Important Notes from Today’s Pirates-Cardinals Game

Today, with only the smallest of differences separating the Pirates and Cardinals in the race for the second Wild Card, they decided to try and squeeze in two games for the price of one. Because Bud Selig personally produced the airtight schedule, he doesn’t allow such shenanigans. As such, the 19 innings played by the teams will only be counted once. Some notes:

-After the Pirates scored two runs to tie the game in the sixth, the teams would go scoreless until the 17th. Naturally, both clubs would then score to continue the action.

-The game took longer (6:07) than the flight from St. Louis to San Diego, which the Pirates will shortly be boarding.

-The teams combined to go 27 for 123 with 10 walks, 34 strikeouts, leaving 26 men on base. 571 pitches were thrown by 16 pitchers.

-Jose Tabata was caught stealing twice and Carlos Beltran stole three bags. No one else attempted a steal. Tabata now has 11 caught stealings and has only been successful 8 times. Beltran stole a full quarter of his bags on the season in today’s game.

-Michael McKenry went 0-8. The last time that happened was when Chris Davis AND Adrian Gonzalez took an 0-for in their own marathon. Sadly, unlike Davis, McKenry was never called in to pitch.

-Andrew McCutchen struck out four times, but still had two hits and drove in three. -There was only one home run, hit by Pedro Alvarez in the 19th. Question: As Alvarez leads the league in daytime home runs, is it considered a daytime blast because of start time? Or is it an evening shit because of the local time when it was hit.

-Jaime Garcia struck out ten and was not charged with an earned run because of his own error. Is this fair? Is life fair? Discuss.