Mike Matheny (who injured his finger with a knife on game 162) always felt that if he was the catcher that day, Ankiel would have been fine. And yes, the Rockies Todd Helton did hit a go-ahead-home-run with two outs on game 162 to give the Cards homefield instead of the Braves, but that was because Chipper Jones made an error on what should have been the final out of the game.
This game/series was great payback for the 1996 NLCS. It's crazy that Game 7 of that series started with a 6 run first inning for Atlanta. And then in Game 1 of this series, the Cardinals put up a 6 run first inning of their own. Awesome! And this year the Cardinals put up a 10 run first inning on Atlanta. These teams love their big firsts!
Baseball man.. what a sport.. how many legends on the field that day?!? Wow. Andres Galaraga, Will Clark, Chipper Jones, Jim Edmonds, the great Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine . Mark McGwire John Smoltz (missed that season but was most likley in the house) just to name a few. And then there was Rick Ankiel. With exception of Brian Jordan who also played in the NFL, Rick Ankiel was Arguably the best athlete on the field. The pitcher position has to be the toughest in all of sports. How extraordinary the human mind can be.. how powerful the human mind can be. And at the tender age of 20..maybe 21. Rick Ankiel with all the raw God given talent you can ask for , completely breaks down leaving baseball fans scratching their heads wondering WTF??? Rick woukd still het the nod but during This game With a 6-0 lead he throws 4 straight balls to Maddox.. but Rick comes back firing and with an 0-2 count on Chipper freakin Jones. Ball 1... .1-2. Then ball 2.... 2-2 and the next pitch that sailed you can see the body language on the catcher on Carlos Hernandez..when hes on his knees and flips the ball back to Rick.. head down..slumped shoulders.. and the camera catches him walking back to the plate again with his head down looking defeated. But Rick on the other hand looks poised and confident.. > I mean,, this is exactly what he was built for... and with a full count,. the young fireball phenom lefty with a dirty curve ball.. you saw it here on the 0-1 pitch to Chipper who swung and missed... Everyone believed in the guy at this moment.. and so here we go....counts full then BAM another nasty hook to catch Chipper looking. Strike 3. Massive Strike out.. Then , my man had 1-2 to the big Cat with the next two pitches missing real close down and in... one of which was very similar to the pitch that just struck out Chipper. If Rick gets that call and Andres strikes out then we may never have seen what we did... as fate would have it, .Rick lets ball 4 sail on him totaling 4 shoulda been 5 wild pitches that inning.. . Run scores. Still 2 on and not a single hit YET that inning for the Braves. Next batter, Big Brain Jordan gets jammed a little but still lines one to left field.. another run scores still 2 on and Rick is already somewhere in the 60 pitch range. Despite another wild pitch and a 3-1 count to the batter i just know every cardinals fan/ coach still believes Rick has got this.. Ankiel was the kind of pitcher who got stronger as the game progressed. Who threw harder as the game progressed.. who got better then he already was, as this season progressed. But then.....ball 4 to Reggie Sanders. Now bases Are loaded.. Walt Weiss up. Rick throws a fast ball that paints the corner for a called strike 1.. .. i mean what a roller coaster outting.. up down ..up down.. and thats baseball.. and Sports in general. If you're not mentally tough it will break you down and leave you there if you let it. It will break your heart and mend your heart all in the same breath. You can see Rick was not happy coming off the mound.. but i always respect coaches protecting their players. Noway can you leave him out there at this point. But still i guarantee there was nothing but confidence in Rick. He threw some great pitches this game and you can hear Cardinals faithful cheering Rick as he walks off the field. Sadly it was the beginning of the end for the young phenom from Florida Rick Ankiel.. OR WAS IT??? Rick possessed something that you just cant teach.. its a type of perseverance that you cant really explain. The type of perseverance that you only see on professional athletes who were told they're too small or too slow... or professional athletes and pitchers who have all the skills..all the tangibles.. the mechanics..the mind set, the talent but who completely loose their shit and suddenly can't throw a baseball over the plate.. something They have done their entire life... something that actually probably saved Ricks life. If you know his story.. can you even imagine what it must feel like to have that spotlite.??...one minute you're dealin..you're the man... then suddenly you're not... not becuase you got hurt..or got in an accident..or anything other then your mind took over and F'd your shit up.. so bad that it took him right out of the game that he loved...the game that is all hes ever known..OR DID IT?? Not when you posses the very rare and special kind of perseverance that Rick had. If he would have come back as a pitcher and was successful, this story wouldn't have had the impact.. even if he came back and was one of the greatest pitchers ever i dont think it would have had the impact that it did... i mean how many human beings actually make it to the big leagues.? Its such an elite group of men... yeah there are alot of players in the farm systems and developmental leagues... but most never get that call.. its like the elite of the elite... but Rick got that call.. not once but twice.... 1st as a pitcher with his big left arm... then again with his big left arm.. but not as a pitcher this time....but as a center freakin fielder who by the way hits for power..... hahahha.. can you even imagine??. the highs...then lows...then highs again... Rick ankiel...starting center fielder. Who couldn't throw a strike from the mound anymore but found himself throwing strikes from the out field to 2nd...Throwing guys out....to 3rd throwing guys out and to home throwing guys out... then stepping up to plate and smashing balls out of the park.. this shoulda been a movie..Long live Rick Ankiel and long live the great sport of baseball.
