12/21/24
October 15, 2011
Brewers Blow Game 5 with 4 Errors: The Milwaukee Brewers committed four errors in a 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Only two of the five runs given up by losing pitcher Zack Greinke were earned. Third baseman Jerry Hairston let a grounder by pitcher Jaime Garcia buckner him in the second inning for two runs. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt flubbed another with two outs in the sixth and it was followed by an Albert Pujols RBI single. Greinke "added to Hairston's indignity by showing up the veteran, spiking the ball in disgust near home plate," writes Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post.
2 earned runs from Grienke, which is 1 more than the Cards needed to win. The errors, at the end, played no role in the Brewers loss. It just provides an avenue of shifting the blame. Or, maybe the Cards just played better baseball? Maybe they deserve a little credit?
posted by BoKnows at 12:06 PM on October 15, 2011
The second and third Cardinals runs scored on Hairston's error.
posted by rcade at 12:31 PM on October 15, 2011
They sure did, but I'm referring to the two runs that were charged to Grienke. 1 in the 2nd and 1 in the 4th. That was enough for the Cards. If the Brewers had scored more runs to make the errors relevant to the outcome, then I can see the point of the fielding errors = Game 5 loss. But at this point, the Cards simply outplayed the Brew Crew both offensively and defensively.
Let's not leave out the 2 runs charged to Estrada either.
posted by BoKnows at 12:40 PM on October 15, 2011
You can't cherry pick runs like that and claim the outcome would be the same. The game is played differently based on when runs occur and how far a team trails when they're at bat. Pitchers also pitch differently. Base coaches send runners differently.
posted by rcade at 12:56 PM on October 15, 2011
My intent is to point out that nothing should be taken from the Cards' effort to win Game 5. The media can blame errors by the Brewers as the cause, but the Cards put together a solid performance in the field, at the plate, on the mound and again, had a lights out bullpen.
posted by BoKnows at 01:25 PM on October 15, 2011
The Brewers only scored one run. I think it would be a mistake to put the loss completely on their fielding.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 01:39 PM on October 15, 2011
Putting the errors aside, Greinke struck out no one in 5+ innings. Much greater chance for your defense to mess up if every plate appearance (save walks) results in a ball in play.
posted by holden at 02:56 PM on October 15, 2011
Weeks and Hart also had a chance to catch a couple balls and didn't make the plays. The Brewers ended up with 1 less hit than the Cardinals and were out-hitting them for most of the game. Besides the unearned runs, those errors were psychological bombshells. The Brewers lost this game with defense.
Let's not leave out the 2 runs charged to Estrada either.
I doubt Estrada would have even pitched if you don't have those errors.
Greinke "added to Hairston's indignity by showing up the veteran, spiking the ball in disgust near home plate," writes Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post.
Who cares if Greinke spiked the ball? Hairston just made the biggest error in Brewer's history (and then interfered with the runner) so I think he can forgive Greinke being frustrated with the situation.
posted by tron7 at 08:12 PM on October 15, 2011
The Brewers lost this game with defense.
Interesting. Because I didn't see their offense or pitching produce anything. I did see the Cards doing everything well - pitching, batting, fielding, etc...
I doubt Estrada would have even pitched if you don't have those errors.
That's pretty hard to say. Grienke was in need of help at some point. Holden pointed out that he had no K's. There were only, I think, 2 swings-and-misses against him through his 5 innings. The Cards were putting a lot of balls in play.
Here's the way I see it. When one reads a headline that says "Brewers Blow Game 5 with 4 Errors", it suggests that the outcome of the game would have been different if it were not for those errors. I don't see that as being the case. Yes, the Brewers had 4 errors, but I don't see them winning that game either way.
posted by BoKnows at 09:59 PM on October 15, 2011
holden makes an excellent point. If Greinke had gotten more K's on the board, the errors wouldn't have had an opportunity to occur in the first place. He should have spiked the ball with frustration at himself after failing to throw strikeouts.
posted by evixir at 11:43 PM on October 15, 2011
Zack Greinke had never thrown at least 5 IP in a game and struck out zero...until that game.
The only start of his career before last night that had zero strikeouts was back on June 26 of this season, when he only threw 2 innings (and the Yankees pounded him for 7 runs).
That's it. Other than those two games, he's always gotten at least one strikeout.
posted by grum@work at 12:00 AM on October 16, 2011
Yes, the Brewers had 4 errors, but I don't see them winning that game either way.
Without the errors I think it's a close game going into the late innings and then who knows. The Cardinals were solid but they didn't hit or pitch so well that would make me think for sure that they would win the game. They seemed beatable.
posted by tron7 at 11:50 AM on October 16, 2011
Greinke may be a great pitcher, but I don't know how thrilled I am to have him on the Crew. Some might argue that his arm's the one that got us where we are now, but I wasn't impressed with the way he left the Royals. And this nugget doesn't help matters. I like Hairston a lot and clearly he's been clutch for the team, so Greinke's just an ass for making his frustration with the bloop so obvious. Ugh.