ST. LOUIS?? Elvis Andrus ranged as far as he could to his left, diving at the edge of the infield grass behind second base, and snared the hard grounder off the bat of Rafael Furcal.
In one fluid motion, the Rangers shortstop scooped the ball with his glove to Ian Kinsler as the second baseman glided over the bag for the force, ending the inning and preventing St. Louis from scoring a run.
Little did he know how critical that run would be.
The defensive gem in the fifth inning Thursday night kept things scoreless, and the Rangers managed to get two sacrifice flies in the ninth inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 and send the series back to Texas tied at one game apiece.
-
More Entertainment stories
-
Gifford: 'All roads, for me, lead to Aimee'
After 10 years of drafts and rewrites, Kathie Lee Gifford brings the story of "the greatest person no one has ever heard of' to the stage in "Saving Aimee."
- Pee-wee Herman: I want to go 'Dancing'
- Did 'Idol's' McCreery goof on national anthem?
- Pup scares man to tears on 'Animal Phobia'
- Want to drive past Meredith Grey's house?
-
Gifford: 'All roads, for me, lead to Aimee'
Naturally, it was Andrus who scored the go-ahead run on Michael Young's flyball to center.
But it was Andrus's play with the leather that allowed Texas to stick around. Kinsler said the glove-toss was perfect, and he struggled to come up with a better defensive play he'd seen.
"The situation that was in, and being that it was a World Series game and just the run-saving play, that play was ridiculous," Kinsler said with a chuckle. "It was probably one of the best I've seen, not just him, but one of the best defensive plays."
"When we get home tonight," Josh Hamilton added, "I'm going to watch it again."
Andrus also made another nifty play the previous inning.
Lance Berkman had reached base on an error with one out in the fourth, and Matt Holliday sent a hard grounder toward second base. Andrus again tracked it down and made a backhanded toss to Kinsler, who turned and fired to first base for the inning-ending double play.
"He save us right there," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He kept runs off the board, and that's exactly the type of play that he's capable of doing."
___
BUMPY RHODES: Arthur Rhodes followed up a night to remember with one to forget.
The Cardinals reliever made his World Series debut in Game 1 on Wednesday night after 900 regular-season appearances, combining with Octavio Dotel to work a perfect inning in a 3-2 win.
Rhodes was summoned again in Game 2 to face Josh Hamilton with the tying run on third base with none out in the ninth inning. This time, Hamilton managed to send a flyball to right field.
Michael Young added another sacrifice fly off Lance Lynn and the Rangers won 2-1.
It's been a long road to the World Series for the 41-year-old Rhodes.
He made his big league debut as a wide-eyed, 21-year-old rookie for Baltimore in 1991, and pitched in two AL championship series for the Orioles and two more for the Seattle Mariners. But his teams had come up short of reaching the World Series each time.
Rhodes signed a $4.1 million, one-year contract before the season with the Rangers, of all teams. But they released him Aug. 8 and he signed with St. Louis three days later.
Now, he's pitched in the World Series. And will probably get a ring regardless of who wins.
"I took it in when the national anthem was going on," Rhodes said of his debut Wednesday night. "After the first couple pitches, then I settled down, and it was all over."
It was a long time to wait to face just one batter.
The only pitcher to appear in more games before his World Series debut was John Franco, who had cracked 940 box scores before his first Fall Classic as a member of the New York Mets in 2000.
"I didn't know when we got him that he hasn't been to the World Series," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Only found that out late because we were trying to survive, weren't really thinking World Series. But that really has added to the enjoyment of this postseason push."
___
ALPHABET SOUP: Marc Rzepczynski's stuff has been tough enough for the Texas Rangers to hit.
Manager Ron Washington wasn't even going to try pronouncing his last name.
For the record, it's Zep-chin'-ski. But the Rangers would just as soon not have to learn it. The left-hander struck out consecutive pinch hitters to end the seventh in the Cardinals' 3-2 victory in Game 1, and then retired two more batters without trouble in their 2-1 loss in Game 2.
"I don't know how to pronounce his last name, so I'm not even going to try," Washington said before Game 2 on Thursday night. "You've got to give credit to Marc. Marc executed his pitches, and when pitchers execute, usually the results that we got is what you get."
Washington doesn't need many pinch hitters in the regular season because of the DH, and Texas was just 12 for 61 (.197) with a homer and 12 RBIs as a team. Three Cardinals had more than 20 pinch hit at-bats and St. Louis was 51 for 224 (.228) with three homers and 32 RBIs.
Pinch hitter Allen Craig delivered the go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning Wednesday night, and came through with another pinch hit single for the Cardinals' only run in Game 2.
___
CARPENTER'S GRIT: There was so much discussion about the degree of difficulty on Chris Carpenter's daring, go-for-it dive in Game 1 that the condition of his much-discussed elbow didn't come up.
A day later, the Cardinals can joke about it ? even if Carpenter narrowly escaped getting his pitching hand stomped on by the Rangers' Elvis Andrus.
Manager Tony La Russa said his ace's background as a youth hockey player no doubt influenced the decision to make a play that rivaled the toughness of Curt Shilling and his bloody sock in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees.
On the second at-bat of the game, first baseman Albert Pujols ranged far to his right to glove Andrus' grounder and Carpenter needed a headfirst dive to catch an off-balance throw. During his slide he touched the bag with his glove and then his right hand, pulling it away just in time.
"The only thing I kidded him about was if he should have put his face in front of that spike and then he could have been bleeding the rest of the game and could have been another Curt Schilling," La Russa said. "That would have been a hell of a sight, because he's always talked about how hockey players, they get gashed and they're still out there playing and baseball players get taken out."
Pinch hitter Allen Craig got the go-ahead hit in the sixth inning after La Russa removed Carpenter with two men on and two out. The move worked out strategically, and the Cardinals didn't have to push the guy who led the National League with 237 1-3 innings pitched this season.
As for the problematic elbow, La Russa said he hadn't asked Carpenter how he felt.
"I just know that it is that part of the season where it's not smart," La Russa said of leaving him in the game. "He had done enough for us."
___
NOT GONNA MISS THIS: Country music star Trace Adkins is originally from Louisiana, so most would assume he's a Rangers fan. That would make the most sense in terms of proximity.
Turns out he's a big Cardinals fan.
The Grammy-winning singer of such hits as "You're Gonna Miss This" is friends with St. Louis assistant trainer Barry Weinberg, and has become close to manager Tony La Russa. So it made sense that Adkins was on hand to sing the national anthem before Game 2 on Thursday night.
Adkins also performed the anthem before Game 3 of the 2006 World Series between the Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers. St. Louis wrapped up its 10th title in five games that season.
"American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery performed the anthem before Game 1 on Wednesday night, and Ronnie Dunn is scheduled to sing it when the series shifts to Texas for Game 3 on Saturday.
Dunn didn't flaunt his fandom when he took in batting practice Thursday, though he did greet Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols on the field. Adkins stuck with his trademark cowboy hat, black boots and a beige World Series jacket, and said he was pleased the weather was better than Game 1.
Temperatures were still in the low-50s, but any chance of rain had moved away.
"I had this all planned," Adkins said.
___
AP Sports Writer R.B. Fallstrom contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44984900/ns/today-entertainment/
maurice jones drew lady antebellum marques colston dez bryant listeria listeria kendall hunter
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন