NLCS Game 2: @Cardinals 5, Giants 4 — A thrilling, confounding ballgame, to remind us of all that we’ll miss in the dark months ahead.

The battle was balanced — between offense and defense, as nine of eighteen tense half-innings were graced or marred by a single tally, and between power and opportunism. The Giants, who already owned three of this postseason’s four homerless wins, had their sights on another, shrugging off three St. Louis belts — one to tie in the 7th, one for a short-lived lead in the 8th — to square it in the 9th, on the type of foe-aided rally that’s been a recent trademark. But there was one more jolt of Cardinal joy left.

With two on and no outs in the 4th, the Cards looked to stretch the 1-0 lead born of Matt Carpenter’s 4th homer. Yadier Molina, a career .290 postseason batter with some of their biggest RBI, laid down his first-ever postseason sacrifice, which so surprised some observers that they missed the meaning of his noncompetitive trot toward first base. That ploy by the 6th-place hitter led to an intentional pass for the left-handed Kolten Wong, giving Jake Peavy two escape routes: A harmless out from the right-swinging rookie Randal Grichuk would bring up pitcher Lance Lynn, one of the worst hitters in baseball history. Better yet, a ground ball like Grichuk’s first at-bat could become a rally-killing DP, and make Lynn a drag on the next inning. Peavy threw a 1-and-2 slider designed for a miss or a grounder. But the pitch wasn’t sharp or low enough, and Grichuk spanked an RBI single, the Cards’ only RISP hit in this series. Two shallow flies left the bases loaded, but the Giants now faced a two-run deficit for just the second time in this postseason.

Not for long. Although Jon Jay’s brilliant diving play denied Travis Ishikawa a run-scoring triple, he couldn’t quite stick the landing, and a soft groundout scored San Francisco’s first run. But Lynn whiffed Gregor Blanco to leave the tying run at third, and two more swinging strikeouts started the 6th. Then Pablo Sandoval blooped an 0-2 curve towards the left-field line. The Cards were shading that way, and an outfielder with average speed would have caught it. But Matt Holliday’s “half-fast” pursuit came up short, and the Panda landed on second. After spoiling one full-count fastball, Hunter Pence roped a single that tied the game. Lynn’s night was over, and while two runs in 5.2 innings was his best line yet against the Giants, it wasn’t enough for his first win or quality start in six tries.

The full import of Molina’s bunt became clear in the home 6th. Yadi slashed a grounder to second, took one step and stopped cold, having aggravated a strained oblique muscle. As the star catcher gingerly stepped off the field, Mike Matheny faced the prospect of starting a St. Louis postseason game with someone else behind the plate for the first time since 2004, when Yadier was merely “the third Molina,” and Matheny himself was their regular backstop. Yadi’s absence would be felt long before the skipper had to choose who would start Game 3.

Second-stringer Tony Cruz was charged with a passed ball in the 7th, putting the lead run on second with none out. The direct cost of that muff was negated by an infield hit to short, as Jhonny Peralta’s diving stop kept the runner at second. But the Giants scratched out a lead, on a sac bunt and Gregor Blanco’s seeing-eye hit through the tightened infield.

The home 7th began the pitching maneuvers on which Bruce Bochy was questioned later. After the right-hander Jean Machi retired Grichuk, lefty Oscar Taveras hit for the pitcher. There was no cause to pull out all stops for Taveras, a touted prospect who disappointed this year. Although Taveras was weaker against southpaws, Bochy probably wanted to save his lefty specialist, Javier Lopez, to face Matt Adams in the next inning, a far more vital platoon matchup. Machi has handled lefties well. But he didn’t handle Taveras, whose windmill swing walloped a reluctant sinker just inside the right-field pole.

With the game tied and one out, Bochy’s next move made immediate sense, but raised deeper questions: Lopez came in for the lefties Carpenter and Jay. As events would show, Bochy had no intention of letting Lopez face Matt Holliday, so using him now meant he wouldn’t face Adams. But if he was going to come in for Carpenter, then why not for Taveras? Matheny had no righty power on the bench, and the pitcher’s spot wasn’t due up in the Giants’ next turn. Lopez might have faced three lefties, needing two outs to end the inning, and if he retired both Taveras and Carpenter, he could stay in to face Jay the next inning.

On the flip side, Carpenter has murdered southpaws this postseason, with three homers, two doubles, and one of the four hits off Madison Bumgarner the night before. Jay has always hit lefties and righties about the same, with little power against either side. If Bochy meant to save his last lefty for Adams, why did the Taveras homer scramble that plan?

