ST. LOUIS -- OK who dropped the ball at the World Series and let Barnum & Bailey crash this party?
The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals committed nine errors alone in the first three games of this zany World Series, and this drama can be defined by an 11.6-second sequence in Game 3 that will - and we say this confidently - never be forgotten.
GAME 3: Obstruction gives Series lesson
Where else could you have seven players and two umpires involved in one play, and the guy who scores the winning run never should have run in the first place, and still hasn't touched home plate?
Yes, this Fall Classic has been severely flawed, but boy, have we loved the entertainment value.
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You know it's wacky when the Cardinals win Game 3 in the most bizarre fashion in World Series history, retreat to the clubhouse, sit around, scratch their heads, and try to figure out what just happened.
"I think our fans didn't even know what to do,'' Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Sunday before Game 4. "We're all kind of cautiously celebrating, and then we get inside the clubhouse, and it was still kind of that somber mood.
"And [pitcher] Chris Carpenter yelled out real loud, 'Hey boys, we just won a World Series game.'
"We're all trying to get our heads around what happened.''
Indeed, even 24 hours later, players were sorting out their feelings after their parts in the first game in World Series history to end on an obstruction call.
The Red Sox make a great pitch, pull off two dazzling defensive plays, and somehow lose the game when Allen Craig, who shouldn't have been running from second base, trips, falls, scampers home, and never touches home plate with the ball awaiting his arrival.
And that is the winning run, courtesy of Rule 7.06 in your official rules of baseball guide.
It's called obstruction.
Only in the World Series, baby.
"I turned my back, and all of a sudden,'' says Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, who starts Game 5 Monday night, "people started running out on the field. I didn't know what happened, but I was running out on the field, too.
"I got about halfway out there, and saw Craig out by a couple of feet, and started tiptoeing backwards back into the dugout.
"(Umpire Dana DeMuth) called him safe, and I thought, 'Wow, I think I've just witnessed the worst call in the history of the game at home plate, only to find out there was obstruction.
"So there were four or five times I didn't know what the heck was going on.''
Reality was just setting in by the time the teams returned to Busch Stadium for Sunday night's Game 4.
"It wasn't a normal night of sleep,'' Red Sox manager John Farrell said, "I know that.
"But you know what, the call was made correctly. That call was made as it should have been made. ..We're well aware of the rules. And at that point, it's not so much a judgment call. It's pretty [much] a straight forward call. We don't like it, but that's the rule in which we play under.''
It was the first time since the infamous Mookie Wilson grounder through Bill Buckner's legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series than a game ended with an error.
Yet, it was only fitting, considering the weird events of this Fall Classic.
Where else would you have an American League manager actually choose to have his pitcher make his major-league debut at the plate in the ninth inning Saturday, when he had three position players sitting on the bench? Yes, that was reliever Brandon Workman who was sent up to the plate, struck out, while Mike Napoli and his 23 homers and 92 RBI was sitting on the bench?
"Yeah, in hindsight,'' Farrell said, "probably should have double-switched. …Obviously, it doesn't put Workman at the plate.''
The lack of a double-switch not only forced Workman to bat, and leave Napoli on the bench, but left Saltalamacchia in the game. He was the one who threw the ball past third baseman Will Middlebrooks in that fateful ninth, setting up the obstruction call heard 'round the world.
The Red Sox, for some strange reason, almost seem obligated to throw the ball from home plate to third base this series, no matter if anyone is at the bag or not. It was reliever Craig Breslow's throw behind home plate to third base in Game 2 at Fenway Park that sailed into the stands, costing the Red Sox two runs and the game.
It's become a World Series that following protocol suddenly is considered a sin.
Craig, whose sprained left foot has limited him to only DH duty the last six weeks, was instructed to be extra cautious on the basepaths. So what does he do? He takes off running from second to third base on that fateful play when he should have stayed put, and sprints to home plate, running harder than he has in six weeks.
"Running under control in that situation,'' Craig said, "didn't cross my mind. I was trying to score and run as fast as I possibly could.
"I'm trying to run as fast as I can, and it was a little bit like an obstacle course out there.''
Much like this entire Series.
Farrell still is being second-guessed all over the airwaves of New England for opting to pitch to Jon Jay in the ninth inning of Game 3 with first base open. Pete Kozma, and his .152 postseason batting average, was on-deck. Kolten Wong, who has one hit this entire postseason, was in the hole.
And, excuse me, isn't it time to send out an APB on Cardinals starter Shelby Miller? The rookie won 15 games, and was the No. 2 starter during the regular season. He has pitched all of one inning this postseason.
Really, we should have all known this would be a series of the bizarre going back to the first inning of Game 1. It was the moment that DeMuth blew a call on Kozma's dropped ball, only to be overturned by his fellow workers, which helped lead to the Red Sox's victory.
It simply was Chapter 1 of the absurd, with every game now becoming more surreal in nature.
It would only be fitting if this World Series goes the distance, and comes to a close in Game 7.
Yes, on Halloween Night.
Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @BNightengale
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