[情報] Cards waste effort
LOS ANGELES — With eight innings of ruthless control, starter Adam
Wainwright pitched the Cardinals back into the National League Division
Series, only to see a late-inning fielding blunder cost them the victory.
Now he must wait for the Cardinals to extend the series so he can get another
chance to pitch.
Wainwright held the Dodgers to one run and three hits Thursday night in his
first playoff start. He pitched out of a bases-loaded quagmire in the eighth
inning and funneled a one-run lead to the bullpen. All was set for the
pitcher who closed the 2006 World Series title to get the team's first
playoff win of 2008 until Matt Holliday dropped a fly ball in left field.
That led to a 3-2 LA victory at Dodger Stadium. Wainwright's marred gem
leaves the NL's leader in wins a spectator for his team's attempt to rally
from an 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series.
"Am I?" he challenged. "We'll see. I'm ready to rock."
A rookie when last he pitched in October, Wainwright picked up where he left
off as the Cardinals' closer, extending his personal playoff scoreless streak
to 13 1/3 innings. The only run he gave up Thursday was a solo home run in
the fourth inning to LA's No. 3 hitter, Andre Ethier. Before that homer,
Wainwright had faced 11 batters and retired all 11.
Ethier was the only batter to reach base in the first 5 2/3 innings, and not
until the eighth inning did the Dodgers have an at-bat with a runner in
scoring position against the righthander.
"He made a lot of good pitches with all of his pitches," pitching coach Dave
Duncan said. "He had a good game plan and he followed his game plan. ... He
was locked in. I think we've seen that a bunch this year."
Wainwright's postseason debut as a starter came at the same place as his
first and fiercest lesson as starter. Back in 2007, still green in the role,
Wainwright was riddled by the Dodgers for eight runs in 2 2/3 innings. He has
referred to that start as his low point. Since that evening at Dodger
Stadium, Wainwright has a 41-20 record in 78 starts, and his 2.87 ERA is the
third-best in the majors, behind only Tim Lincecum's 2.85 in the National
League.
With ace Chris Carpenter battered Wednesday in Game 1, Wainwright's ability
to carry his regular-season success into his Hollywood start was paramount.
Wainwright said he learned from watching the Dodgers against Carpenter that
LA's lineup was going to be aggressive.
"I felt that the Dodgers came out and were ready to swing," Wainwright said.
"I wanted them to not feel comfortable in the box. I wanted them to have to
worry about all of my pitches right from the start. I was going to take it as
a close mentality for as long as I could do it."
Wainwright was relentless with his curveball, but only because he was most
effective at setting it up. Six of his seven strikeouts came on curveballs,
but most were around at-bats or in at-bats in which he tested hitters with
two-strike fastballs. Three times he froze a hitter with a called
third-strike curveball, including Manny Ramirez in the seventh inning.
The eighth was the test. Wainwright got the first two outs of the inning —
the second coming on a called third-strike curveball to Ronnie Belliard —
before the Dodgers loaded the bases. Duncan said there was no question
Wainwright would finish the inning, even after he hit Jim Thome and walked
Rafael Furcal. With the tying run at third, the go-ahead run at second and a
disaster on his hands if there was an extra-base hit, Wainwright got Matt
Kemp to ground out.
Every inch of his approach was measured Thursday.
Which is why he knows how much he has left to offer in the series.
"I'll pitch in two days, I don't care," Wainwright said. "I feel great, and
I'm going to feel great the next time I'm going to pitch. If I have to pitch
two, three, four times in this series, sign me up. But I'm very confident in
the other guys we have."
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