Today was Game 7 of the NLCS to determine which team would face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. One thing that appeared to be missing was the Cardinals ability to hit. The bats have gone silent over the past three games, while it appears that San Francisco has found their offensive stride.
Even for a team that has pulled off a miraculous comeback in big situations, an eight run deficit is hard to come back from with only two innings left. The Giants led the Cardinals 8-0 by the seventh inning. To add some insurance to their lead, Brandon Belt hit a bullet out of the park in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 9-0 lead. Everybody got in on the action of hitting with Pagan, Pence, Sandoval, Belt, Crawford, and even starting pitcher Matt Cain collecting RBIs.
In the ninth inning, when the Cardinals had their last opportunity, the baseball gods unleashed rain like no other. Most fans embraced it. There was two outs and the game was left up to Carlos Beltran once again. He has made the last out previously in 2006 with the Mets and last year with the Giants. However, he took a walk and there were two men on base for Matt Holliday. However, he popped up to Marco Scutaro to end the game.
It seems as though the Cardinal magic has vanished as San Francisco looks to face Detroit. The Cardinals who once led this series 3-1, have dropped the last three games. The Giants seemed to have gotten hot at the perfect time. They have been getting great pitching and great run support. Now the Tigers have had lots of time to rest, more importantly their pitchers are all well-rested while the Giants used their ace tonight. So it comes down to if the Giants can keep their hot streak alive or are the Tigers too tough being lead by triple crown leader Miguel Cabrera.