Hunter Strickland came on for Holliday, but he picked Jay off first base to end the 7th. Pat Neshek set the Giants down briskly, and Strickland retired Holliday to start the home 8th, bringing up Adams. Strickland can clock 100 miles per hour; he did great work in the minors this year, and went unscathed in a September cameo. But in three postseason outings, he’d served up three no-doubt homers in six at-bats by lefties. Adams sat on a 1-2 fastball, which arrived at a “mere” 97 MPH, down the middle, gut high. It was straight towards Buster Posey’s glove, but if they thought Adams was weak in that zone, they soon learned otherwise. Make it four homers in seven lefty at-bats against Strickland.

Oh, but the intrigue was only beginning. Trevor Rosenthal saved 45 games this season, and three more in the LDS. But the strike zone’s escaped him on many occasions. He fought back from 3-and-0 to fan Brandon Crawford, but two sharp singles put the tying run on second. Peralta leaped to snare Blanco’s full-count liner, and pinch-runner Matt Duffy made a good read and a heady retreat to avoid being doubled off second. After two quick strikes on Joe Panik, Rosenthal missed low with three straight fastballs, giving the runners a free start on the next one. When he buried ball four, Cruz tried a backhand grab instead of smother tactics, only to see it skip off his glove and disappear, long enough for Duffy to dash home and tie the game yet again.

Who knows if Molina would have blocked it — but Yadi had the league’s lowest rate of wild pitches plus passed balls, as usual, while Cruz’s rate was nearly twice as high.

Rosenthal then walked Posey to load the bases, and trudged off to as sour a chorus as the Redbirds faithful will give one of their own. Seth Maness caught a break when the free-swinging Panda fouled an outside 2-0 pitch, then handled his sharp one-hopper to end the inning. After standing for long, anxious minutes, the crowd got to take a load off and catch their breath.

And then, with the very next swing, Kolten Wong took their breath away.

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The short history of St. Louis walk-off homers in the postseason begins with Ozzie Smith in 1985 (“Go crazy, folks!“) — the first half of a one–two punch that seemed to break Tom Niedenfuer. Jim Edmonds slugged one in 2004, after their league-leading closer blew a save, sending that NLCS to a do-or-die. And then David Freese in the 2011 Series, one-upping his own two-out, two-run, tying hit that kept the Cards from going home.

Molina has started the last 83 Cardinals postseason games behind the plate. His 84 total starts at the position trail only Jorge Posada (106), whose longest string was 68 straight starts (1999-2005). No other Cardinals catcher had come to bat between Matheny in 2004 and Tony Cruz’s 8th-inning strikeout on Sunday.

Hunter Strickland is the 4th reliever to serve four or more home runs in a postseason, after Chris Narveson (5 HRs in 6 games, 2011), Tim Worrell (4 HRs in 13 games, 2002) and Dan Micelli (4 HRs in 5 games, 2004). All four were touched at least once by Cardinals, totaling eight of those 17 HRs.

Matt Holliday doesn’t rate as the worst defensive outfielder of recent years. But every time I see him, something falls in.

Matt Carpenter’s 4 HRs from the leadoff spot are tied for 3rd-best in a postseason. Lenny Dykstra’s ’93 rampage included 6 HRs, 10 RBI and 14 runs in 12 games, and Davey Lopes launched 5 taters in 10 games in ’78, setting a leadoff mark with 12 RBI (since tied by Dan Gladden). Carpenter has 8 RBI through 6 games.

Jake Peavy is the first pitcher with two postseason starts of exactly 4 IP and 2 runs.

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NLCS Game 1: Giants 3, @Cardinals 0 — One of those nights when you just can’t get to Madison Bumgarner.

Adam Wainwright got two strikes on 11 of the first 17 batters, but only fanned one. Three got hits, one walked, one hit a sac fly, one reached on error, and two lined out. His career K rate is 43% with two strikes, 41% this year.

Something you won’t see every October: With the Cards trailing 3-0 in the 5th, one out and one on, pitcher Marco Gonzalez sacrificed. The Play Index holds three prior postseason sac attempts by pitchers when down three or more in the 5th or later, all since 1989. All came in the 5th inning, two with one out; one contributed to a run; all three teams lost. My opinion of this one? It barely mattered, given the alternatives on Mike Matheny’s bench, and the way MadBum was dealing.

No complete-game shutouts in the LCS or World Series since Josh Beckett ended the 2003 Series?