I still wonder how this game would have gone for Ankiel if Matheny hadn’t gotten hurt right before the playoffs. It probably would have been a much more comfortable win for the Cardinals, assuming they still score those 6 runs in the risk inning. This game made me nervous towards the end because the Braves had been there before, while the Cardinals weren’t in the playoffs since 1996. If the Cardinals had not won this game, I don’t believe they would have won the series.
You have to understand that in the 1990s, the Braves never lost in the first round and hardly gave up runs either, so when the Cardinals put up 6 in the first inning, it was an incredible sight to behold!!!
As we get ready for this year's Cardinals/Braves matchup in 2019, I can't help but think that this game was a sign that the Braves run was nearing its end and the Cardinals were starting a run of their own. Ankiel was wild in this game, and that's another story in itself, but the Cardinals won in spite of it because the Braves made some uncharacteristic mistakes behind Maddux in the 6-run first inning. Remember that in 1996, the Cardinals had a 3-1 lead in the Braves in the NLCS and lost the last three games 14-0, 3-1, and 15-0, and many people were expecting the Braves to sweep that series in 1996, and they were also expecting the Braves to make quick work out of the Cardinals in 2000. The Cardinals swept this series, and also swept the Braves in 1982, and won the wild card game against the Braves in 2012, so the 1996 series was the only series the Braves were able to beat the Cardinals, and it took them being down 3-1 to get their act together. As far as this year's series goes, Atlanta "should" win it, but the way things have been going in the playoffs the last few years, don't be surprise at anything.
The weird thing is he got through the first two innings with no issues. It was such a weird thing. And he starts out by walking Maddux in the third and went all downhill from there.
Well to be fair Greg Maddux melted down in this game too but it didn't spell the end of his career Two more excellent seasons and he remained a solid pitcher all the way up to 2007
After so much playoff success in the 90s it was symbolic that the Braves' first inning of 2000's playoffs was such a disaster. It foreshadowed that this version of the team would find no success in the postseason in the new decade.
A bit like the Torre-era Yankees. After blowing game 7 of the 2001 World Series they would never win another championship, after blowing the 3-0 lead in the 2004 ALCS they would never win another series of any kind
2000 NLCS - faced a very good New York Mets team. 2001 NLDS - faced an up-and-coming Arizona Diamondbacks team. 2002 NLCS - faced a Cinderella team in the San Francisco Giants. 2004 World Series - faced a Boston Red Sox team who pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of sports in the ALCS vs. the Yankees. They was no chance. 2005 NLCS - faced a Houston Astros team with a pitching staff that included Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
@@chardiemacdennis7218every team who makes the playoffs "should" win the world series but only one team ever does And the Cardinals were demolished in all of their playoff series losses in that era
The injury to his usual catcher Mike Matheny in a freak accident at home a week prior wound up having more of an impact then we expected. Starting the opening game of the playoffs, as a 21-year-old, and he didn't have his, let's say, comfort blanket.
