Phillie-killer Kaz Matsui led the Rockies to the 2-0 series lead by going 3-for-5 with five RBIs. He smacked a grand slam and came just a single shy of the cycle to lead the rout.
As I type these sentences about Matsui and the Rockies and ponder the social significance of Peter Tork and The Monkees, I suddenly recall writing a bunch of stuff about Matsui when he was playing for the Mets. Specifically, those things regard a four and/or five-hit game(s) he had in this park back in 2004 before he was run out of New York.
Matsui certainly isn’t poorer for leaving Japan to play in the U.S. As most baseball fans remember, he signed a huge, $20 million-plus deal to join the Mets and was heralded as yet another guy to redefine the shortstop position. We quickly learned that it was nothing more than the NYC media playing a story out of proportion.
Hey, that’s what they do.
Either way, it was Kaz and the Rox day. They can end this thing very quickly on Saturday.
Are we coming back to Philly for Game 5?
*** • Did you see Tadahito Iguchi slam his bat down in disgust after drawing a two-out walk to load the bases in the eighth? It appeared as if he saw five balls during that plate appearance.
• Why didn’t Charlie ask the umpires to check out Manny Corpas when he came into the game in the eighth? Corpas, off course, had the Gatorade all over his shirt in Game 1 and the skipper is allowed to ask the umps to see if the pitcher has any contraband, etc. while on the mound. Charlie could have done that, which I’m sure would have sent the crowd into a screaming tizzy.
Yes, a tizzy.
• Was Game 2 a bad one for Charlie? As a reasonable Charlie supporter, I say, “Eh… yeah.”
• J.C. Romero extended his scoreless-games streak to 22.
• Chase Ultey had never, ever struck out five times in a row until the NLDS. He ended up going 2-for-5 in Game 2.
Stay tuned for more tonight, a little extra tomorrow and a preview of what to do/expect in Denver this weekend.