Photograph by Jeff Curry
Game 5 of the 2011 World Series will not be remembered fondly by fans of either team, no matter who wins the whole thing. Of bullpen-phone-gate, I have almost nothing to say—it's such a ridiculous idea—that the decision to leave Marc Rzepczynski in to face Mike Napoli was not Tony La Russa asleep at the wheel but the bullpen unable to understand him—that I believe it could actually be true, although one of Viva El Birdos's editors has made a persuasive case that that explanation was in fact the ultimate La Russa gambit, creating a fake and absurd controversy to keep the pressure off the hitters.
That explanation feels as elegant as it does, in a conspiracy theory sort of way, because the hitters would be getting considerably more pressure than they are now if their inadequacy had successfully become the story. Despite Ron Washington and the Rangers' pitchers giving them the luxury of getting on base in more than 40 percent of their plate appearances, the Cardinals' offense failed almost completely, unable to hit the ball for extra bases and going 1-12 with runners in scoring position.
What does all that futility, managerial and offensive, mean for Game 6? Well, nothing—nothing except that the Cardinals will now need to win each of their next two games to justify this whole incredible fall. In Jaime Garcia the Cardinals have a tenuous advantage over the Rangers' Colby Lewis, and while forcing the American League team to lose its DH is less effective in this case than it is most years—despite his base running issues I'd rather have Allen Craig in the lineup than Michael Young or Mitch Moreland out of it, and I think that the Rangers might secretly agree—the Cardinals will get to squeeze the last bit of toothpaste out of the National League's home-field advantage, for whatever that's worth.
Game 5 has consequences, dire ones, but it doesn't have lessons. Maybe that's why it was so frustrating.
