LA Times: Dodgers capitalize on ninth-inning error to rally for Game 2 victory over Cardinals

Holliday’s ninth-inning error today at Dodger Stadium paved the way for a stunning two-run rally that gave the Dodgers a 3-2 victory over St. Louis and a commanding two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five National League division series.

With two out, the bases empty and the Cardinals clinging to a one-run lead, closer Ryan Franklin got James Loney to hit a sinking liner into left field, almost directly toward Holliday, who couldn’t make the catch when the ball struck him in the groin as he rushed forward and made a last-second adjustment with his glove.

Loney reached second base and Dodgers Manager Joe Torre inserted Juan Pierre as a pinch-runner. Casey Blake walked on a full count, bringing up Ronnie Belliard.

Belliard hit Franklin’s first pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single to tie the score. Franklin walked Russell Martin on four pitches to load the bases before pinch-hitter Mark Loretta hit Franklin’s second offering to shallow left-center field to drive in Blake with the winning run and prompt the Dodgers to pour out of their dugout in celebration.

The Dodgers can sweep the series by winning Game 3 on Saturday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Meet Yu Darivish, the first Iranian-Japanese pro baseball player

This past weekend I’ve been helping Aaron set up a new blog called “East . . . a windup chronicle of Baseball, Culture, Art, and Politics from the Pacific Rim.”

He posted today about Yu Darvish, a new 20-year-old hotshot Japanese pitcher who has an Iranian father and a Japanese mother. He’s the ace for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

He’s got his own site, and his own fan site.

I think he just might be the first pro baseball player of Iranian ancestry ever!

Endy Chávez vs. Willie Mays

I spent a good portion of last night listening to Game 7 of the NLCS on the radio last night. For those of you that missed it, the highlight of the game was Mets centerfielder Endy Chávez’ amazing grab in the sixth inning, saving the Mets from what should have been a two-run homer.

Josh Levin, my editor over at Slate, has a great piece stacking up this play to the most famous baseball catch in history, Willie Mays’ The Catch during the 1954 World Series. Josh talked with Arnold Hano, a baseball writer who captured Mays’ astonishing play.

Josh writes:

[Hano] explains that the great Mays backtracked to the 460-foot mark in the Polo Grounds. “He outran the ball, he caught it with his back to the stands, and he whirled to make the throw.” When Chávez caught the ball, Hano says, he was 360 feet from home plate. “I don’t want to downgrade this play, it was a marvelous play,” he says. “It may be that the stands are a little closer today and therefore you can make that catch.”

I’m with Hano on this one. A 460-foot catch is far more impressive than a 360-foot catch.

In other news for you to ponder this weekend, Kim Jong Il says he’s “sorry“, and Becky and I are going to visit my folks in Santa Monica. Not that those two things are related, mind you.

LET’S GO, OAKLAND!

Best part of the game: within two minutes of the final out, the folks in the right field bleachers (where my brother and I were sitting) started chanting: Yankees suck! Yankees suck!

I can’t wait for the ALCS.