You are being sarcastic, right? No pitcher decides to throw wild pitches. Wild pitches are due to a loss of control. Most pitchers can get it back. But some get what is called Steve Blass syndrome where they inexplicably lose their control and get a case of the yips, and it's all mental, and they can never get it back. It happened to the former Braves' closer Mark Wohlers
Carlos Hernandez is his name, and he didn't suck. He was the very definition of league average, in fact. By WAR, he was slightly above average during his very brief stint with St. Louis, and he had a nice postseason. Ankiel's problems are in no way Carlos Hernandez's fault, and blaming him in any way is unfair, and quite ridiculous.
I love Buck Martinez.
As a life long Blue Jay's fan, I love being able to listen to Buck call games all season long.
He's one of the greats.
Look how young he look.
Mike Matheny (who injured his finger with a knife on game 162) always felt that if he was the catcher that day, Ankiel would have been fine.
And yes, the Rockies Todd Helton did hit a go-ahead-home-run with two outs on game 162 to give the Cards homefield instead of the Braves, but that was because Chipper Jones made an error on what should have been the final out of the game.
The curveball he throws to Chipper in the middle of this blowup inning is so nasty ... Kid had some amazing stuff, the yips are the weirdest thing
That off speed curveball/eephus-esque pitch he dropped to Andru Jones was pretty gnarly, too.
Poor Carlos Hernandez lol
the mind is an incredible and mysterious thing
I wasn’t born yet when this game was played and I always wondered how the cards were able to score 6 runs off Maddux, thank you for the upload.
I was in High School. Thanks for making me feel old. lol
@@eliascoblentz4144 If it makes you feel better, I was in college.
This game/series was great payback for the 1996 NLCS. It's crazy that Game 7 of that series started with a 6 run first inning for Atlanta. And then in Game 1 of this series, the Cardinals put up a 6 run first inning of their own. Awesome! And this year the Cardinals put up a 10 run first inning on Atlanta. These teams love their big firsts!
Too bad out pitching EFFED up against the Mets. I thought this Cardinals team could have won the World Series
48:16 the first wild pitch
49:28 the second wild pitch
52:00 the third wild pitch
56:12 the fourth wild pitch
58:37 the fifth wild pitch
Baseball man.. what a sport.. how many legends on the field that day?!? Wow. Andres Galaraga, Will Clark, Chipper Jones, Jim Edmonds, the great Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine . Mark McGwire John Smoltz (missed that season but was most likley in the house) just to name a few. And then there was Rick Ankiel. With exception of Brian Jordan who also played in the NFL, Rick Ankiel was Arguably the best athlete on the field. The pitcher position has to be the toughest in all of sports. How extraordinary the human mind can be.. how powerful the human mind can be. And at the tender age of 20..maybe 21. Rick Ankiel with all the raw God given talent you can ask for , completely breaks down leaving baseball fans scratching their heads wondering WTF???
Rick woukd still het the nod but during This game With a 6-0 lead he throws 4 straight balls to Maddox.. but Rick comes back firing and with an 0-2 count on Chipper freakin Jones. Ball 1... .1-2. Then ball 2.... 2-2 and the next pitch that sailed you can see the body language on the catcher on Carlos Hernandez..when hes on his knees and flips the ball back to Rick.. head down..slumped shoulders.. and the camera catches him walking back to the plate again with his head down looking defeated. But Rick on the other hand looks poised and confident.. > I mean,, this is exactly what he was built for... and with a full count,. the young fireball phenom lefty with a dirty curve ball.. you saw it here on the 0-1 pitch to Chipper who swung and missed...
Everyone believed in the guy at this moment.. and so here we go....counts full then BAM another nasty hook to catch Chipper looking. Strike 3. Massive Strike out..
Then , my man had 1-2 to the big Cat with the next two pitches missing real close down and in... one of which was very similar to the pitch that just struck out Chipper. If Rick gets that call and Andres strikes out then we may never have seen what we did... as fate would have it, .Rick lets ball 4 sail on him totaling 4 shoulda been 5 wild pitches that inning.. .
