Cardinals Win the Pennant; Defeat Brewers 12-6
Crack the bubbly, pour yourself a drink, and go crazy folks; the Cardinals won the Pennant and are going to the World Series! After a year full of inconsistency in nearly every aspect of the game, the Red Birds have managed to do the only thing a Midwestern knows how, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and used good old fashioned hard work to win.
That’s the style of game that the Cardinals found themselves in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. With a 3-2 lead in the series, Sunday night’s game was a hard-fought, pull yourself up by the boot straps game. It was a battle of the bullpens, a battle of strength, a battle of will, a battle between rivals; it was, my friends, a battle for the ages with St. Louis coming out on top with a 12-6 victory.
Edwin Jackson, a perfect example of the Cardinals season in his own right after playing with six different teams over his career and solidifying himself as a strong pitcher after being known as the Jekyll and Hyde type, would struggle early. The Cardinals starter would only go for 2 innings letting up three home runs on four hits; Corey Hart went long in the 1st inning as did Rickie Weeks and Jonathan LuCroy with a two run blast in the second.
David Freese’s astonishing post-season continued as he went 3-4 with a bullet of a 3 run home run in the first inning that put the Cardinals up 4-0 early. Freese’s home run, as well as Lance Berkman’s RBI that drove in Jon Jay to start off the game, forced Milwaukee’s manager Ron Roenicke to pull his Shaun Marcum after one inning of work.
Chris Narevenson took the hill for the Brewers in the second inning and struck out Nick Punto and Edwin Jackson on a combined total of 12 pitches then it was time for Rafael Furcal to take center stage. David Freese cheered on from the dugout, still relishing in his own homerun the previous inning, as the Cardinals shortstop let one rip into the left field bleachers to put the Cards up 5-1.
With a 5-4 lead in the third inning, Albert Pujols went yard for the game’s sixth homerun. The Machine’s blast put the Cards up 6-4 with the game in just the third inning. Yes, my friends, this was a battle of strength in the form of the long ball, will of the pitchers to keep moving through the innings, an increasingly passionate rivalry between bitter foes, this was a classic for the ages.
The Cardinals, however, proved themselves a much stronger team as they opened up the floodgates on the Brewers.
Nick Punto had a sacrifice fly with the bases in the 3rd to score Matt Holliday and give the Cardinals a 7-4 lead. Allen Craig, who pinch hit for Edwin Jackson in the third, drove in Freese and Molina to make it a 9-4 ball game. Freese singled to first and an error put Holliday on third base with no outs in the fifth; Hariston followed that up with 2 errors of his own with Molina at the plate that allowed Holliday to score, placed Freese on third and Molina, who drew credit for the run scored, on second with a 10-5 Cardinals lead. The marching band continued to play as Chambers, pinch-hitting for Salas, hit a sac fly to left field that scored Freese for a 11-5 lead. Pujols knocked in the final Cardinal run of the evening in the eighth inning, scoring Daniel Descalso who pinch hit for Dotel, to give the Cardinals the final score of their 12-6 win.
The Brewers, who never held a lead on the inning, had help from Betancourt in the form of an RBI double that scored Hairston in the fourth to make it a 9-5 game. A fielder’s choice and a diving play by Pujols at first base with Braun batting brought Carlose Gomez, who had gone from first to third on a wild pitch by Rzepczynski, home for a 10-6 ball game.
St. Louis out hit Milwaukee 14-7 in the 12-6 victory. Freese, Furcal, and Pujols all went yard for the Birds while Hart, Weeks, and Lucroy. The Miller drinkers went 1-4 with runners in scoring positions and the Budweiser drinkers went 4-9 when base runners were within striking position. St. Louis left 5 men on base while the Milwaukee left 3 men stranded.
The Cardinals used a total of 4 relievers; Salas, Rzepczynski, Dotel, Lynn, and Motte.
The Brewers had to use 6 arms out of the bullpen; Narvenson, Hawkins, Lowe, Saito, Rodriguez, and Axford.
Game 1 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals will take place on Wednesday night in St. Louis.
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