MILWAUKEE -- Left behind in the postseason race, the St. Louis Cardinals decided to focus on small goals in
September. Now, the ultimate one is within reach.
The Cardinals' wild ride is headed to the World Series.
"It's kind of surreal that we're here," said third baseman
David Freese, who took MVP honors in the series. "But this team
deserves what we've been rewarded."
Freese hit a three-run homer in the first inning and manager
Tony La Russa again turned to his brilliant bullpen for seven
sturdy innings as St. Louis captured its 18th pennant with a 12-6
victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday night.
"For two weeks in August we started mugging games left and
right and we had to say, hey, look, unless we go about this better,
we're going to ruin everything we accomplished as far as respect,"
La Russa said. "And we started winning a little bit. And literally
played every game like it was the last game of our life."
Trailing by 10½ games in the wild-card race on Aug. 25, the
Cardinals surged down the stretch and took advantage of a
monumental collapse by Atlanta to win a playoff spot on the final
night of the regular season.
In a twist of fate, it was Philadelphia that helped them get in
by completing a three-game sweep of the Braves.
Once in the postseason, Albert Pujols and the Cardinals took out
the heavily favored Phillies in the first round, then dispatched
the division-rival Brewers on their own turf in Game 6 of the NL
Championship Series.
"I mean, you could have never known," Pujols said.
Freese, often overlooked in a lineup anchored by All-Stars,
batted .545 with three homers and nine RBIs in the series.
Looking for its second title in six seasons, St. Louis opens the
World Series at home Wednesday night with ace Chris Carpenter on
the mound against the AL champion Texas Rangers.
It's been such a frenetic run, it seems fitting that a squirrel
has become the team's unofficial mascot.
The rally squirrel started in the division series against
Philadelphia when the furry rodent scampered across home plate
during Game 4. Another squirrel was on the field before Game 5 when
Carpenter shut out the Phillies.
Reliever Octavio Dotel carries a small, stuffed squirrel with
him after a Philadelphia fan tossed it to him in jest, a tangible
sign of where the Cardinals have come from.
"I lay in my bed thinking, 'Wow, we are in this position.' I
cannot believe it personally. I can't believe where we are after
the way we played the last month, and the way Atlanta played,"
Dotel said. "It's crazy to be where we are right now. I don't know
how to explain that to you. The only thing I know is we're here and
we're looking forward to keep winning games."
Bolstered by a group of no-name relievers who keep answering La
Russa's call, the Cardinals are back in the World Series for the
first time since beating Detroit in 2006.
"We had a lot of adversity, but we found a way," Cardinals
left fielder Matt Holliday said.
It was a disappointing end to a scintillating season for Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and the NL Central champion Brewers, who
finished with a franchise-record 96 wins, six games ahead of St.
Louis in the division.
Baseball's best home team collapsed in the NLCS, though, losing
twice at Miller Park in an error-filled flop. It was likely
Fielder's final game with the Brewers, too. He can become a free
agent after the season.
"I had to clear the throat once, but it was all right. I love
these guys," said Fielder, a first-round draft pick in 2002.
"I've been playing with most of them since I was 18. So this
organization has been great to me."
Rafael Furcal and Pujols hit solo homers off Chris Narveson and
St. Louis built a 9-4 lead by the time the bullpen took over for
Edwin Jackson in the third inning.
The group of Fernando Salas, Marc Rzepczynski, Dotel, Lance Lynn
and Jason Motte allowed two runs the rest of the way. For the
series, St. Louis relievers finished 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA over 28
2/3 innings.
The most lasting image of this NLCS has been La Russa on the
bullpen phone.
"He's a genius, isn't he?" said Motte, the fifth closer this
year for the Cardinals.
St. Louis built an 11-5 lead before the biggest scare came when
Pujols was shaken up after tagging out Braun in the fifth inning.
The three-time MVP fell hard on his right forearm on a close play
at first base.
"I got spiked. I didn't feel too good but as long as I can walk
I'm playing in that game," Pujols said. "It's the postseason.
Nothing hurts. You don't think about it. You think about making a
play. If you got hurt, hey at least you got hurt trying something
hard."
The Cardinals took control of this series beginning in Game 2 by
jumping out to early leads and letting the bullpen lead the way.
La Russa called on his relievers 28 times in the NLCS and
Jackson's start was the shortest of the postseason for the
rotation, which finished the NLCS with a 7.66 ERA. St. Louis became
the first team to win a postseason series without a starter
reaching the sixth inning, according to STATS LLC.
Freese gave his teammates credit while accepting the MVP award.
"I wish we could make eight or nine of these and give them to
our bullpen. They're the reason why we won this series," he said.
Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Jonathan Lucroy all homered for the
Brewers, who won a major league-best 57 home games at Miller Park
this season and four straight in the postseason before losing Game
2 to the Cardinals.
The Brewers' biggest hitters -- Braun, Fielder and Weeks -
finished 1 for 12 in Game 6. Fielder, the All-Star game MVP and the
reason St. Louis will start at home on Wednesday, received a
standing ovation in his final at-bat in the eighth. He grounded out
and slowly walked back to the dugout with his head down.
"Obviously I envisioned us winning the World Series, but that
didn't happen," Fielder said. "We had a great year as a team.
Unfortunately we didn't get to where we wanted to go. But still
some great moments and great memories in there. Like I said, this
year has been awesome."
It was the two ugly defensive performances that will likely
linger for Milwaukee, which committed four errors in a 7-1 loss in
Game 5 and added three more in Game 6.
"You can't get away with mistakes to them and we made way too
many mistakes," manager Ron Roenicke said.
Struggling starter Shaun Marcum never really gave Milwaukee a
chance and was hurt by defensive plays that weren't ruled errors.
In the first, Jon Jay singled with one out and stole second when
Weeks couldn't hold onto Lucroy's low throw. Marcum believed he had
strike three on Pujols, who ended up walking.
Lance Berkman singled for the second hit in 18 career at-bats
against Marcum to drive in the first run, and center fielder Nyjer
Morgan made an ill-advised throw to third that let Berkman reach
second.
Marcum saved a run by grabbing Holliday's dribbler and flipping
it out of his glove to Lucroy to get Pujols at the plate, but
Freese homered on the next pitch to make it 4-0 and extend his
postseason hitting streak to 10 games.
"We believe," Freese said. "I think that's what you've got to
do in this game. We got a group of guys with some talent, desire,
and just a ton of heart."