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| Jason Motte, left, and Yadier Molina celebrate the Cardinals' 18th NL pennant. |
Like they have all series long, the St. Louis Cardinals struck first with a four-run first inning, capped off by a three-run home run off the bat of sizzling David Freese. It was the first time in postseason history a team had scored first in the first six games of a LCS.
The Cardinals and Brewers would go back and forth, having a home run derby through the first three innings, hitting six home runs combined. It was the first time in major league history that two teams had hit six home runs combined through a games first three innings. To top it off, 9 of the first 10 runs scored were tallied via the long ball.
The first run of the game was scored when John Jay crossed the plate on a RBI single Lance Berkman in the first, giving way to home run mania.
After Cards starter Edwin Jackson only was able to complete two innings, manager Tony La Russa called on five different relievers to get the game's final 21 outs and secure their second World Series appearance in the last six years and third in the last eight.
With La Russa's five pitching changes Sunday, that gave him 28 total for the LCS, the most ever in a postseason series. His starters failed to go more than five innings in all six games of the series, becoming the first team in postseason history to win a playoff series without having a starter pitch into the sixth inning.
Chris Carpenter, who was coming off a three-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies, recorded the only win of the series, that coming in Game 3 after being a spotted a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
But even Carpenter couldn't get past the fifth inning.
It's ironic that the achilles heel of this St. Louis team at the beginning of the season has become a strength, here in the postseason. After suffering the loss of ace Adam Wainwright in February and having to release closer Ryan Franklin, who was an All-Star for the club in 2009, in June, the Cards pitching staff was in shambles.
A trade at this year's July 31st Trading Dealine by general manager John Mozeliak changed the fate of the Cardinal team.
Mozeliak dealt his controversial, but talented center fielder, Colby Rasmus, to the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-team deal that allowed St. Louis to acquire Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski, all whom have been key components to the Redbirds reaching the Fall Classic this season.
That trade might have sparked their improbable run to get to this point. On Aug. 24, St. Louis was 10 1/2 games behind the NL wild card leading Atlanta Braves and started the month of September 8 1/2 back. St. Louis went 23-9 in their final 32 regular season games, obviously catching the Braves and securing their second wild card berth in franchise history.
The Cardinals are no stranger when it comes to historical September comebacks. In 1964, St. Louis also overcame an 8 1/2 game deficit in the season's final month when this time it was the Phillies that collapsed. Both are tied for the greatest September comebacks in NL history.
Oddly enough that '64 Cardinals team went on to beat the New York Yankees in a thrilling seven game World Series. History has a tendency to repeat itself.
This is St. Louis' 18th NL pennant in franchise history and their third under La Russa's watch. Since La Russa took the reigns in 1996, the Cardinals' 45 postseason wins are second only to the Yankees' 94. It is La Russa's sixth career trip to the World Series, which is good enough sixth on the all-time list. He is now 15-7 in series-clinching games, but hasn't faired in the World Series as much as he would like.
The 67-year-old manager has a 10-12 record in the World Series, including being swept twice. Once in 1990 when at the helm in Oakland and again in 2004 when the Boston Red Sox exercised the demon of Babe Ruth at the expense of his Redbirds.
This time around, La Russa is pushing all the right buttons and hopes to bring home his third career World Series title as he already personifies a managerial genius.
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