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On Pujols
I suppose I should put this someplace so I don't forget it later, and that place might as well be here.
My favorite player is, was, and always has been Ozzie Smith. I'm not sure why. My dad likes him too, maybe that's why. He was an amazing shortstop but not a flashy bat; in little league, I couldn't hit for beans and I was ok in the field, maybe that's why. He seemed like a guy who kept his head down, worked hard, loved what he did and did his job well. Maybe that's why. He had a great story.
I can't say I had a favorite active player on the Cardinals; I like almost everyone who puts on the red cap and has fun on the field. I'm not a superfan either. I think I went to one regular season game in 2011. But I am a fan. I watched or listened to a lot of games. I enjoyed going to the ballpark. And you better believe I jumped on postseason tickets when I got the chance.
A few moments stand out to me:
2004
I was at a fantastic game where the Cardinals traveled to Wrigley Field in July 2004. A highschool friend had a single spare ticket -- he and his girlfriend, and I in the backseat, drove from my hometown up to Chicago (about two hours). We parked in an impossibly tight parking spot behind a home in Wrigleyville, then walked to the stadium. I had been there once before, on a trip with my college floor, but it was the Pirates in town.
I was still -- am still -- enamored with the stadium, the history, the tradition it all represented. The seats on the rooftops beyond the ivy-covered walls. The hand-operated scoreboard. The feeling. Did I have a Chicago Dog from the vendor behind homeplate? Yes. Did I have an obstructed view? Also yes. Did I have an amazing time, a Cardinals fan at Wrigley Field? Absolutely.
This is perhaps the first time I ever saw Albert Pujols play baseball in person. It is most certainly the first time I ever took a photo of him, if he's in there someplace.
Aided by the fine folks at Baseball-Reference.com and retrosheet.org, I can relive that day. I have vague, fuzzy memories, but the story is better with details. 1
Cardinals win, 11-8. Pujols goes 5 for 5 with 4 RBI and three homeruns, including the tiebreaker.
At the end of the season the Cardinals finished 13 games ahead of the Astros to win the NL Central. The Cards beat the Dodgers 3-1 in the division series and took the championship series in seven from the wildcard Astros. Then came the Red Sox.
To keep this one short and sweet, I entered the lottery for World Series tickets. And acquired World Series tickets. For Game Five. Of course, Boston swept the Cards to win their first championship in 86 years. Bummer.
2005
In 2005, the Cardinals made another run but fell short in Houston, losing the NLCS 4-2. In Game 5, Pujols broke Brad Lidge with a top of the ninth two-out two-on go-ahead monster of a homerun.
2006
In 2006, I happened to be visiting St. Louis in late October for a collegiate journalism conference. On Friday, Oct. 27, we took a bus from our downtown hotel to the Moolah Temple in Grand Center to watch a couple movies before their national release (Borat and Stranger Than Fiction, for some reason). On the ride back, people kept getting updates as to the score. After we got back, the Cardinals were leading, and I decided to head down to the stadium. The Cardinals led the series 3-1.
I walked down Broadway to Clark and tried to find a place to see in. The crowds were incredible and I remember being in awe of the noise from the stadium coming out through the gap in left field. Hold in your mind the stereotypical "large crowd cheering" noise, and that is precisely what I heard. I remember being surprised at how accurate the actual noise mapped to the stereotypical noise that was in my head.
And then an even bigger roar went up. And then there were fireworks. And the Cardinals had won their first World Series of my lifetime. I was sprayed with champagne as I made my way back to the hotel. I bought a Stadium Edition of the Post-Dispatch, and held it high as I walked back, getting car horn honks and high-fives all the way. I set out, foolishly, in my car, into the worst downtown traffic St. Louis had seen in years, because a colleague and roommate needed dress clothes for an interview at the convention. I decided to make the best of it -- I rolled down my window and held the paper up high for all to see.
2008
In 2008 I moved to St. Louis. For Christmas that year I got a "Pujols Pack" of tickets to ten games the following season. I also bought my family each a ticket to the Bank of America Club for one game when the Cubs were in town. I started a habit of going to games when I could, and going to sports bars for dinner when I couldn't.
2011
Skip ahead to this season. 2011.
I particularly remember two games in June. June 4, a Saturday, I had been out driving and listening to the game on the radio. The Cubs were in town. The Cardinals scored two in the fourth on a Pujols homerun, the Cubs came back with four in the sixth, and the Cardinals tied it in their half of the sixth with Pujols doubling to bring the first run home. The game went into extra innings and the Cardinals managed the threaten in the tenth when Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. The move paid off when Lance Berkman and Tony Cruz got out to end the inning. Jump to the bottom of the 12th inning. Ryan Theriot and Jon Jay both get out facing Jeff Samadzija. Pujols walks to the plate, takes a 2-1 count and knocks a walk-off extra-innings homerun to deep left field. Game over, Cardinals win 5-4.
