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The Cardinals prepare to say farewell
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Oct. 20 2005
Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium was reserved for the Cardinals cleaning out
their lockers, exchanging goodbyes and, in some cases, driving their
four-wheel-drive vehicles onto the outfield grass to perform doughnuts.
Manager Tony La Russa and his coaching staff met across the street with general
manager Walt Jocketty as planning began for the NL Central champions' winter
makeover.
More than three months remain for reflection on a six-game NLCS loss to the
wild-card Houston Astros. The wipeout was finalized by Wednesday's 5-1 loss to
righthander Roy Oswalt and a team that proved more opportunistic at the plate
and more efficient defensively.
With changes virtually certain within the bullpen and the outfield, much of the
team departed condemned Busch Stadium for the final time Thursday. Reliever Ray
King restated his desire to be traded after failing to appear in the team's
nine postseason games and an unimpressed La Russa said he would recommend that
the lefthander's wish be granted.
Mostly, the manager and his players admitted they had been outplayed.
"They played better baseball than we did," said third baseman Abraham Nunez,
who led the club with a .385 average in the series. "They pitched extremely
well. We didn't do as much as we needed to do."
The Astros outhit the Cardinals 55-39 and outslugged them 81 total bases to 54.
Lost in the celebration of a three-game, first-round sweep of the San Diego
Padres was the Cardinals being outhit there also.
After never trailing in their first four postseason games, the Cardinals held a
lead for only 4 1/2 innings of their last five games. Their finish was an
unwelcome reminder of last October's World Series, which they lost without ever
leading. The Astros did not allow an unearned run in the series. The Cardinals
allowed five in addition to Mark Mulder permitting Wednesday's first run to
score on a third-inning wild pitch.
"We won a lot of games this year because we outplayed the other club," La Russa
said. "We played better baseball, so we won. We got beat in the series because
they played better than we did."
Right fielder Larry Walker said: "We pitched great. They pitched better. You
could say we didn't hit. But I'm not going to lie. That was the toughest
stretch of pitching I've ever faced."
The Boston Red Sox held the Cardinals to a .190 average and 12 runs. Walker was
one of the few exceptions on a struggling roster as he batted .357 with the
team's only two home runs. Against the Astros he managed only a .158 average
with one RBI and no runs. "We didn't get beat by Boston's pitching," he said.
"That's for sure. Pedro (Martinez) may have beaten us. With (Roger) Clemens,
(Andy) Pettitte, Oswalt and (Brandon) Backe, there wasn't much let-up.
"After that Game 5, everybody was really high. But I remember saying this was a
pretty steep hill. Four hits later and a guy throwing 97 and hitting his spots,
here we are."
The Astros didn't retreat from the middle of the Cardinals' lineup. They
attacked it. Left fielder Reggie Sanders had 12 RBIs in the first four
postseason games before falling hard on the Busch Stadium warning track in Game
2.
After missing Game 3, Sanders returned to go one for 12 with seven strikeouts
in the final three games. La Russa double-switched him from Game 6 after his
third strikeout. A club source said after Wednesday's elimination that Sanders
had played the last three games with significant stiffness and a lingering
headache.
Sanders, center fielder Jim Edmonds, Walker and Mark Grudzielanek finished the
series hitting a cumulative .192 with one home run, five RBIs and 17 strikeouts
in 78 at-bats.
"It seemed we did a very good job of keeping the meat of their order from
hurting us too badly," Astros manager Phil Garner said. Shortstop and leadoff
hitter David "Eckstein was a pest. He just kept getting on base. But we managed
to keep Edmonds out of harm's way. We neutralized Pujols and Walker for the
most part, and also Sanders."
Pujols hit .304 for the series with a team-high six RBIs but rarely hit with
runners in scoring position.
"If they can't generate anything, then hitting is usually contagious. That's
the way I see it on the mound," Oswalt said. "You give up a hit here or a hit
there, and everybody seems like they want to run up there and hit the ball. The
big thing to me was not to put anybody on by walks. Just go right at them and
make the defense play behind me."
Pujols' ninth-inning home run in Game 5 at least gave the Cardinals' fan base a
chance to say goodbye to 39-year-old Busch Stadium.
"If there's any justice, we did get a win in Houston so we could play a game
here," La Russa said. "This ballpark deserved to play a game - hopefully, a
winner - but just to play a game."
Payment was made both ways.
Walker, who announced his retirement after the game, became emotional after
returning to the field to thank those who remained to cheer.
La Russa knows others will be less charitable regarding the team's fourth loss
in five trips to the NLCS during his term.
"I think there's a strong segment of our support that marks your season with
not getting to the World Series, but winning it," La Russa said. "So with that
group, we failed. But we have got to be more realistic as an organization and
coaches and players."
