Giants fans watched two things very closely during Game 3 the National League Championship Series in St. Louis: the weather and Marco Scutaro.
The forecast for northeastern Missouri was not looking good in the hours ahead of the game, but it did start on time. The rain started to fall in the 6th inning. A rain delay was called in the 7th during a pitching change. (Matt Cain is out of the game with runners in scoring position and the score 3-1 with 2 outs and the Cardinals in the lead).
CSN Bay Area's Jaymee Sire Tweeted the photo below showing the rain and the now empty seats at Busch Stadium.
It was a serious storm. The jumotron read, "High winds and lightning are possible during this storm. Should you need to take shelter, designated areas are marked."
The delay lasted more than 3 hours. The rain cleared by 5:30 or 6 p.m.our time, but it took the grounds crew another 45 minutes or so to get things ready again for baseball.
And just as things looked like they would get back to playing, Comcast reported more rain falling.
The game was back on at 7:00 p.m. PT.
The other storyline of the game was the response to the hard slide by St. Louis slugger Matt Holliday during Game 2 in San Francisco Monday night. It knocked Scutaro out of the game. The MRI was clear, and he was in the line-up on Wednesday but that is not stopping the baseball chatter about dirty play and possible retaliation.
When Scutaro was asked if he wanted retaliation for the hit, he said a shutout from starting pitcher Matt Cain would be retaliation he'd prefer.
When Cain was asked about the other kind of retaliation, he said wasn't going to not throw inside against Holliday.
"You've got to go out there and pitch your game," Cain said. "If something gets away from me inside, that's kind of part of the game. You can't have a fear of doing that."
As for Holliday, he seems to be doing all the right things following the hit including sending an apology of sorts to Giants catcher Busty Posey before his next at-bat.
"I told Buster to tell Marco I wish I had started my slide a step earlier," Holliday said. Adding, I wanted him to know I wasn't trying to hurt him. When a guy has to leave the game, I feel bad."
He also put in a call to the Giants clubhouse to check on Scutaro.
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Scutaro was a mid-season acquisition for the Giants and many fans are comparing his hitting streak since wearing the orange and black to another mid-season acquisition back in 2010 named Cody Ross.
Ross lead the team to a World Series ring, and the fans are hoping Scutaro will do the same.
He's batting .362 with 40 runs and 44 RBIs since joining the team in late July. He is currently 4 for 8 with two RBIs in the current series. That includes a game clearing hit after the hard slide Monday night.
Back to the game. Cain has struggled against the Cardinals in 2012. He has a 6.94 ERA in two starts, and is 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA overall in eight starts.
