Classic Toon MLB-2011 NL Wild Card Race

Welcome to Classic Toon MLB, where we recreate past games using your favorite cartoon characters. Let's take a look back to September 28, 2011 to see not one, but two games. First, the struggling Atlanta Braves take on the Philadelphia Phillies in hopes to maintain their small lead in the wild card; meanwhile in Houston, the St. Louis Cardinals come in to town to face the Astros in what could be their last game of the 2011 season. First, let's take a look a how these two teams got to this situation.

On August 25, the NL Wild Card looked like this:

Atlanta –
San Francisco 9.5
St. Louis 10.5

But over the course of the month, the Cardinals won 22 out of 30, whereas the Braves lost 17 out of 26 games. By September 28, the NL Wild Card came to look like this:

St. Louis –
Atlanta –

Heading into the last day of the season, both the Cards and the Braves each had one game left to play. Could St. Louis finish their improbable run? Or would Atlanta take the Wild Card pennant? Or would they both have to face each other in a one-game playoff to determine who wins?

We begin with the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the Atlanta Braves. Here are the game's starting lineup:

Philadelphia

Arnold Shortman-SS, 11
Helga Pataki-2B, 26
Nadine Stevens-RF, 18
Harold Berman-1B, 6
Rhonda Lloyd-CF, 2
Curly Gammelthorpe-LF, 15
Gerald Johannsen-3B, 33
Lila Sawyer-C, 51
Wolfgang-P, 52

Atlanta

Kick Buttowski-CF, 14
Mouth-LF, 40
Ronaldo-3B, 44
Gordon Gibble-2B, 10
Kendall Perkins-1B, 33
Gunther Magnusson-C, 20
Jackie Wackerman-RF, 16
Brad Buttowski-SS, 7
Boom McCondor-P, 17

Umpires

Home: Dale Scott
First: Jerry Meals
Second: CB Bucknor
Third: Dan Issongna

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Chip Caray (Fox Sports South): It all comes down to this: Game #162 of the 2011 season as the Atlanta Braves take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Hi, I'm Chip Caray, welcoming you to tonight's game. The first pitch has been taken in as we take a look at the Braves' starting pitcher.

McCondor-RHP
Games: 32
W-L: 16-10
ERA: 3.22
K-BB: 158-62

Caray: With one man on and two outs, here's the 0-1 pitch to Berman. (crack!) Line drive down the left field line, and fair! Stevens will score; Berman heads to second as the Phillies take an early lead.

(Bottom 1^st)

Caray: 1-0 Phillies as Kick takes a ball to start the Braves' first. Let's take a look at the Phillies's starting pitcher:

Wolfgang-LHP
W-L: 1-2
ERA: 5.01
K-BB: 35-9

Caray: The 1-0 to Kick. (crack!) Base hit into center field, and the Braves are on board!  And now with one man on, here comes Mouth to the plate. The runner goes, and Kick is...SAFE! Now, Ronaldo on the plate after the groundout by Mouth that sent Kick to third. (crack!) A fly ball to left, Curly is there to make the catch, and Kick will tag up. With that the Braves have tied the game on Ronaldo's sacrifice.  After one inning, it's tied at one.

(Bottom 3^rd)

Still tied at one as Kick Buttowski takes ball one. The 2-0 pitch. (crack) Kick is on again with another base hit into center field. Now Mouth on plate, the 0-1 pitch is taken for a strike; the throw to second is not in time! Another stolen base for Kick! And the 0-2. (crack!) Grounder to third, the throw...not in time!The 1-0 to Ronaldo; both runners go, and Kick is out! Two out in the bottom of the second as Gibble comes on with Mouth at second. Here's the 0-2. (CRACK!) High Fly Ball into Left-Center Field! Does it have enough? YES! A 2-RUN HOME RUN BY GORDON GIBBLE AND THE BRAVES LEAD 3-1!!!

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(Meanwhile, in Houston...)

