2011 World Series: Game 2

Posted on October 21, 2011

The St. Louis Cardinals home ballpark Busch Stadium is bathed in sunshine before Game 2 of the 2011 World Series against the Texas Rangers in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos)

 

Now we have a Series. After the Rangers came back to win Game 2 of the 2011 World Series tonight in St. Louis by scoring 2 runs in the 9th inning to beat the Cards 2-1 we are all heading to Texas for what promises to be three more competitive games. After squeaking out a 3-2 win in Game 1 the Cards were three outs away from taking a commanding 2-0 lead, but thanks to the gutty Rangers we might even get to come back to St. Louis next week- which would be a blast. There is nothing like covering a 7th game- and that is what I am rooting for.

Tonight’s game was played in cool and dry weather- which made me very happy. I was assigned to shoot from an elevated spot on the first base side of home plate. When I am up in a place like this I always hope to make one really special picture that helps tell the story of the game, and tonight I think I got what I was looking for (you can judge for yourself by looking at the action picture at the bottom). However, before all the excitement of covering the game the real highlight for me occurred three hours before the first pitch when I had the chance to go inside the Cardinals clubhouse while the team was on the field for batting practice.

My fun assignment was to shoot pictures of the uniforms showing the World Series patch, and any other items in the room that said “World Series.” Thanks to our MLB Photos picture editor Jessica Foster we were able to make this happen and I think we came out of there with some fun images to add to our regular coverage.

It is always fun to have some nice pre-game stuff in the can, so I was feeling good by the time I got up to my spot for the beginning of the game. It was a super tight pitcher’s duel with no action for most of the game. You knew it would come down to a swing of the bat, or a great defensive play that told the story. Luckily or me the Rangers pulled off an amazing play around the bag at second when shortstop Elvis Andrus made a spectacular diving stop of a sure base hit up the middle then made a glove-hand flip to second baseman Ian Kinsler to make a force out and save a run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

This is one of those plays that is pretty much impossible to fit into a frame from field level without getting blocked, etc. because it involved three people and was so spread out. Luckily from my overhead spot everything lined up perfectly and a cool sequence of pictures was able to tell the story. My favorite I have posted below.

So Game 2 is in the books and I am excited to head out to Dallas early Friday morning. Our crew was very lucky to grab a non-stop flight a week or so ago, so we will be arriving in Texas by mid-morning. This means one thing: A real off day! Game 3 is Saturday night and the weather should be awesome. If all goes well we will be coming back here to our goofy hotel at the foot of the Arch next Tuesday.