment. The Dodgers recalled C Tim Federowicz, RHP John Ely and INF-OF Jerry Sands from Triple-A Albuquerque. Los Angeles 3B Casey Blake underwent season-ending surgery to repair a pinched nerve in his neck. RHP Chien-Ming Wang (2-3) will start for Washington on Wednesday against LHP Dana Eveland (1-0). Eveland is 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA in two games against Washington. Ramos has a 10-game hitting streak. Washington 2B Danny Espinosa struck out his first three times at the plate to give him seven Ks in a row, the longest streak by Nationals player since baseball returned to the nation's capital, according to STATS LLC. Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
Stephen Strasburg throws 40 of his 56 pitches for strikes, and whiffs four Dodgers in five innings of shutout ball. (AP)
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A rally of ninth ChiSox, fall end 10-game skid
10 June 2011
CHICAGO--A strike by its eleventh consecutive losses, showed the Oakland Athletics interim Manager Bob Melvin still there is the desire to win.
Scott Sizemore hit a go-ahead three run double the Oakland Athletics past the Chicago White Sox to collect 7-5 Friday night.
"Until you get that you are last out and the last strike, still alive," said Melvin. "During Strip as that just go to the end and this evening, that just was not the case." "This is always a sign that you come out of it."
The A's won their first game under Melvin. Oakland the majors first managerial change 2011 by firing of Bob Geren after four seasons Thursday and replaced him with Melvin made.
"You saw all but on the railing?" Melvin asked. "they did that on their own." I noticed at the beginning of the inning, all on the back of the Bank was on the top rail came up because everyone had a good feeling about the way that we played tonight. "I know it was on a pitch and we were a pitch way of losing, but everyone was their team-mate promote."
Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, White Sox Sergio Santos (2-3) closer retired the first two batters and Josh Willingham in a 0-2 count had before him on foot. Hideki Matsui followed with a RBI single White Sox cut lead to a run. Santos then went Dareikos Barton and hit Kurt Suzuki with a ball, breaking, to load the bases. Sizemore share then the gap left center of the Athletics powodka give 7-5.
"Santos throws hard, so you're fastball not ready for it, you will blow away", Sizemore said, in just his third game of a played since acquired from Detroit on 27 May.
"It was a great feeling that team help a victory," added Sizemore. "Felt really good to wear."
Santos allowed three runs Wednesday loss to the Mariners.
"This a hurt, I", honest with you, said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén. "[Santos] it only lost." "He tried too aggressive."
Santos has allowed runs in only three of his 25 appearances this year, but for at least three runs in all three instances marked was.
"It's baseball, I wish, every time I could get the job but this is not possible, so I have tomorrow, when they approached me, call I is ready, each situation are ready to go out there and my work," he said.
Grant Balfour (4-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory and set up Andrew Bailey to save a perfect ninth for his first of the season.
A two run Homer beat Paul Konerko and a.j Pierzynski had three hits for the White Sox, winning not to the ground in the Central AL Cleveland and Detroit to lose both.
The A's had to lose 13 goals to avoid 11 straight for the first time since a slide 12-game 19-30 April 1994. Oakland came into play eyelash. 219 (75 for 343) during the 10-game losing streak.
Cliff Pennington and Sizemore led the A's with three goals.
White Sox Starter Edwin Jackson six innings pitched and allowed two runs on eight hits.
Graham Godfrey debuted with Brett Anderson in the major league pushed by elbow pain. Godfrey five runs innings allowed on nine hits over 4 1/3.
"I thought he was pretty good," said Melvin. "Walks you will kill Zwei-Out." She saw him from the species a little, then return. "
Godfrey was 7-1 with a 2.50 era for Sacramento. The 26-year old right-hander started in a game for double-A Midland was promoted to the Sacramento.
"In the middle of my trip, I was hitters attack and always." This is what me successfully made, "said Godfrey." "I have lot of positive things from the work in any case."
Trailing 1-0 in the first inning, Carlos Quentin moved a zwei-Out walk, then Konerko followed by home run with its 16 and second in as many days, to put Chicago ahead. It was Konerko's ninth straight game with an extra base hit, a franchise record.
The White Sox left the bases after Godfrey from Gordon Beckham was loaded.
Konerko is 20-42 has six double rooms, six home runs and 14 RBI during his 11-game hitting streak, raising his average from. 287 to. 321. He did play nine six home runs in his last hit.
Jemile weeks the third paid with triple. Center fielder Alex Rios had a bad read on the ball and stood first in the wrong direction as the bullet through the head went. Pennington's infield single scored, to tie the score at two weeks later.
The White Sox again the lead for Jackson in the fifth. Double-click led off Alexei Ramirez, then Quentin followed a slow bouncer to third baseman Sizemore. Sizemore made an off balance throw to first by Barton. Ramirez landed on error throw scored.
Godfrey was chased after giving up a single to Pierzynski. Quentin pushed in third on the hit to the right and Pierzynski was second on the throw. Quentin landed scored on Rios' Groundout and Adam Dunn drove in Pierzynski on a single, the Sox powodka 5-2 type white.
Out in the first Pennington double left field line. One out later Pennington scored Willingham's single.
Coco Crisp had to this Conor Jackson Groundout in the seventh.
Notes
Konerko the consecutive extra base shared previously with Al Simmons, hit streak it 1935 set. Rios and Dunn drove in a run in the same game of this season for the third time this season. Quentin extended his hitting streak 12 games. A move Melvin has called four hits in eight at bats in the hole No. 2 as Melvin moved beat him from the ninth, "an easy decision." Pennington
