Who is responsible for the Cardinals loss in Game 2?

With two outs in the bottom of 9th, Dodgers 1B James Loney hit a liner at Cardinals LF Matt Holliday. Holliday lost the ball in the lights and it dropped in for a two base error. You can’t catch what you can’t see. If Holliday catches the ball, the game is over. According to Fangraphs.com, after the Holliday error, the Cardinals still had an 87% chance of winning that game, leading 2-1 with a runner on 2nd and two outs.

Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin got Manny Ramirez to fly out to center for the second out of the 9th. It appeared the Cardinals were heading to St. Louis for games 3 and 4 with a 1-1 series split. Then Loney reached on the Holliday error. Franklin couldn’t work around this mistake. The next four Dodger hitters went: walk, single, walk, single, including a game-tying hit by former-Cardinal Ronnie Belliard.

Another potential place for blame is Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan. Ryan had a runner on 2nd base three times during the game and he couldn’t drive in that runner once.

Both teams had opportunities to win that game, and blaming Matt Holliday for the loss isn’t fair or accurate. It’s a shame for St. Louis because Adam Wainwright gave the Dodger hitters all they could handle.

Matt Holliday hit a Home Run earlier in the game, so it wasn’t like he killed St. Louis in Game 2. However, the game will most likely be remembered for Holliday’s error than anything else.

As a side point, through the first two games, the Dodgers bullpen has allowed one run in 7 2/3 IP, good for a 1.17 ERA.