October 10, 2013
- Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez walks off the field after striking out for the final out of Game 5 of a National League baseball division series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 6-1, and advanced to the NL championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP
We’re spoiled, really. Watching postseason baseball and experiencing the thrills and the triumphs of October is no longer a privilege in St. Louis. It is a way of life, a part of the cityscape, and a cherished tradition that rarely fails to raise spirits and cause hearts to flutter.
This is St. Louis, the best baseball town in America. This is the home of the Cardinals, an iconic franchise that stands above most others that have occupied a place in our national pastime.
Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, in Game 5 of their National League division series, the Cardinals lived up up to their elite level, honored their brand, and added to their impressive franchise legacy by celebrating another postseason conquest.
Behind the fierce pitching of ace Adam Wainwright, the home-run reverberation of David Freese, a knockout wallop from emerging slugger Matt Adams, slick defense and the emotional voltage supplied by 47,231 true believers, the Cardinals claimed a 6-1 victory to eliminate the Pittsburgh Pirates and rumble into the National League championship series.
The Cardinals will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers and their billions of dollars in the next round, but we'll get to that before the NLCS opens Friday at Busch. Wednesday night was set aside for appreciating the success of a remarkably consistent organization.
These STL baseball Octoberfests may be routine, but they are never boring, never old and never should be taken for granted.
A fired-up Wainwright said it best while decompressing after his supreme complete-game performance that clinched the series.
“I was so happy to be there,” Waino said, speaking of the merry, jubilant on-field celebration that erupted after the game’s final out. “This is why I signed back here. There’s no amount of money worth what this city and this team means to me. I’m honored, I’m privileged, and I don’t deserve any of this.”
This was the Cardinals’ 100th victory of the season, an achievement that can be added to a prominent and extensive collection. Since Bill DeWitt Jr. took ownership of the franchise before the 1996 season, the Cardinals have won 60 postseason games, more than any MLB franchise except the Yankees.
The Birds on the Bat have won three NL pennants and two more World Series in DeWitt's days. They have won 15 postseason series and are now 9-2 in the NLDS. The Cardinals are competing in their eighth NLCS since 2000 and their ninth in DeWitt’s 18 seasons as owner.
Here's the number of postseason wins by current NL Central teams since DeWitt purchased the Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch in the winter of 1995:
Cardinals 60.
Brewers 6.
Cubs 6.
Pirates 3.
Reds 2.
(The Astros, who moved to the AL West this season, won 15 postseason games as a member of the NL Central between 1996 and 2012.)
While saluting his team’s excellent season, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle praised the Cardinals for establishing the winning standard that the Pirates and so many others aspire to.
“This club here, the St. Louis Cardinals organization, has gotten used to this,” Hurdle said. “The sustainability is what separates great organizations.”
Just another reason to respect the Pirates.
Pittsburgh, you have a helluva baseball team.
The Pirates made the Cardinals earn this.
Their Game 5 starter, young Gerrit Cole, needed only 10 pitches to dispose of the Cardinals in the bottom of the first, then used five pitches to bag two quick outs in the second. With Cole dismissing the first five STL batters with 15 pitches, the Cardinals were settling into a frustrating pattern.
That’s when Jon Jay changed the flow of this game. Ordinarily not the most patient of hitters, Jay showed resolute discipline during an eight-pitch walk that made Cole work.
Freese was up next. He took a ball, then fouled off a sinker and a cutter, taking exerted rips each time. And then the hulking Cole probably made the most regrettable pitch of his brief MLB career, hanging an 82 mph curveball that floated into Freese's hot zone.
In the old-world vernacular of baseball, the curve is dubbed “salami.” Well, Freese jumped on Cole’s pitch like the thing was a section of Imo’s pizza topped by salami. (The Freezer is an Imo’s pitchman, you know.)
Freeze squared the ball beyond compare, taking us back to October 2011. This warp-speed line drive zoomed over the left field fence, threatening the safety of the pitchers in the Pirates’ bullpen. And with this tension-breaking home run that pierced the night, the Cardinals cracked the Cole code for a 2-0 lead.
