Five games into the Fall Classic, it's hard to pick the oddest moment.
It might have happened in Game 1, when St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright and six-time Gold Glove winner Yadier Molina — two men who've dominated that stretch between home and the mound for close to seven years now — stared blankly at each other, arms at their sides, as a pop-up plummeted to the ground between them.
Or maybe in Game 3, when Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia decided to forgo the easy out that was on-deck in shortstop Pete Kozma (he of the .143 postseason batting average), instead overthrowing to third base. Down went third baseman Will Middlebrooks, down went Allen Craig, and in a sprawling tangle of limbs and confusion, the game ended in an obstruction call.
Not to be outdone, the Cards ended Game 4 with a pickoff, the first time it's ever happened in a postseason game. There are great times to be risky and lead off, but when your team is down by two with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, it's not one of them.
The Cardinals and the Red Sox are both astounding teams, which makes these bizarre errors and decisions all the more confusing. When the Series finally draws to a close on Wednesday or Thursday night in Boston, we'll see one of these teams (hopefully the Cardinals) take home a 12th or 8th World Series ring. But the real winners will be fans who've watched the spectacle and the instant replay system that provided so much room for debate these last few nights.
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
