Baseball Memories Pt. 1

He called for the change up. St. Louis Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina threw down four fingers, flashing the sign for the change to his right-handed pitcher Adam Wainwright. The gangly rookie looked back with one eyebrow raised, then nodded. Center fielder Carlos Beltran was at the plate. He had slammed the Cards in the 2004 National League Championship Series as a member of the Astros and with the bases loaded and down by one, Beltran had a chance to be the biggest hero in Shea Stadium since Mookie Wilson.

The puzzled rook must have thought Molina was picking a strange time to haze him. Should he shake it off? Nobody shakes him off. Two-seem fastball, cut fastball, slider and curve ball. They ran through his mind. Wainwright, a top prospect starter, was out of his element here. He had been jammed into the closer's role after veteran Jason Isringhausen had gone down with an arm injury. He had been living off a plus fastball and a curve that would cause hitters to jump like they'd seen a crack of lightning. Not a stupid change up.

Strike one. Beltran raised his brow.

A few foul balls and a crack of lightning later and Molina was somewhere in the middle of the pile; his mask, glove and chest protector laying on the grass just beyond the celebration.