Dan McLaughlin (Fox Sports Midwest): We would like to welcome you to Game #162 of the 2011 season as the St. Louis Cardinals come into town to face the Houston Astros! I'm Dan McLaughlin, with me is Al “The Mad Hungarian” Hrabosky.

Al Hrabosky: The St. Louis Cardinals have made a historical comeback. In the past month, they've gone from 10.5 games back to a tie with Atlanta in the NL wild card.

McLaughlin: Right now the Braves are leading the Phillies after three, 3-1; the Cardinals must win this game if they at least want to force a tiebreaker.

Hrabosky: Let's take a look at the starting lineup for both teams.

Cardinals:

Dark Laser, 21-CF
Timmy Turner, 5-LF
Veronica Star, 17-1B
Wanda Cosma, 22-RF
Jorgen von Strangle, 9-3B
Mark Chang, 44-C
Chester McBadbat, 2-2B
Cosmo Cosma, 14-SS
Trixie Tang, 29-P

Astros:

Betty Quinlan, 6-CF
Libby Folfax, 44-2B
Nick Dean, 11-LF
Cindy Vortex, 10-1B
Beautiful Gorgeous, 52-RF
Courtney Tyler, 6-3B
Jimmy Neutron, 21-SS
Sheen Estevez, 20, C
Jet Fusion, 77-P

McLaughlin: The first pitch to Laser...a strike as we take a look at the starting pitch for the Astros.

Jet Fusion-SP
Games: 32
W-L: 7-13
K-BB: 160-62
ERA: 4.46

McLaughlin: The 2-2 pitch.(crack!)Grounder to short. The throw is not in time! An infield hit for Dark Laser! Now Timmy Turner coming up with one man on. The 2-2. (crack!) A base hit into left! And now two men are on with Veronica coming up and nobody out! The 1-2 pitch to Star. (crack!) Another base hit into left! Coming to score is Laser and the Cardinals have an early lead! The 2-1 to Wanda. (crack!) Base hit into right and the Cardinals lead 2-0! The 0-1 pitch to von Strangle. (Crack!) Fly ball into left field is off the wall! Cardinals lead 3-0! One out, Wanda is on third, and von Strangle on second for Cosmo Cosma. The 0-1 pitch. (crack!) To short, and the throw is not in time! Cardinals lead 4-0 after Cosmo's infield hit. The 3-2 pitch to McBadbat. (crack!) Another base hit and the Cardinals score five in the first inning!

Hrabosky: Chester McBadbat is proving everyone in the Majors that he's nothing like his father, Bucky.

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McLaughlin: Top of the third; two outs, two men on, and with the pitcher's spot coming up, let's take a look at her pitching stats.</P>

Trixie Tang-SP
Games: 33
W-L: 10-9
ERA: 3.45
Last at-bat (1^st Inning): Struck out; bunting.

McLaughlin: Here's the 1-2 delivery to Tang. (crack!) Base hit into right! Von Strangle will score, and it's 6-0 Cardinals in the top of the 3^rd!

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McLaughlin: Top of the 5^th, one out, and von Strangle is on third. The 0-2 pitch to Cosmo.(crack!) A ground ball to Neutron. Cosmo is out, but the runner scores. It's now 7-0, Cardinals!

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(Back in Atlanta)

Caray: Still 3-1 in favor of the Braves here in the top of the 7^th,  but the Phillies have a man 90 feet away following a double by Gammelthorpe and an infield single by Johannsen. Here's the 3-1 pitch to Lila Sawyer. (crack!) Ground ball to Brad, and he throws it away! Gammelthorpe will score, and it's now 3-2 after the error by Brad Buttowski!

---

Caray: The Atlanta Braves are just two outs away from having at least a shot at the playoffs, but now they're facing Helga Pataki with the bases loaded. Here's the 0-1 delivery. (Crack!) Fly ball to left. Mouth will make the play, but the Phillies have tied the game at 3.

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Caray: Two out, Bottom of the 9^th, still tied at 3. Here's the 1-2 pitch to Wackerman. (whiff!) Strike three, and this game is heading into extra innings!

