Late rally gives Nationals 3-2 win over Cardinals in Game 1

In October, the angle of the sun is lower and it sets earlier (6:34 p.m. for October 7) and that meant significant shadows across the playing field during the game. Cardinals players were not happy:

That almost happened, as the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead before the Nats rallied late to win 3-2. The same thing might happen Monday afternoon, with a 3:30 p.m. CT starting time. The problem is summed up well here:

That’s where the score stayed. Wainwright settled down, and eventually looked fantastic, as he was the first Cardinals pitcher to strikeout more than nine batters in a postseason game since Bob Gibson in 1968. Wainwright would go 5⅔, striking out 10, and walking three.

But the call was made, the Cardinals’ mini-rally was over, and they went down quietly in the ninth. The Cardinals were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and they left 10 runners on base. So much for that feeling, that look, at least for this game.

St. Louis took that 2-1 lead in the second inning, thanks to Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez’s wildness; he walked four batters, and two of them scored. In the middle innings, both teams squandered good scoring chances. In the sixth, the Nationals loaded the bases with two outs but didn’t score. In the seventh, the Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out, but failed to score when Ryan Mattheus recorded three outs on two pitches (a postseason first).

Just another day at the ballpark.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Nationals found their own golden opportunity and didn’t blow it.

The Cardinals have led the Washington Nationals throughout Game 1 of the NLDS, even though they haven’t really done anything. They haven’t had an extra-base hit, and their two runs came on a wild pitch and a sac fly after Gio Gonzalez walked the bases loaded.

The closest they came to an extra-base hit was when Daniel Descalso drove a ball to the warning track in the sixth inning, but Jayson Werth made a great catch against the wall

Somewhat miraculously, Gio Gonzalez gave up only two runs in the first five innings of his Game 1 start, despite issuing seven walks (tying his career high). Having thrown 109 pitches already, Gonzalez will give way to the bullpen in the bottom of the sixth.

Now we can settle in for a three-inning battle of the bullpens.

It’s funny to go back and look at all the “WHAT’S WRONG WITH _____?” articles at the end of the season, tallying up the ones we really should have been worried about. Albert Pujols? Nope. Tim Lincecum? Yep. Alex Gordon? Nope. Ervin Santana? Yep.

And it’s hard to remember now, but Adam Wainwright was the subject of a lot of those articles, coming back after Tommy John surgery and posting a 6.16 ERA through his first seven starts. But his strikeout-to-walk ratio suggested that he was the same pitcher, and the maths were right; after the early struggles, he settled in nicely.

Here’s the good news about Gio Gonzalez: He’s working on a one-hitter!

Worst yet, Wainwright walked Gio Gonzalez on four pitches to load the bases. With Jason Werth coming up.

But here are the 19-year-old players in major-league history who finished with more Wins Above Replacement than Bryce Harper:

With right-hander Adam Wainwright pitching for the Cardinals, Nationals manager Davey Johnson isn’t doing anything unexpected with his lineup in Game 1 of their Division Series:

1. Jayson Werth - RF

2. Bryce Harper* - CF

3. Ryan Zimmerman - 3B

4. Adam LaRoche* - 1B

5. Michael Morse - LF

6. Ian Desmond - SS

7. Danny Espinosa# - 2B

8. Kurt Suzuki - C

9. Gio Gonzalez - SP

There are absolutely no surprises here. This wasn’t a common lineup during the season, because of injuries and whatnot. But it’s the lineup Matheny settled upon at the tail end of the season. The good news is that Gio Gonzalez isn’t particularly tough on right-handed hitters. The bad news is that Gio Gonzalez is just tough, generally.

Washington advanced to the playoffs by winning 98 games and the National League East. The Nationals finished the season with the best record in baseball, besting the Cincinnati Reds by one game. St. Louis earned the new second wild card spot this year, and took down the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Friday night in the wild card play-in game to advance to the NLDS.

The Nationals won the season series against the defending World Series champion Cardinals, 4-3.