And he did it again the next day. On June 5, the Cubs grabbed the lead in the fourth with two runs. The Cardinals made up one in the sixth but took their sweet time before tying it on a 2-out double down the left field line by Theriot, scoring Cruz. That's all they could manage and the game went into the tenth. Fernando Salas set down the Cubs in order with ten pitches. Then Pujols stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the tenth. Just like the day before, the count was 2-1 before he crushed a Rodrigo Lopez pitch to deep left center. Game over, Cardinals win 3-2.
The stretch
I had just bought my house and I was training for the marathon on October 23 when the Cards began their historic comeback. I specifically remember the last night of the regular season -- September 28: I returned from my training run and turned on the radio. The Cardinals were about to win an 8-0 complete-game two-hit shutout by Chris Carpenter with 11 strikeouts. The Braves were leading Philadelphia in Atlanta, which meant that the Cardinals and Braves would have a play-in game for the division series. But it was not to be: In the top of the ninth, Chase Utley sacrificed the tying run in, and the Braves went down in order to send it into the tenth. The Cardinals would finish their game 15 minutes later, but had to wait in Houston's locker room to find out where their next game would be. Nearly an hour and a half later, in the top of the 13th inning, Hunter Pence put the Phillies on top and they would stay there, giving the Cardinals the Wild Card and sending them to Philadelphia for the Division Series. (there was a bit of drama in the American League as well. ESPN has a timeline of what some people have called the best night of baseball)
NLDS
What more is there to say but the Rally Squirrel showed up at Busch in Games Three and Four, followed by the Game Five spectacular complete-game shutout by Chris Carpenter, winning 1-0 against Phillies' ace Roy Halladay. The Cards win in five and head to Milwaukee.
NLCS
Milwaukee played terrible defense throughout the series. I got tickets to Game Five, in the outfield near the Cardinals' bullpen. My dad came down and Kitty went with us as well. The Brewers weren't even in it -- the Cardinals plated three in the second inning and never looked back. Milwaukee had four errors on the night. It was a fantastic experience to be in the park for playoff baseball. The Cardinals went back to Milwaukee up three games to two and took Game Six in a 12-6 homerun derby.
World Series
I remember the wins but not the losses against the Rangers. I remember Game Three -- it was the night before the marathon. It also happened to be one of the six games of the entire 2011 season that lasted more than four hours. Luckily, it was mostly scoring. Pujols went 5 for 6 with three homeruns (joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to accomplish three homers in a World Series game) and the Cardinals won 16-7. I watched at home, and didn't get nearly enough sleep before Sunday's marathon.
After losing Games Four and Five, the Cardinals were down to their last game. I was invited to Doug, Joan and Kitty's for a bonfire. Doug had the TV set up in the back yard, and we all gathered around. It was a back and forth game, and the mood was tense. We were all sick when David Freese was at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes, down by two. Then elation after the deep double that tied the game. That quickly turned to dread after Josh Hamilton's two-run homer in the tenth. Delirium after Theriot's and Berkman's RBIs to tie it up again in the bottom of the tenth -- and Berkman's again with two strikes and two outs. Cautious optimism after holding the Rangers in the eleventh. And then full-blown dumbfounded disbelief after Freese's full-count leadoff walk-off to center field accompanied by Joe Buck's echo of his father's call "We will see you tomorrow night."2
And slowly came the realization, "I get to go to Game Seven." A coworker had got standing room only tickets and offered to let me buy one. So I did.
It was by all accounts far less exciting than Game Six, except by virtue of it being Game Seven. We couldn't see much -- most of the crowd was standing for most of the game, understandably. But I was there. For Game Seven. At Busch.
The Cardinals completed their comeback. I saw them win. The fireworks and confetti. The unbelievably loud cheers. And, even after the awards presentations, the interviews, the celebrations, there were the crowds and traffic, reminding me of my 2006 experience. I bought another stadium edition newspaper. But I was there. Inside the stadium this time.
I was at Game Seven. The last game Pujols played as a Cardinal.
Pujols
I told all those stories to get to this: I think my feeling on Pujols is a sadness that a potentially great story won't get a chance to be told.
