[Syd Thrift]

NLCS Game 1
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Ricardo Gomez takes the mound against George House this afternoon (the NLCS kicks off with a Saturday afternoon matchup). This is incidentally House's first crack at the postseason: he led the Braves to October in 1969 but got hurt at the end of that season and missed the playoffs (also, almost all of 1970). It's partly cloudy and 70 degrees at Fulton County Stadium, with a wind blowing in from left at 9 mph.

Top 1st: George House gets things started off well, striking out Jim James with a curveball. Tom Depew also Ks on another slow, slow House curve. Casey Satterfield is the first Cardinal to put the ball in play; he flies out to CF Josh Damon to retire the side. 0-0.

Bottom 1st: LF Chris Ward works a walk out of Gomez. On a 3-0 count, Vicente Luna gives Gomez a pitcher's best friend, a 6-4-3 double play. Kevin Dwyer strikes out on a 2-2 splitter. 0-0.

Top 2nd: 1B Lorenzo Martinez gets the first hit for either side, a blooper into center that falls in. Catcher Danny Coyle loses the first pitch House throws to Rafael Disla in the dirt. It's a wild pitch and Martinez moves up to 2nd. House recovers to strike out Disla. He then K's Mike Galeana - 4 strikeouts already! Maybe that's a good thing because man, he's getting nickel and dimed to death; John Stuart beats out a chopper back to the mound for a 2 out infield hit. Dusty McCully pops out into foul territory where 1B Dante Chairez clutches it for the out. 0-0.

Bottom 2nd: Henry Riggs grounds out 6-3. Dante Chairez hits a single up the middle of his own, the Braves' first hit. LF Rafael Disla catches the easy fly off the bat of Josh Damon for out number 2. SS Dusty McCully makes a bang-bang play on a slow roller from John Reid to retire the side, 6-3. 0-0.

Top 3rd: Ricardo Gomez becomes George House's 5th victim. House incidentally struck out 195 batters in 277.2 innings in the regular season. That's above average but not like this. Jim James gets a hold of a 1-0 pitch and rips it into right-center for a double. Tom Depew flies to left. House walks Casey Satterfield on 4 pitches. He then gets Lorenzo Martinez on yet another sloooow curve to end the small rally. 0-0.

Bottom 3rd: C Danny Coyle of all people puts the first run on the board, hitting a solo HR to left-center. Coyle had 10 HRs all year, 6 in Atlanta, so it's not, like, completely unexpected I guess. George House lines a single into left. Chris Ward grounds out weakly to second, so weakly in fact that 2B Tom Depew has no choice but to get the sure out at first. House gets into scoring position with 1 out. Luna hits one the other way that looked like it had a chance for a second but drops safely into RF Casey Satterfield's hands. Dwyer walks on 4 pitches to bring up Henry Riggs, a man you do not want to have up with 2 men on base. Gomez also walks Riggs to load the bases and bring up Dante Chairez. Fortunately for Gomez, Chairez bails him out a little, swinging at the first pitch and grounding out 4-3 to end the inning. Braves 1, Cardinals 0.

Top 4th: Disla flies out to right. Mike Galeana dribbles one back to the mound that George House handles easily for the 1-3 groundout. Stuart goes down 4-3. 1-0, Braves.

Bottom 4th: Damon grounds out to 3rd. Reid tries to go with the pitch on a cutter but only flies harmlessly to right. Danny Coyle hits what looks like an out to center that Jim James misplays into a double. Another 2 out rally for Atlanta! Well, except that the pitcher is up next. He flies to short right to retire the side. 1-0, Braves.

Top 5th: Dusty McCully slaps one back through the box for a leadoff single. Ricardo Gomez tries to lay down a sacrifice bunt but he puts into into the air and 1B Dante Chairez races in to catch it for out number 1. Jimmy James hits a dribbler back to House and this time House is able to turn around and get the lead runner on a 1-4 fielder's choice. Tom Depew flies to left. 1-0, Braves.

Bottom 5th: Ward grounds out 4-3. Luna flies to left. I was about to say that Gomez looks like he's getting into a groove but on the first pitch Kevin Dwyer socks one past Mike Galeana and down the left field line for a two out double. Henry Riggs finds one to thit this time and goes with it, taking the outside pitch into left field. Dwyer scores from second and it's a 2-0 game! Chairez grounds out to 3rd, which officially goes 5-4 as Galeana doesn't go... the looooooooooong way. 2-0 Braves.