Game 5 was progressing nicely for the home side. Shortstop Pete Kozma and second baseman Matt Carpenter were busy stealing hits from the Pirates. Jay added an RBI single, giving Wainwright a 3-0 lead and a little extra elbow room for mixing those fastballs, cutters and curves.
Waino was in charge from the beginning, getting the perplexed Pirates to swing at balls out of the zone and take called strikes on more accessible pitches that crossed the plate.
Wainwright’s only real jam suddenly formed in the seventh inning when the Pirates scored a gifted run on three consecutive two-out infield singles: one on a slip (by Carpenter), another on a mental error (by Kozma), and the third on a bouncer that ricocheted off the first-base bag to allow a run to score.
It was a goofy, fluky inning. Wainwright should have been seated comfortably in the dugout instead of having to throwdown with gritty Pittsburgh catcher Russell Martin with two Bucs on and the Cards' lead pared to 3-1.
The Pirates had a chance now. A run was in. A double by Martin probably ties the game. A homer gives the Pirates the lead.
Anxiety bubbled up.
The sea of red was restless.
The scene in the Pirates dugout was telling: The visitors were up, energized, animated, jumping around, ready to create another "Can I get a witness" episode in their season of revival.
Finally, the rambunctious Pirates were mounting a challenge, kicking up some resistance and putting pressure on Wainwright ... except that no one bothered to tell Waino that.
The ace — firmly in control of his team’s fate — immediately snapped a first-pitch 90 mph cutter to shoo Martin on a harmless grounder. End of threat _ a threat that existed everywhere except Waino’s head.
The beehive of activity in the Pittsburgh dugout slowed. With that final slicing cutter from Wainwright, the Pirates were done. Their fairy tale went poof.
The finality and reality of it all didn’t become obvious until the biggest dude in the house, Adams, made like a bouncer by showing the Pirates to the door with a towering, almost violent, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. (Slippery Rock U, rocking the house.)
After Big City went boom-boom into the right field gallery _ with ball meeting bat in a sound that might as well been the first pop of an icy, dripping champagne bottle _ the Cardinals were up 5-1 and ready to get wet in the clubhouse. They were safely booked into the NLCS for the third consecutive year.
It was all too much for the Pirates, who are talented, tenacious and endearing. They are poised to stalk the Cardinals as a worthy rival for the foreseeable future, but most teams need postseason scar tissue — the kind that forms in the pain of defeat — to evolve into champions. This experience will only make the Pirates stronger going forward.
(A brief aside: given the toughness and classiness of the Pirates and the Cardinals, I'm thinking The Man from Donora, Pa. would have appreciated this series. The Cardinals and Pirates have at least two things in common: Stan Musial. And disdain for the Cincinnati Reds.)
The Pirates’ only mistake, really, was not finishing the Cardinals off when they had the chance at PNC Park in Game 4. They couldn’t let this series get out of the Steel City. They couldn’t allow the Cardinals to carry October back to St. Louis, the home of 11 World Series champions, the stage for so many postseason dramas, and the living history museum that's housed generations of baseball heroes.
In observance of the classic St. Louis baseball tradition, we were treated to a special night, a starry night, the kind of evening we've come to expect.
In the grim and defiant manner of a Bob Gibson or Chris Carpenter, Wainwright grabbed Game 5 early and would not let go, not until he got the 27th out and released a primal scream. Freese slammed a timely, game-altering homer and revisited the autumn of 2011.
The esteemed Cardinals flew high again, up and away and above the drudgery of mediocre, irrelevant baseball that afflicts so many other markets.
This is the favorite month of the year for the Cardinals and their faithful. This is what they do. This is what we watch. This is life and ritual in an old-time baseball town that knows there will be plenty of time for sleep in November.
Watch "Breakfast with Bernie," each weekday, sponsored by Papa John's, where you get 40 percent off regular price menu items the day after a Cardinals victory. Use promo code "CARDSWIN" at checkout. 10% of purchase price benefits Siteman Cancer Center.
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