We should be used to that in sports. If only the fielder was playing another step or two out...if only the hitter had pulled the ball three more inches...if only the pitcher had put a touch more movement on the ball.
We already knew how the story began. Wonderfully crafted, it was exciting from the very beginning. An attempt and failure in 2004. Redemption in 2006. An incredible comeback and proof it wasn't a fluke in 2011.
How would that story have ended? A massive contract for Pujols, yes, much of it for what he'd already given for the team. A strong core lineup for at least a few more years. Record chases. The chance to watch the best player in baseball take his final bow at home, wearing the Birds on the Bat for his entire career and on into Cooperstown. It's almost sacrilege, but he would have in deed, if not in word, been the greatest Cardinal. A legend.
But now I don't get to watch that story. I can't tell that story. Great stories don't end in the middle.
I'm not angry or bitter or spiteful or accusatory. Tens of millions of dollars is a lot of money. Pujols will probably give a good chunk of it to organizations that do great work, maybe work they wouldn't be able to do without his money. That's a good thing. And he'll put on the halo and get down to spring training and go to work and do his job and do it well. And that's a good thing too.
It surely is his story to write, and it surely is his right to choose his own path. But I can't help but feel a little sad that one of the greatest stories in Cardinals history -- maybe in Major League Baseball history -- won't be told.
Posted on Dec 9, 2011
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A-like so:
Tony Womack led off with a walk against the Cubs' Glendon Rusch and Pujols, as ever batting third, doubled to left to score him in the first inning. Nothing more would happen until the Cubs came up in their half of the second when the Matt Morris lost control.
Moises Alou led off and walked. Derek Lee homered (2-1 Cubs). Aramis Ramirez doubled to right. Michael Barrett homered (4-1). Alex Gonzales mercifully struck out, but the bleeding wasn't about to stop: Rusch singled to center and leadoff man Todd Walker walked in front of a Corey Patterson double, scoring them both (6-1). Sammy Sosa, as was his custom, flew out. Patterson moved over on a wild pitch and then scored on a Moises Alou single (7-1). Finally Tony LaRussa brought in Matt Morris, who got Derrek Lee to go down swinging to end the awful, awful inning.
At that point, Cubs fans were elated. The fans wearing red were relatively morose. But it was the top of the third.
With both men in front of him getting out, Pujols hit a first-pitch homerun. 7-2 Cubs.
Ramirez answered in the Cubs' half though, with a leadoff homer, to bring the lead back to six.
After two innings of nothingness with an 8-2 score in favor of the home team, I remember the mood in the stadium being one of mostly boredom. Get the game over with, thought the happy and in-control Cubs fans. Get the game over with, thought the disappointed and outnumbered Cardinals fans.
The Cardinals started swinging their bats in the top of the sixth, when Pujols led off with a line drive single to center. Scott Rolen moved him to third with a single and Jim Edmonds also singled, scoring Pujols and putting Rolen on second (8-3). After Edmonds' single, Francis Beltran came in to pitch for the Cubs.
He did not do a good job.
Reggie Sanders walked to load the bases. Then Mike Matheny walked on five pitches, scoring Rolen (8-4). Then So Taguchi singled to shortstop (8-5), and Dusty Baker had seen enough. Kent Mercker came in and managed to get the first out of the inning when pinch hitter Ray Lankford hit a sac fly to score Sanders and bring the Cards to within two (8-6). Womack and Edgar Renteria would go down quietly and end the threat.
A few more people were paying attention now. Kiko Calero sat down the Cubs' 1-2-3 hitters in the bottom of the sixth.
Albert Pujols stepped to the plate leading off the top of the seventh, and crushed Kyle Farnsworth's first pitch for a homerun to pull the Cardinals within one.
In the top of the eighth, with one out, So Taguchi tagged Farnsworth for another homer to tie the game. Ray King sat the Cubs down in order in their half.
Top of the ninth, tie game. Renteria bounces LaTroy Hawkins' first pitch to short and is safe at first. Pujols steps to the plate and takes a ball. The next pitch he takes out of the park, a homerun to put the Cards up by two. Sanders would also hit a solo shot in the inning, giving the Cardinals a three-run cushion.
The Cubs' final chance (against Jason Isringhausen, natch) saw a groundout, a walk and a flyout by Sosa. Then Alou singled to right and Lee walked, loading the bases and bringing the winning run to the plate in the form of Ramirez. He took a 1-1 pitch to center, but it was caught by Edmonds to end the game. ↩
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Jack Buck called Kirby Puckett's 11th-inning walk-off in Game Six of 1991's World Series with the same phrase. ↩
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