Top 6th: House strikes out Casey Satterfield, his 7th K of the game. The last time he had 10 or more Ks in a game was May 15, 1969. A 1-2 cutter that fools Lorenzo Martinez makes it 8 strikeouts. Disla foils House's attempt to strike out the side by swinging at a changeup that was low and outside and turning it into an easy fly to RF Henry Riggs. 2-0 Braves.

Bottom 6th: Damon flies to right. Jon Reid hits a Texas Leaguer to left for a 1-out single. Danny Coyle pops one to left that Rafael Disla - not exactly a man known for his range - races for and catches in foul territory. House flies to right to end it. 2-0 Braves.

Top 7th: Mike Galeana makes it one run closer by belting one to left-center - the same place, more or less, that Danny Coyle put his - for the HR. It's 2-1, Braves on top. Stuart flies to right. Dusty McCully grounds out to short. Ricardo Gomez is not ready to be taken out just yet - only 87 pitches so far - and he even goes against the pitcher grain with a single to left. Jim James goes the other way with a long fly to left to retire the side. 2-1, Braves.

Bottom 7th: Gomez has still managed just the one strikeout tonight. He does get Chris Ward to hit an easy fly ball into center on an 0-2 splitter. Luna grounds to short. Kevin Dwyer deposits a 2-2 pitch into right field for a 2-out base hit. Riggs comes up once more with runners on and once more comes through... well, sort of. He doubles to left-center, with Atlanta's 3rd base coach putting the "hold" signal on Dwyer. This allows Dante Chairez to be the new hero - he slaps a single into right that scores both men and which chases Ricardgo Gonez from the game.

The new pitcher, Doug Ellis, completes his warmup and gets Josh Damon to hit a soft liner to short to retire the side. 4-1, Braves.

Top 8th: George House has himself only thrown 89 pitches and isn't looking tired in the least. With a 3-run lead, the Braves have a cushion to let him get into some trouble before they pull him. Of course, that assumes trouble happens. Tom Depew grounds out to first. Satterfield flies to center. Lorenzo Martinez fans for the 3rd time today as the Cards go down 1-2-3. One more chance! 4-1, Braves.

Bottom 8th: Doug Ellis continues to go for the Cardinals. The Braves bring in Jeremy Holden to pinch-hit for Jon Reid, secure in the knowledge that ace fielder Ryan Dietrich is available off the bench. He grounds back to first. Danny Coyle stays in, singles to left, and now is a triple away from the cycle! Granted, a Danny Coyle triple is just about the most unlikely event in baseball, but hey, he did have one in the regular season... on August 8 vs the Mets. Unfortunately I can't look up box scores or game logs during another game so I don't have any more info than this. House, now up to 102 pitches, stays in to hit, and by "hit" I mean "lay down a bunt", which works to perfection, as the 1-3 putout moves Coyle along to 2nd. I have Andres Gamez available to take over if I wanted to pinch-run for Coyle but as Coyle is definitely the better fielder, I'll leave him out there.

Doug Ellis comes out in favor of lefty specialist Kevin Kading (2-1, 5.00), who's 40/20 K/BB ratio indicates he's better than the raw numbers make him look. He throws a wild pitch on his 2nd pitch of the game, moving Coyle to 3rd. Ward then cracks a double into right-center so in fairness to catcher John Stuart Coyle would have scored even if he'd manage to get a hold of that ball. Kading stays in and induces the right-handed Vicente Luna to ground out to 2nd to retire the side. 5-1, Braves.

Top 9th: As expected, SS Ryan Dietrich (.178, 0, 8) comes in to play short. I also pull Jose Gomez (.247, 10, 19) to take over for Henry Riggs in right field. And as George House is the man who brought us here, he stays in, although John Winn is throwing in the pen (note: I don't use the warmup rule so that is what we call "flavor text"). Disla belts the first pitch he sees over the fence in left-center to cut the lead to 5-2. Galeana pounds a 2-1 curve into the ground for the first out of the inning, 4-3. Stuart singles up the middle. Ethan Keesee comes on in to pinch hit for the shortstop Dusty McCully. House fans him - his 10th K of the game! - for the 2nd out. That brings up Elijah Johnson, the veteran outfielder. He proves that he still has at least one hit left in his bat as he singles into right, Stuart advancing to 2nd. Jim James hits a pretty hard smash but it's right at 1B Dante Chairez for the final out. The Braves take #1, 5-1!

All in all I guess it's not super surprising that House would win. I still think the Cards emerge here but if House can pitch like this in Games 1 and 4, all it takes is one other guy getting the job done...