Jake Peavy looked tremendous for the first 3 innings, he was precise with his spots... impeccable even. That is...Until Piazza misplayed a foul ball off the bat of Pujols that would have retired the PhatMan. From that moment on.. it was like waking up the sleeping Giant.
The Cards, who looked so sleepy down the stretch, suddenly awoke with one swing of Albert Pujols' bat... Bang! The alarm clock has sounded. Pujols slammed a two run blast off of Peavy to start the train rolling and it never stopped. Nothing San Diego could do about it. The Cards just rode the wave of emotion.. did everything right and walked away with a 5-1 win to take Game 1.
It's funny, I knew from the moment Piazza dropped that ball that he had made a mistake. It wasn't an easy play .. mind you, but.. he's the leader.. he should have caught it. When the leader of one team allows the leader of the other a second chance.. .. .. well, you saw what happened. Pujols was so locked in. He is a joy to watch in those situations, such superb concentration. For all you young players out there, he wasn't trying to hit a home run. His concentration was simply to hit the ball pure. He had just missed the previous pitch and it almost cost him his at bat.. so he locked in a little more in his mind and thought about nothing but hitting the ball pure. Voila! Ding Dong! Home Run. It really is awesome to watch him. I hope you pay attention to that in the next few Cards games.
On to the Tigers. What Happened? Well, sadly they have a mountain to climb and it just got steeper with ice on the sides and a strong head wind. Derek Jeter, Five for Fabulous Five, is an amazing post season player. Already the all-time leader in Post Season hits, Jeter put on a show for the Yankee crowd last night. He hit to left, he hit to right, he hit to center.. Oh, he hit one OVER center :-)
Derek Jeter may be one of the best players to have played the game. Surround him with the cast that makes up the NY Yankees and it is very difficult to see them getting beat. Of course, it happens .. I mean, they weren't undefeated this year by any means. But, in these short series match ups.. what a line up.
About the only thing you had to scratch your head about was a move by Torre in taking out Wang with such a quick hook. Wang pitched very well. You have to tip your hat to the Tigers line up for not laying down after the Yanks jumped out to a 5-0 lead. They clawed back into it.. but Abreu, Jeter and company were too much to handle. Game 1 is history and it looks like the Tigers might be history as well.
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