Cards use clutch hitting and bullpen to take WS Game 1

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers 3-2 in Game 1 of the World Series tonight. I'm going to jump straight to my thoughts on the game. The Cardinals bullpen was fantastic again. It really is shocking to me to see that group of relievers continuing to shut down the top offenses in baseball.

When I watched the Cards during the season, and especially when they took on the Giants, the bullpen was quite unimpressive. Then again, the Giants opened at home against the Cardinals when Ryan Franklin was the closer. Franklin was so bad that he is no longer with the team. Jason Motte (even with a very ugly beard) has done a bang up job in the playoffs in the closer role (even if manager Tony La Russa won't officially acknowledge he is the closer). Still, they don't have many guys down in that bullpen that strike fear into my mind. However, they have been lights out and really seem to be feeding off of each other. I credit pitching coach Dave Duncan, who has long been one of the top coaches in all of the game.

I thought Ron Washington handled his bullpen, etc. better tonight than he did in last year's World Series against the Giants, when he left guys out there far too long. In fact, he did a much better job with that. The only thing I take issue with Washington doing was pinch-hitting with Esteban German in the top of the 7th with two runners on. German hadn't had an at bat the entire postseason and did not come through. Yorvit Torrealba seemed a much better option, particularly with the Rangers carrying three catchers in the series.

Props to Allen Craig for a clutch pinch-hit single that proved to be the game winner. He rewarded La Russa for pulling starting pitcher Chris Carpenter in that spot, which I think was the right move regardless. You have to play to win and you don't know how many chances you are going to get to score. Alright, that's all for tonight, follow me on Twitter for in game updates and stay tuned to the blog for more analysis.