Jon Jay has reached base 11 times in 18 trips, but only scored once. The rest of the Cards have hit .189 with a .233 OBP. It’s just five games, though.

Home teams are now 8-11 this postseason, 85-79 since 2010. In games before the LCS in that span, home teams are 43-49.

For all his slugging prowess, Bumgarner still doesn’t have a triple to his name. But four pitchers in this series do — Wainwright, Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy and Tim Lincecum. I’m not holding my breath, but it would be fun to see this list grow:

(By the way, that Glavine game is the most lopsided series finale, by far; the next-biggest clincher margin was 11 runs. Tommy’s two-out triple in the 1st cleared the bases for a 6-0 lead and knocked out Donovan Osborne, the only Game 7 pitcher to yield that many and not survive the 1st.)

If Lance Lynn contains the Giants in Game 2, it will be the first time. In five prior meetings (including postseason), he’s yielded at least 4 runs each time, totaling 24 runs in 22 IP, and no quality starts. In Game 5 of the 2012 NLCS, the Cards could have clinched the series at home. But with no score in the 4th, Lynn threw wildly to second base — off second base, rather — fueling 4 unearned runs. It all went south for St. Louis from that point, as they lost the last three games by a combined 20-1.

• Current Giants non-pitchers are 22 for 57 off Lynn, with a .435 OBP. None has more than 13 ABs or 4 hits, so that’s just noise. But it will be loud noise if he’s rocked again.

Jake Peavy’s last date with the Cardinals was Game 3 of last year’s World Series, a so-so no-decision in the game ended by l’Affaire Middlebrooks. The Redbirds took a 2-1 Series lead with the next two at home, but once again….

• Am I trying to stir up bad memories for Cardinals Nation? Let’s just say I’m indulging my disappointment with this NLCS matchup. I’m equally opposed to dynasties and to storylines of scrappy teams that “know how to win in October.” Since both teams fit both angles, this was the one pairing I prayed not to see.

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ALCS Game 2: Royals 6, @Orioles 4 — KC took their final lead in the 9th this time, making five of their six postseason wins where the deciding run came so late. But that hides another story: The Royals haven’t trailed at the end of an inning since the 8th in the Wild-Card Game. Their only deficit since came when Mike Trout homered in the top of the 1st of the LDS clincher, which they promptly answered with three runs.

Greg Holland has pitched in all six Royals games, saving four, with 9 Ks in 6 innings. This one came a day after tossing 23 pitches, but here’s what he’s done on zero days’ rest in the last two seasons: 1.37 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 47 Ks and 9 walks in 39.1 IP. In 11 outings the day after throwing 20+ pitches, he’s let in one run, with no blown saves.

The Royals made their bones with seven steals in the Wild-Card Wangdoodle. But in their next six games, they totaled six inconsequential steals; the only one to cross the plate made the score 4-1 in the 11th. Meanwhile, they seized the postseason lead with 8 HRs. And their opener remains this year’s only AL win without going yard.

• Homerless teams are 4-8 overall through Saturday [now 4-9]. SF notched the other three wins, scoring 3 runs in each, with 4 of those 9 unearned, another gifted by a botched DP grounder.
• Teams with a homer are 16-10. Those with a steal are 8-7.

Lorenzo Cain is 6 for 8 in this series, on base 8 for 10, 4 runs scored, no end of splendid catches.

• Two of his six hits stayed on the infield. Cain’s 31 infield hits tied for 10th in MLB (5th among RHBs), and his .161 BA on infield balls was 8th out of 45 with at least 20 such hits.
• He may not profile as a #3 hitter, but he’s scored eight and driven home four in six playoff games, while taking an extra base in all five chances as a runner.

Yordano Ventura walked three in the 2nd, but escaped it with one run. His game walk totals don’t highly correlate with his success. He gave 3 walks or more in 13 of 30 starts, but had a solid 3.87 ERA and 6-5 record in those games. Eleven pitchers had more such starts this year, but only three had more such quality starts than Ventura’s nine, and just one had more wins.

Oriole starters have averaged 4-2/3 innings through five playoff games.

I thought they might have waved Nick Markakis home in the 7th, trying for the lead on the one-out hit by Nelson Cruz. Alex Gordon does have a very good arm, but Markakis was around the bag before Gordon gloved it. And you just don’t get many chances against Kelvin Herrera, especially with two righty batters coming up after Cruz; RHBs have hit .190 or less off him in the last two seasons.

Mike Moustakas became the 85th player to hit at least 4 HRs in one postseason — and the first of those with a sac bunt in a game that he homered in.