The St. Louis Cardinals got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second thanks in part to poor defense from the Rangers, but the inning ended with a full-extension diving catch by David Murphy in left field. Did the catch give the Rangers any momentum?
World Series Game 5: Rangers Go Quietly, Cardinals Go Slightly Less Quietly
No, stupid, momentum doesn’t exist in baseball and the Rangers went 1-2-3 against Chris Carpenter. That sent us to the third inning with the score 2-0.
And in the third inning, things got off to a rocky start for the hosts:
That's C.J. Wilson fielding a leadoff bunt from Rafael Furcal and making a terrible throw to first, and that's Mitch Moreland doing a terrible job of knocking the terrible throw down. The ball got by, and Furcal wound up at second base.
Then Tony La Russa made the curious decision to bunt Furcal over to third with Allen Craig, playing for one run even though Craig's a good hitter who had the platoon advantage. Craig succeeded, then Albert Pujols was walked, and then Matt Holliday grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, because Adrian Beltre is pretty much a perfect defender who doesn't make mistakes.
The top of the third, by the way, was taken over by Derek Holland on the broadcast, who offered impressions of both Harry Caray and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The impressions weren't half-bad, but they were distracting, and they led to the following consecutive tweets:
@Buster_ESPN
Buster Olney Derek Holland gets it: He's having fun, and doesn't mind letting people know he's having fun working in his dream job.
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@SI_JonHeyman
Jon Heyman derek holland is a nice kid. not sure why hes yukking it up on camera when rangers trail tho. #scoreboard
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Perfect.
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