La Russa defended the Cardinals against charges of a flat performance after
Game 6.
"I hear this all the time, 'The club looked flat,'" La Russa said. "You know
when you look flat? When the guy on the mound is shutting you down. You walk to
the plate, three guys walk to the plate, they make outs. Nobody gets on base,
nobody is sliding, and all that kind of stuff.
"We were ready to play. But a guy who pitched an outstanding game (Roy Oswalt)
just shut us down."
Dissecting the series, La Russa conceded the Astros Games 2 and 6. He pointed
to Chris Carpenter's starts in Games 1 and 5 as well-deserved wins. The series
swung, he believed, by losing 4-3 in Game 3 and 2-1 in a controversial Game 4.
"We won the games Chris pitched. Oswalt was a tiger. And we never played Game
7," La Russa said. "That leaves 3 and 4. I look at both of those games as
pivotal and they went to them both times."
La Russa pointed to Matt Morris' two-strike mistakes against three consecutive
hitters in the sixth inning of Game 3, which the Cardinals lost to a
less-than-dominant Clemens.
"Matt made some 0-2 mistakes. Could we have pitched better? Probably," La Russa
said.
The Cardinals now begin shedding. Morris, Sanders, Mark Grudzielanek and
Abraham Nunez and are pending free agents, as are backup catcher Einar Diaz,
utility player John Mabry and relievers Cal Eldred, Julian Tavarez and the
surgically repaired Mike Lincoln and Al Reyes. The option on Mulder's contract
has vested, and the club will soon assume the $4 million option on Jeff Suppan
for next season.
King, who spiced Wednesday's postgame media scrum with a trade request,
repeated his frustration Thursday by suggesting La Russa had used the death of
King's father as a pretext for not pitching him in the postseason.
"If he didn't want to pitch me, then he should've told me to stay home. Just be
straight about it," said King, who said he was irked by La Russa's decision to
have him warm for the ninth inning Wednesday and then giving the assignment to
closer Jason Isringhausen. "If they didn't think I was pitching well enough,
then tell me. But that didn't keep them from using Morris. If they don't think
I can pitch in the postseason, put me on the block. Somebody will pick me up."
La Russa was not amused.
"If that's the way he feels, Ray should have his agent contact the other 29
teams," the manager said. "We'll do what we can to satisfy him." [/b][/quote]
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Oct. 20 2005
Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium was reserved for the Cardinals cleaning out
their lockers, exchanging goodbyes and, in some cases, driving their
four-wheel-drive vehicles onto the outfield grass to perform doughnuts.
Manager Tony La Russa and his coaching staff met across the street with general
manager Walt Jocketty as planning began for the NL Central champions' winter
makeover.
More than three months remain for reflection on a six-game NLCS loss to the
wild-card Houston Astros. The wipeout was finalized by Wednesday's 5-1 loss to
righthander Roy Oswalt and a team that proved more opportunistic at the plate
and more efficient defensively.
With changes virtually certain within the bullpen and the outfield, much of the
team departed condemned Busch Stadium for the final time Thursday. Reliever Ray
King restated his desire to be traded after failing to appear in the team's
nine postseason games and an unimpressed La Russa said he would recommend that
the lefthander's wish be granted.
Mostly, the manager and his players admitted they had been outplayed.
"They played better baseball than we did," said third baseman Abraham Nunez,
who led the club with a .385 average in the series. "They pitched extremely
well. We didn't do as much as we needed to do."
The Astros outhit the Cardinals 55-39 and outslugged them 81 total bases to 54.
Lost in the celebration of a three-game, first-round sweep of the San Diego
Padres was the Cardinals being outhit there also.
After never trailing in their first four postseason games, the Cardinals held a
lead for only 4 1/2 innings of their last five games. Their finish was an
unwelcome reminder of last October's World Series, which they lost without ever
leading. The Astros did not allow an unearned run in the series. The Cardinals
allowed five in addition to Mark Mulder permitting Wednesday's first run to
score on a third-inning wild pitch.
"We won a lot of games this year because we outplayed the other club," La Russa
said. "We played better baseball, so we won. We got beat in the series because
they played better than we did."
Right fielder Larry Walker said: "We pitched great. They pitched better. You
could say we didn't hit. But I'm not going to lie. That was the toughest
stretch of pitching I've ever faced."
The Boston Red Sox held the Cardinals to a .190 average and 12 runs. Walker was
one of the few exceptions on a struggling roster as he batted .357 with the
team's only two home runs. Against the Astros he managed only a .158 average
with one RBI and no runs. "We didn't get beat by Boston's pitching," he said.
