Despite Game 3 loss, Cardinals' Matheny made right call using Choate when he did
SAN FRANCISCO -- If the Cardinals find themselves in a similar situation that cost them Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday afternoon, you can count on left-hander Randy Choate being on the mound again.
"Absolutely," Mike Matheny said.
Now before you start bad-mouthing the Cardinals' manager, put aside the emotions of losing to the Giants, 5-4, on Choate's throwing error and look at the situation from a more objective perspective.
The Giants were set up ideally for the Cardinals to turn to Choate for the 10th inning in a tie game. Of their first four batters due up, three were left-handed hitters and the other was a backup outfielder hitting .186 against lefties. Choate, a lefty specialist, has proven tough on left-handed hitters all season.
"This is what we want," Matheny told me and two reporters in the visiting manager's office at AT&T Park.
Knowing how managers typically go by the book that lefties don't hit lefties as well as right-handers, Matheny's strategy was sound.
"Lefties are hitting .093 on him," said Matheny, citing Choate's numbers from the regular season. (They're hitting .103 off him now.)
Only the execution was flawed.
Choate started by walking Brandon Crawford on a full count -- with ball four not missing the strike zone by much. "Obviously, the first thing you don't want to do is come in and walk a guy," Choate said.
Then he gave up a single to light-hitting backup outfielder Juan Perez, who was swinging only because he had been unable to lay down a sacrifice bunt on his first two strikes. Choate wasn't that displeased with the location of the pitch that Perez lined between shortstop and third base.
"It was a two-seamer that stayed a little bit more up than the others, but it basically was the same pitch he kept fouling off," Choate said. "I was trying to throw that ball down and away. I thought I could get him to roll over one to short and get a double play."
Instead of a double play, the Giants had two on and no outs. Choate and everyone in the sold-out crowd knew what would be next: San Francisco's leadoff hitter Gregor Blanco would try to bunt over the runners to bring up the meat of the Giants' order.
Choate said he threw the 0-1 fastball right where he wanted and the ball was bunted right where he wanted. But Choate did not throw the ball where he wanted. He overthrew Kolten Wong covering first base by so much that the ball headed to right field and allowed the winning run to score easily.
"Right back to me, I turned around and it sailed on me," Choate said. "I threw it where I thought (Wong) was going to be and it took off on the left and sailed down the line. Been doing PFPs (pitcher fielding practices) since I was a kid, do them every spring training. It was easy. It was right there and I blew it."
And the Giants, who won a game on a wild pitch in the NL Division Series, had a 2-1 lead in the series in an unlikely manner. They took a 4-0 lead in the first inning only to watch the Cardinals battle back.
Wong hit a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth to cut the deficit in half. Jhonny Peralta delivered a two-out single in the sixth to make it 4-3, and Randal Grichuk homered off the left-field foul pole to tie the game in the seventh. The Cardinals were poised for another comeback victory in October.
Lackey and three relievers combined to give up only two hits after the first inning and they did not allow a baserunner from the fifth through the ninth. Matheny said losing the way they did "makes it harder" but added, "I look at it like we almost stole one.
"We showed a lot of heart, which is no surprise."
Choate, 39, has pitched in 601 regular-season games but was making just his 20th postseason appearance. As the media descended on him in the clubhouse afterward, he sat facing his locker, composed himself briefly and turned to face the scrum.
"Anybody in here relishes being in that role," he said. "When it works and you're standing here with all these cameras and you won and you did your job, it's awesome. When you're on this side, it sucks."
He added: "These guys battled so hard after being down 4-0. I feel like I let these guys down. That's what stings the most."
He should find some solace in knowing that his manager will not hesitate to call on him the next time.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