Run scores. Still 2 on and not a single hit YET that inning for the Braves. Next batter, Big Brain Jordan gets jammed a little but still lines one to left field.. another run scores still 2 on and Rick is already somewhere in the 60 pitch range. Despite another wild pitch and a 3-1 count to the batter i just know every cardinals fan/ coach still believes Rick has got this.. Ankiel was the kind of pitcher who got stronger as the game progressed. Who threw harder as the game progressed.. who got better then he already was, as this season progressed. But then.....ball 4 to Reggie Sanders.
Now bases Are loaded.. Walt Weiss up. Rick throws a fast ball that paints the corner for a called strike 1.. .. i mean what a roller coaster outting.. up down ..up down.. and thats baseball.. and Sports in general. If you're not mentally tough it will break you down and leave you there if you let it. It will break your heart and mend your heart all in the same breath. You can see Rick was not happy coming off the mound.. but i always respect coaches protecting their players. Noway can you leave him out there at this point. But still i guarantee there was nothing but confidence in Rick. He threw some great pitches this game and you can hear Cardinals faithful cheering Rick as he walks off the field. Sadly it was the beginning of the end for the young phenom from Florida Rick Ankiel.. OR WAS IT??? Rick possessed something that you just cant teach.. its a type of perseverance that you cant really explain. The type of perseverance that you only see on professional athletes who were told they're too small or too slow... or professional athletes and pitchers who have all the skills..all the tangibles.. the mechanics..the mind set, the talent but who completely loose their shit and suddenly can't throw a baseball over the plate.. something They have done their entire life... something that actually probably saved Ricks life. If you know his story.. can you even imagine what it must feel like to have that spotlite.??...one minute you're dealin..you're the man... then suddenly you're not... not becuase you got hurt..or got in an accident..or anything other then your mind took over and F'd your shit up.. so bad that it took him right out of the game that he loved...the game that is all hes ever known..OR DID IT?? Not when you posses the very rare and special kind of perseverance that Rick had. If he would have come back as a pitcher and was successful, this story wouldn't have had the impact.. even if he came back and was one of the greatest pitchers ever i dont think it would have had the impact that it did... i mean how many human beings actually make it to the big leagues.? Its such an elite group of men... yeah there are alot of players in the farm systems and developmental leagues... but most never get that call.. its like the elite of the elite... but Rick got that call.. not once but twice.... 1st as a pitcher with his big left arm... then again with his big left arm.. but not as a pitcher this time....but as a center freakin fielder who by the way hits for power..... hahahha.. can you even imagine??. the highs...then lows...then highs again... Rick ankiel...starting center fielder. Who couldn't throw a strike from the mound anymore but found himself throwing strikes from the out field to 2nd...Throwing guys out....to 3rd throwing guys out and to home throwing guys out... then stepping up to plate and smashing balls out of the park.. this shoulda been a movie..Long live Rick Ankiel and long live the great sport of baseball.
1:00:57 Bases loaded, 3rd base - Galarraga, 2nd - Brian Jordan, 1st - Reggie Sanders... all played for the Cardinals at one time.
3:01:28 Gotta love the emotion from Bobby Cox, after a loss. They don't make them like that anymore.
Interesting that Ankiel never really lost control of his curveball here. Overthrowing the changeup seemed to be the start of all his troubles.
I still wonder how this game would have gone for Ankiel if Matheny hadn’t gotten hurt right before the playoffs. It probably would have been a much more comfortable win for the Cardinals, assuming they still score those 6 runs in the risk inning. This game made me nervous towards the end because the Braves had been there before, while the Cardinals weren’t in the playoffs since 1996. If the Cardinals had not won this game, I don’t believe they would have won the series.
Take a moment of silence and recognize the beauty in the swing of the switch hitting Jim Edmonds. Particularly from the left side. Wow.
Edmonds was a lefty, not a switch hitter
@@brandon_e23 you're totally right. Not sure what i was thinking.
You have to understand that in the 1990s, the Braves never lost in the first round and hardly gave up runs either, so when the Cardinals put up 6 in the first inning, it was an incredible sight to behold!!!
Same as the Cardinals hardly ever losing in the first round 2000-2015.
I remember watching this in school. And Maddux was smacked around so hard that it almost didn't matter that Ankiel got the yips.
