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Cardinals Defeat Phillies in Extra Innings; Molina Injured
By MoonDog | June 16, 2008
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was struck by Philadelphia Phillies pinch runner Eric Bruntlett as he was turning to make a tag and ultimately left the field on a body board and wearing a neck brace. The play was but one of many in the Cardinals 10-inning 7-6 victory over the Phillies on Sunday.
St. Louis pushed ahead the winning run in the bottom of the 10th on two consecutive fielding errors by the Phillies. With two outs and Rick Ankiel at the plate, the Cards center fielder hit a grounder to Phillies second baseman Chase Utley. With relief pitcher Tom Gordon covering first base, Utley threw wildly allowing Ankiel to reach safely.
After a single by Troy Glaus, Chris Duncan came to plate. Duncan hit a ground ball between first and second that again forced Gordon to cover first. The throw eluded him allowing Ankiel to score from second base giving the Cardinals the victory.
“I just didn’t see the ball,” Gordon said. “I couldn’t find it, I couldn’t locate it. I was hoping it would hit me. I have no excuse.”
Gordon disagreed with manager Charlie Manuel’s assertion that the reliever had trouble finding the base.
“That had nothing to do with anything,” Gordon said. “I got over there soon so if anybody is going to question that, I’m telling you upfront what I saw.”
Skip Schumaker homered and doubled to wrap up a seven-hit series and Glaus added a two-run shot for his sixth homer of the month. Anthony Reyes (2-1) worked a perfect 10th for St. Louis.
Ankiel doubled off the left-field wall, tripled off the right-field wall and had an RBI for the Cardinals, who took the three-game series after getting routed 20-2 on Friday night. St. Louis is 9-0-1 in its last 10 series and has won eight of 10 series when dropping the opener.
“We caught a break,” La Russa said. “We’ve had it happen where the baseball gods kicked us, but today they kicked the Phillies.”
Molina was to be held overnight at a hospital for evaluation of neck and back pain, but appeared to be suffering mostly from a case of whiplash. Molina had to reach back to glove a one-hop throw from Duncan on Jimmy Rollins’ bad-hop grounder. He got drilled by pinch runner Eric Bruntlett as he was turning to make the tag.
Molina showed plate umpire Tim McClelland he still had the ball before collapsing in front of the plate. He lay face down for several minutes while being attended to by medical personnel and did not appear to be moving as the cart left the field and a sellout crowd gave him a standing ovation.
“I didn’t think I hit him that hard,” Bruntlett said. “Obviously, I hit him hard enough. Obviously, I feel horrible.”
“I couldn’t even tell whether he tagged him or not, but the ump saw it and made the right call,” said reliever Ryan Franklin, who was pitching. “How he held onto the ball, I don’t know.”
Bruntlett and Jayson Werth, Philadelphia’s next hitter, were among those watching nearby. La Russa had no problem with the play, saying, “I don’t blame the runner.”
“That’s the last thing you want to see, especially when you’re involved,” Bruntlett said. “I feel awful about it.”
St. Louis relievers walked four straight batters, including Howard and Pat Burrell with the bases loaded, to allow the Phillies to tie it at 6 in the eighth. Burrell had been 0-for-6 with four strikeouts against Russ Springer before driving in the tying run on a five-pitch walk with most of the pitches well off the plate.
Accompanied to the hospital by injured first baseman Albert Pujols, initial reports of Molina’s injury were very encouraging.
“The initial stuff was OK,” manager Tony La Russa said. “At least right now. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.”
The win improved the Cards’ record to 42-29, 3.5 games behind the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals are leading the Wild Card standings by 4 games over the Florida Marlins. The Redbirds have Monday off and will host the Kansas City Royals for a three-game inter-league series beginning Tuesday night. Braden Looper is scheduled to take the mound for the Cardinals.
Tags: MoonDogSports.com, rick ankiel, Troy Glaus, neck brace, ryan franklin, st louis cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals News, chase utley, Tim McClelland, philadelphia phillies, charlie manuel, chris duncan, eric bruntlett, Tom Gordon, yadier molina, Anthony ReyesRelated posts
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June 16th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Moon Dog
I for am loving what the Cardinals are doing at present. Even though they weren’t viewed as a force to be reckoned with this season.
They’ve proved that in La Russa as long as he can field a team then they’re capable of doing anything . As he knows how to coach and get the best out of a team now matter how average on paper that team might appear to be.
In the case of this team they’re well above that ! The most disappointing teams in the NL to my mind are the LA Dodgers, NY Mets and the Colorado Rockies . I’d expected more out of them this season at this juncture.
tophatal ………..