USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale breaks down the Fall Classic.
BOSTON — So, about this Michael Wacha legend.
It’s growing fast, as wonder-boy performances tend to do this time of year. It must take a quantum leap tonight if we’re to have a competitive World Series.
As ludicrous as a must-win Game 2 might sound, with 22-year-old rookie Wacha starting, consider the plight of the St. Louis Cardinals after a 8-1 loss Wednesday to the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 that was decided quickly, sloppily and painfully.
That’s where this series is headed – just like Red Sox-Cardinals in 2004 and Red Sox-Rockies in 2007. Those were both sweeps that became quickly non-competitive.
The Cardinals made Game 1 feel that way with three errors and a couple of other glaring misplays in the first two innings as five runs scored – and that was just the defense.
The team that has thrived like no other on hitting in the clutch – Red Sox manager John Farrell calls their performance with runners in scoring position remarkable – loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, had runners on second and third in the fifth … zilch. And they had only one other baserunner in Boston starter Jon Lester’s 7 2/3 innings.
BREAKDOWN: Key matchups in the World Series
The Cardinals lost a game started by their ace, Adam Wainwright. And they just plain lost their best player, Carlos Beltran, when he slammed into the right field wall robbing David Ortiz of a grand slam.
Oh, so it could have been worse had that ball sailed all the way into the St. Louis bullpen?
No, a few extra runs aren’t the point here – besides, Ortiz got his homer later with a drive that wasn’t going to leave anyone hurt except some paying customer in the bleachers.
That Beltran, a clear inspirational leader on this team, could be sidelined is what’s important, especially because the player who could challenge him in the best-player argument, Allen Craig, was limited to DH duty Wednesday in his first game since Sept. 4.
That Wainwright, another extremely important presence on the field and in the clubhouse, lost the first game so resoundingly is significant.
All that is just more to just pile on such a thud of a loss.
Yet, quite simply, another solid if not dominating Wacha game and all is forgotten – or at least set aside if the Cardinals head into three home games with the series tied.
The Cardinals have thrived on resilience, an intriguing contrast to a Boston team that has lived on consistency. While Red Sox haven’t lost more than three consecutive games at any point this year, the core of the St. Louis roster has made a post-season habit of comebacks.
Still, it would be hard to fathom another one without more of what Wacha has been doing this postseason – one run and eight hits in 21 innings.
“This World Series start will definitely be the No. 1, the highest, biggest, most important game that I’ve ever pitched in,” Wacha said.
Whew. And that was before he saw how Game 1 went.
Wacha certainly hasn’t been overwhelmed by the attention heaped on him so far. “Just really excited about” Thursday’s start, he says.
More excited than the discovery he made in a St. Louis restaurant the day.
“I went to go eat and I had a milk shake named after me,” he said. “That was pretty weird. But nothing too much has changed.”
Yeah, we all get milk shakes named after us.
“It was like a vanilla,” Wacha says. “It had some Crackerjacks in it, added a little baseball flair to it. And then there’s some chocolate chips, I guess. The milk shake name was Wacha, Wacha.
“Never heard that one before,” he deadpanned.
OK, so there’s the recipe: The vanilla-type kid pitching like a crackerjack with all the chips on the table.
Corny?
Hey, if Wacha, Wacha, Wacha can become the buzzword of a postseason … well, right now, it needs to be.
GALLERY: WORLD SERIES
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