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In case you were wondering, before hitting a three-run homer off Jaime Garcia to put the Philadelphia Phillies up two games to one against the Cardinals Tuesday afternoon, Ben Francisco—bog-average hitter, solid bench piece, and refugee from the first time the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee—had one hit in 18 postseason at-bats, to go with a walk, a run, and five strikeouts. That's a line of .056/.150/.056—now it's .105/.190/.263. (A home run does wonders for your slugging percentage in 19 at-bats.)
Before allowing a home run to Ben Francisco, Jaime Garcia was pitching one of his most efficient games of the season. He hadn't dominated like Cole Hamels, but it was actually working out better that way—after a season pockmarked by five-inning, 100-pitch half-successes he'd thrown just 74 pitches in six scoreless innings. Garcia's likely to be one of the most "improved" Cardinals in 2012, whatever happens; for all the worries about his command he actually cut his walk rate by a third in 2011, and fell victim instead to a fickle and likely temporary jump in hits allowed. If he'd outdueled Hamels that might not have come as so much of a surprise as it will if the Cardinals' season ends in the NLDS.
Before Jaime Garcia allowed a home run to Ben Francisco, solid bench piece and bog-average hitter, Ryan Theriot might have been the story of the day. Miscast in the first half as something other than a solid bench piece and a useful platoon second baseman, Theriot's recovered from his infamous "it is what it is" PR gaffe in the postseason by avoiding the left side of the keystone and slapping left-handed pitchers around. He finished the game 4-5, his second consecutive stellar performance against a Phillies southpaw, but nobody could drive him in or get on base in front of him, and then Ben Francisco hit a home run.
The postseason is the baseball season in miniature—without months of shaping and reshaping stories flash in and out like they do in football, where Cadillac Williams can be the next great NFL running back one week and vanished the next. After Game 1 the Phillies' rotation was just too good, and the Cardinals just too overmatched; after Game 2 the Cardinals were to have begun reminding everyone that they led the National League in runs scored and won 90 games while they were at it. Game 3 began as a pitcher's duel and ended up Cole Hamels outpitching Jaime Garcia, but it could have been any number of things in between.
Game 4 could be the end of a charmed and ultimately unsustainable ride for the Cardinals or another wild, jerky shift in a season filled with them. In fact, if Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt are as good as advertised, it'll probably be both, depending on when you turn the radio on.
