Or not !
I didn't give my prediction on this series, but I get the notion that people were favoring the Washington Nationals in this series. I don't want to say 'I knew it', because I never gave a prediction on this series.
But I think we forgot how resilient and experienced the Cardinals are, and how young and inexperience the Nationals are.
Besides Jayson Werth, who on the Nationals have been to the postseason, or is a true face of the franchise. Nationals really don't have a face. A guy everyone looks up to. If you look at the Cardinals -- yea, they lost Albert Pujols -- but they have Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, David Freese. They still have a boatload of stars who've done in it the postseason; all those names I mentioned, all have had big moments in the playoffs.
So, this was a very dangerous series for the Nationals.
If you're a non-Cardinal fan, and you saw that ninth inning comeback, you have got to gain a major respect and become a bit of fan of the Cardinals -- unless you're a Cubs fan. You gotta love that.
What set the tone in that inning was Molina's at-bat. I forgot what count it was, but the Nats closer Drew Storen threw him a nasty slider out of the strikezone and Molina lay off it for a ball. That Molina at-bat really boasted the Cardinals in this inning.
Then, when Freese came up, you can feel the Nationals fans begin to worry. Every time Storen didn't get that final out, their confidence went down, down, down. Because Storen kept missing the plate; not only missing the plate, he was afraid of throwing the ball over the plate. Nationals were up two runs with two outs, and Storen was scared to challenge Freese. He did not trust his 96-mph fastball, to contact and maybe make Freese pop-up.
I felt bad for the Nationals and their fans. That's tough to experience in your first postseason. Now, I think GM Mike Rizzo needs to make a big move. They need to go get a big bat somewhere. They've got to quickly change the clubhouse. Could that bat be Josh Hamilton ?
Giants-Cardinals NLCS: I wanted a Cardinals and Giants NLCS, to be honest. I like the experience between those two teams, and the personalities. This is a very even team. Also, they were the last two world champions.
Molina and Buster Posey -- to me -- are the two best catchers in the league. Going to be interesting to see how competitive they'll play toward one another.
I'm a Yankee fan, and I'm thinking about the Tigers, but this series has my attention for sure.
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