Since he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals this summer, left fielder Matt Holliday only made one error. Now he has two, along with the worst sort of postseason immortality.

Holliday’s ninth-inning error against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday helped cost his team the win. But some of his teammates also ought to be wearing those goat horns as well.

Here’s what happened. The Cardinals had a 2-1 lead, and were just one out away from tying their NLCS series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-1. James Loney hit a line drive to left field, a hit Holliday should have caught. But instead, Holliday charged after the ball and misplayed it - bigtime.

The ball hit the left fielder in the groin area, and appeared to knock the wind out of him. The ball ended up on the ground, and so did Holliday. The left fielder was on his hands and knees chasing after the ball, while Loney ended up at second. It was a costly - and undignified moment.

Holliday explained what happened:

“I couldn’t see the ball. I lost in the lights. I had it in the beginning but then the ball came down through the lights and I lost it. When that happens, you hope it hits your body or hits your glove. I just lost it. Tough to swallow. I feel terrible. The ball hit my stomach. I think I can catch a fly ball hit right at me. Wainwright pitched a good game, the bullpen did its job. I just didn’t catch it.”

Starter Adam Wainwright defended his teammate:

“That ball got lost in 50,000 white towels shaking in front of Matt’s face,” Wainwright said. “It doesn’t really seem fair that an opposing team should be able to allow their fans to shake white towels when there’s a white baseball flying through the air. How about Dodger Blue towels?”

While Holliday surely appreciates his teammate standing up for him, it does no good to whine about the other team’s fans. No crying in baseball, and all that.

And if Cardinals fans want to hand out goat horns for the game, Holliday is not the only one worthy of such ignominy. Besides, Holliday did hit a homer to score one of the two St. Louis runs in the game.

Holliday’s error was bad, and costly, but it didn’t guarantee the Cards’ loss. What happened afterward did. Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin didn’t exactly do an epic job picking up his teammate:

James Loney: Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Foul, Loney safe at first on left fielder Holliday’s fielding error, Loney to second
Juan Pierre ran for James Loney.
Casey Blake: Ball, Strike looking, Strike swinging, Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Blake walked.
Ronnie Belliard: Belliard singled to center, Pierre scored, Blake to second.
Russell Martin: Ball, Ball, Ball, Blake to third, Belliard to second on passed ball, Martin walked
Mark Loretta hit for George Sherrill.
Mark Loretta: Foul, Loretta singled to center, Blake scored, Belliard to third, Martin to second

After the error, Franklin gave up a walk, a single, another walk, and the game-winning single. If he had gotted either Blake or Belliard out, the error would have been meaningless. Bad job on Franklin as well.

Which begs the question, why did Tony LaRussa put him in the game in the first place. Starter Adam Wainright was dealing, and he only threw 109 pitches. Why not let him start the ninth?

Then there’s rookie Colby Rasmus getting thrown out at third in the seventh inning after driving in a run. That cost the Cardinals a chance at scoring an additional run, and infuriated LaRussa. Or the fact that St. Louis left so many runners on base in both games of the series - 14 in the first game, 7 in the second.

This wasn’t the only time Tony LaRussa has lost a heartbreaker in Dodger Stadium - in October 1988, a gimpy Kirk Gibson hit a homer to win a World Series game against the Oakland Athletics.

Now it’s up to him and his Cardinals to see if they can regroup from this, with the team down 0-2 in the series. Coming back from that deficit is something no other National League team has been able to do in the NLDS. But St. Louis does have something going for them, aside from having the next two games at home. Joe Torre, the only baseball manager in history to lose a postseason series after being up three games to zero, is in the opposing dugout.

Photo by shgmom56

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