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(Back in Houston)

McLaughlin: One out, Top of the 9^th, still 7-0, St. Louis, and Timmy Turner is at the plate. He has singled, struck out, flied out, and lined out in his previous at-bats. The 2-2 to Turner. (CRACK!) There's a shot into deep right field! This ball is OUT OF HERE! TIMMY TURNER HAS HIT A SOLO SHOT INTO RIGHT FIELD, AND IT'S NOW 8-0 IN FAVOR OF THE CARDINALS!

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McLaughlin: Nick Dean is the Astros' last hope in the bottom of the 9^th as we take a look at tonight's player of the game.

Trixie Tang-P
Innings: 8.2
K: 11
BB: 1
H: 2

McLaughlin: The 2-1 pitch. (crack!) Short roller to Tang, and she'll make the throw to Turner at first for the final out! Cardinals shut out the Astros 8-0 as Trixie Tang goes the distance! The rest of the team is crowding around the mound as they await the victor of the Braves game.

Cardinals: HAPPY FLIGHT! HAPPY FLIGHT! HAPPY FLIGHT!

Final Score (R-H-E)

St. Louis: 8-12-0
Houston: 0-2-1

WP: Tang (11-9)
LP: Fusion (7-14)

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(Back in Atlanta)

Caray: Top of the 13^th, still tied at three. Pitcher's spot due up. Here's the 0-2 delivery. (whiff) Got him swinging! Now Sawyer is up. The 3-2 pitch.

Scott: TAKE YOUR BASE!

Caray: A one out walk puts the go-ahead run on for the Phillies. The 1-1 pitch to Shortman. (Crack!) Fly ball, easy enough for Wackerman to catch, and there's two away in the 13^th. And now here comes Helga Pataki who scored the Phillies' tying run off a sacrifice fly in the 9^th inning. The 3-2 pitch. (Crack!) That's a base hit into right! Sawyer heading to third, Pataki staying at first. And the go-ahead run is now 90 feet away with Nadine Stevens coming up. The 2-2 pitch to Stevens. (Crack!) A blooper into shallow right, and it's GOING TO DROP IN! One run scores, and the Phillies take the lead!

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Caray: We head to the Bottom of the 13^th, the Phillies lead, 4-3. Ronaldo starting off. Here's the 3-2 pitch. (whiff!) One away. And here comes Gordon Gibble, who hit a two-run blast all the way back in the third inning. The 3-2.

Scott: TAKE YOUR BASE!

Caray: That sets up the tying run with one out in the bottom of the 13^th. Kendall Perkins has a shot at sending the Braves into a one-game playoff against St. Louis with a home run. The 3-2 pitch. (crack!) Ground ball to Berman, who throws it to Shortman, and back to Berman. A double play, and the Philadelphia Phillies have ended the Braves' season.

Final/13 (R-H-E):

Philadelphia 4-11-0
Atlanta 3-10-1

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(Just before the final two outs, inside the Cardinals' clubhouse in St. Louis)

The team had already saran wrapped the cupboards, brought out the bottles of champange, and getting the official Wild Card Champion t-shirts which had their team logo along with Busch Stadium III emblazoned on them. Al Hrabosky was also inside the clubhouse reporting the inevitable celebration as some of the players were already cheering. Remy Buxaplenty, the Cardinals' closer, was watching the last play of the Braves game with a teammate as the final outs were recorded.

Buxaplenty: Huzzah!

The other players began to celebrate even harder as they grabbed the champange and Budweiser bottles and began spraying the contents into one another. The shirts were being handed out to the players as they were being recorded on live TV. Even Tony LaRussa, the manager of the team, took a few pictures to remember this moment. Trixie Tang and Timmy Turner were embracing each other as the rest of the team began chanting. It was a chant they always performed whenever they ended a series with a victory.

Team: HAPPY FLIGHT! HAPPY FLIGHT! HAPPY FLIGHT!

A new day brings new adventures; but for the St. Louis Cardinals, rest easy as your playoff journey will soon begin...