"That's for sure. Pedro (Martinez) may have beaten us. With (Roger) Clemens,
(Andy) Pettitte, Oswalt and (Brandon) Backe, there wasn't much let-up.
"After that Game 5, everybody was really high. But I remember saying this was a
pretty steep hill. Four hits later and a guy throwing 97 and hitting his spots,
here we are."
The Astros didn't retreat from the middle of the Cardinals' lineup. They
attacked it. Left fielder Reggie Sanders had 12 RBIs in the first four
postseason games before falling hard on the Busch Stadium warning track in Game
2.
After missing Game 3, Sanders returned to go one for 12 with seven strikeouts
in the final three games. La Russa double-switched him from Game 6 after his
third strikeout. A club source said after Wednesday's elimination that Sanders
had played the last three games with significant stiffness and a lingering
headache.
Sanders, center fielder Jim Edmonds, Walker and Mark Grudzielanek finished the
series hitting a cumulative .192 with one home run, five RBIs and 17 strikeouts
in 78 at-bats.
"It seemed we did a very good job of keeping the meat of their order from
hurting us too badly," Astros manager Phil Garner said. Shortstop and leadoff
hitter David "Eckstein was a pest. He just kept getting on base. But we managed
to keep Edmonds out of harm's way. We neutralized Pujols and Walker for the
most part, and also Sanders."
Pujols hit .304 for the series with a team-high six RBIs but rarely hit with
runners in scoring position.
"If they can't generate anything, then hitting is usually contagious. That's
the way I see it on the mound," Oswalt said. "You give up a hit here or a hit
there, and everybody seems like they want to run up there and hit the ball. The
big thing to me was not to put anybody on by walks. Just go right at them and
make the defense play behind me."
Pujols' ninth-inning home run in Game 5 at least gave the Cardinals' fan base a
chance to say goodbye to 39-year-old Busch Stadium.
"If there's any justice, we did get a win in Houston so we could play a game
here," La Russa said. "This ballpark deserved to play a game - hopefully, a
winner - but just to play a game."
Payment was made both ways.
Walker, who announced his retirement after the game, became emotional after
returning to the field to thank those who remained to cheer.
La Russa knows others will be less charitable regarding the team's fourth loss
in five trips to the NLCS during his term.
"I think there's a strong segment of our support that marks your season with
not getting to the World Series, but winning it," La Russa said. "So with that
group, we failed. But we have got to be more realistic as an organization and
coaches and players."
La Russa defended the Cardinals against charges of a flat performance after
Game 6.
"I hear this all the time, 'The club looked flat,'" La Russa said. "You know
when you look flat? When the guy on the mound is shutting you down. You walk to
the plate, three guys walk to the plate, they make outs. Nobody gets on base,
nobody is sliding, and all that kind of stuff.
"We were ready to play. But a guy who pitched an outstanding game (Roy Oswalt)
just shut us down."
Dissecting the series, La Russa conceded the Astros Games 2 and 6. He pointed
to Chris Carpenter's starts in Games 1 and 5 as well-deserved wins. The series
swung, he believed, by losing 4-3 in Game 3 and 2-1 in a controversial Game 4.
"We won the games Chris pitched. Oswalt was a tiger. And we never played Game
7," La Russa said. "That leaves 3 and 4. I look at both of those games as
pivotal and they went to them both times."
La Russa pointed to Matt Morris' two-strike mistakes against three consecutive
hitters in the sixth inning of Game 3, which the Cardinals lost to a
less-than-dominant Clemens.
"Matt made some 0-2 mistakes. Could we have pitched better? Probably," La Russa
said.
The Cardinals now begin shedding. Morris, Sanders, Mark Grudzielanek and
Abraham Nunez and are pending free agents, as are backup catcher Einar Diaz,
utility player John Mabry and relievers Cal Eldred, Julian Tavarez and the
surgically repaired Mike Lincoln and Al Reyes. The option on Mulder's contract
has vested, and the club will soon assume the $4 million option on Jeff Suppan
for next season.
King, who spiced Wednesday's postgame media scrum with a trade request,
repeated his frustration Thursday by suggesting La Russa had used the death of
King's father as a pretext for not pitching him in the postseason.
"If he didn't want to pitch me, then he should've told me to stay home. Just be
straight about it," said King, who said he was irked by La Russa's decision to
have him warm for the ninth inning Wednesday and then giving the assignment to
closer Jason Isringhausen. "If they didn't think I was pitching well enough,
then tell me. But that didn't keep them from using Morris. If they don't think
I can pitch in the postseason, put me on the block. Somebody will pick me up."
La Russa was not amused.
"If that's the way he feels, Ray should have his agent contact the other 29
teams," the manager said. "We'll do what we can to satisfy him." [/b][/quote]
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. -TR
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