Game Seven vs. St. Louis

What a change this was from past Cardinals games! St. Louis has always had one of the better teams in the National League, so of course when the Royals didn’t stand much of a chance against them, it was small wonder that the K became Busch West, a vast sea of red cheering uniformly for the visiting team.

Not tonight. This was to be no push-over ballgame for either team. Indeed, the victor would walk away in sole possession of the best win-loss record in the majors. How sweet it was to see so much blue in the stands and to know that our team actually stood a chance of winning.

As it turned out, we stood more than a chance. The Royals took a three-run lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a monster blast over the left field wall launched by Kendrys Morales. Who then hit another one during his next at-bat in the third.

The five runs we scored via his homers were the only scoring done by either team. The Cardinals threatened several times, especially in the late innings. But how sweet it was to be on the edge of our seats hoping for a shut out rather than a simple win or merely avoidance of total humiliation. And sweeter still to actually get a scoreless game, the second one we saw this week.

Morales was obviously the player of the game. Play of the game went to Alcides Escobar. In the top of the eighth he made an impossible behind-the-back flip to Omar Infante to nail Matt Holliday on a fielder’s choice. The out most likely prevented the Cardinals from scoring later in the inning.

After all those years of actively avoiding our games against St. Louis, it was a definite season highlight to finally get to see a solid victory in the company of fellow Kansas City fans.

CARDINALS (0) AT ROYALS (5)

CARDINALS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Kolten Wong           3  0  1  0  Alcides Escobar       3  1  0  0  
Matt Carpenter        4  0  3  0  Mike Moustakas        4  0  0  0  
Matt Holliday         4  0  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          4  2  2  0  
Matt Adams            5  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  0  0  
Jhonny Peralta        4  0  1  0  Kendrys Morales       4  2  3  5  
Randal Grichuk        4  0  1  0  Alex Gordon           4  0  1  0  
Yadier Molina         3  0  2  0  Salvador Perez        4  0  3  0  
Jason Heyward         4  0  0  0  Omar Infante          4  0  0  0  
Peter Bourjos         3  0  0  0  Paulo Orlando         3  0  2  0  
TOTALS               34  0  8  0  TOTALS               34  5 11  5

CARDINALS                     000 000 000 -- 0  
ROYALS                        302 000 00x -- 5  

LOB--CARDINALS 13, ROYALS 6. 2B--Matt Carpenter, Salvador
Perez. HR--Kendrys Morales (2). HBP--Matt Holliday.

 CARDINALS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Lance Lynn                     6.33   10    5    5    1    4    2
Carlos Villanueva              1.67    1    0    0    0    2    0
 ROYALS                     
Chris Young                    6.00    6    0    0    2    2    0
Franklin Morales               1.00    0    0    0    1    0    0
Ryan Madson                    1.00    1    0    0    1    1    0
Jason Frasor                   1.00    1    0    0    1    1    0

WP--Lance Lynn. SO--Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta, Matt
Adams, Randal Grichuk, Alex Gordon (2), Lorenzo Cain, Eric
Hosmer (2), Salvador Perez. BB--Yadier Molina, Peter
Bourjos, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong (2), Alcides Escobar.