A must-read for Nats fans this morning: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sports columnist Bernie Miklasz goes into painful detail about The Collapse, straight from the mouths of Cardinals players.
Most interestingly, an anonymous Cardinal is quoted as saying that Gio looked like he didn't want to be out there Friday night:
"Gio looked like he didn't want to be out there. The guy has a 6-0 lead, then 6-1, and he's panicking out there. We smelled blood."
(Some anonymous Cardinal, via StLToday.com, 10/15/2012)
See screen cap of Gio above, moments before he walked Allen Craig with the bases loaded in the fifth (via TBS/MLB.com). Here's more from Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker:
"A lot of guys had the bright-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look. And I'm not going to mention names, but we saw them taking a couple of deep breaths between pitches, and they were up four or five runs. When we saw that, we started talking. We weren't taking any deep breaths. We were the ones trying to push. It felt like we had the momentum, which is crazy to say because we were behind. But it really felt that way."
(Skip Schumaker, via StLToday.com, 10/15/2012)
Go Giants.
(H/T Adam Vingan of NBCWashington.com, who posted about this yesterday.)
I can't really argue with the Cardinals here, I saw it too. :(
Go San Francisco Giants.
Posted by: WFY | October 16, 2012 at 09:15 AM
When you add this to the chants of "IN-FIELD-FLY!" in their locker room after the WC play-in game win, this team is pretty much a fistful of assholes.
Posted by: Swampy | October 16, 2012 at 09:35 AM
I was at the game and like I said at the time (no hindsight) I saw it from 200 feet away that Gio was agitated and wasn't hitting his spots in the 4th inning and I was writing it at the time on the in-game thread on NatsInsider.com that nobody was warming in the bullpen.
As I wrote, you have 8 guys in the bullpen + EJax (in case there was extra innings...cough cough) so why not bring in Mattheus or Garcia to start the 5th.
I was surprised Gio came out for the 5th inning and he was fortunate to leave the game at 6-3.
At that point, the Cardinals were back in the game.
Posted by: Steve M. | October 16, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Steve, I just read the NatsInsider.com posts as the game is in the 4th and yes, i see quite a few posts to pull Gio.
Gio folded. Hard to get out of my mind Gio walking off the field talking to himself. On the big stage, Gio fell off the stage.
He looked like Cry Young.
Posted by: Tucker | October 16, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Nats should have never shut down Stras. How ironic that they fell bc of a total pitching collapse....Needs: They need a shutdown bulldog closer. You cant pussy around with batters in the 9th. Youve got to attack and throw strikes!
Posted by: me | October 16, 2012 at 01:24 PM
Actually, in watching the replay of Storen's pitching, he did throw strikes, but was squeezed a bit by the umpire, in my humble (and certainly biased) opinion. I could see the umpire not wanting to pull the plug on one batter and issuing a walk, but the second walk could have easily gone in favor of the Nationals. A shame. But what a season!
Posted by: Newportnatfan | October 16, 2012 at 05:17 PM
The Cards' middle infielders better wear good shinguards when they play the Nats in March.
Spikes up.
Posted by: kevin r | October 17, 2012 at 10:24 AM