As we get ready for this year's Cardinals/Braves matchup in 2019, I can't help but think that this game was a sign that the Braves run was nearing its end and the Cardinals were starting a run of their own. Ankiel was wild in this game, and that's another story in itself, but the Cardinals won in spite of it because the Braves made some uncharacteristic mistakes behind Maddux in the 6-run first inning. Remember that in 1996, the Cardinals had a 3-1 lead in the Braves in the NLCS and lost the last three games 14-0, 3-1, and 15-0, and many people were expecting the Braves to sweep that series in 1996, and they were also expecting the Braves to make quick work out of the Cardinals in 2000. The Cardinals swept this series, and also swept the Braves in 1982, and won the wild card game against the Braves in 2012, so the 1996 series was the only series the Braves were able to beat the Cardinals, and it took them being down 3-1 to get their act together. As far as this year's series goes, Atlanta "should" win it, but the way things have been going in the playoffs the last few years, don't be surprise at anything.
Thoughts on this game after to Cardinals 10-run first in game 5?
The weird thing is he got through the first two innings with no issues. It was such a weird thing. And he starts out by walking Maddux in the third and went all downhill from there.
The weird part is that his yips started on the third inning, after pitching shutout innings in the first two innings
7:29 wait, when he came to the Cardinals in 2011, he was 34, not 31, so he lied about his age...
1:01:07 Walt Weiss drives in two runs and ankiel is relieved (of his mistery)
Well to be fair Greg Maddux melted down in this game too but it didn't spell the end of his career
Two more excellent seasons and he remained a solid pitcher all the way up to 2007
After so much playoff success in the 90s it was symbolic that the Braves' first inning of 2000's playoffs was such a disaster. It foreshadowed that this version of the team would find no success in the postseason in the new decade.
A bit like the Torre-era Yankees. After blowing game 7 of the 2001 World Series they would never win another championship, after blowing the 3-0 lead in the 2004 ALCS they would never win another series of any kind
53:54 saving wild pitch
5:45 that aged poorly given what happened well after the first...
5:45 that aged poorly given how the second inning went.
Who remember that bj RS rf js and Brewers future manager face us 2011
The Cardinals should have won the WS. At least 3 times from 2000-2005.
2000 NLCS - faced a very good New York Mets team.
2001 NLDS - faced an up-and-coming Arizona Diamondbacks team.
2002 NLCS - faced a Cinderella team in the San Francisco Giants.
2004 World Series - faced a Boston Red Sox team who pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of sports in the ALCS vs. the Yankees. They was no chance.
2005 NLCS - faced a Houston Astros team with a pitching staff that included Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
@@theicchamp06 again, the Cardinals should have won 3 WS titles from 2000-2005
@@theicchamp06 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@chardiemacdennis7218 just showing you why.
@@chardiemacdennis7218every team who makes the playoffs "should" win the world series but only one team ever does
And the Cardinals were demolished in all of their playoff series losses in that era
That was awful to watch. Ankiel actually had a good rookie season in 2000 and it all fell apart that day.
The injury to his usual catcher Mike Matheny in a freak accident at home a week prior wound up having more of an impact then we expected. Starting the opening game of the playoffs, as a 21-year-old, and he didn't have his, let's say, comfort blanket.
@@pomerlain8924 That's right. Matheny was done for the playoffs after his injury.
Andrew Jones blew this game, he was paid by the Cardinals
Why would Rick Ankiel decide to throw so many wild pitches ? Why not just throw strikes i don't get it
You are being sarcastic, right? No pitcher decides to throw wild pitches. Wild pitches are due to a loss of control. Most pitchers can get it back. But some get what is called Steve Blass syndrome where they inexplicably lose their control and get a case of the yips, and it's all mental, and they can never get it back. It happened to the former Braves' closer Mark Wohlers
The catcher sucked. He didn’t even try to frame anything close. He is in part to blame for Rick Ankiel yips
Carlos Hernandez is his name, and he didn't suck. He was the very definition of league average, in fact. By WAR, he was slightly above average during his very brief stint with St. Louis, and he had a nice postseason.
Ankiel's problems are in no way Carlos Hernandez's fault, and blaming him in any way is unfair, and quite ridiculous.