Cards turn it around
Pujols blast gives St. Louis new life
ST. LOUIS—
The loudest noise at oxygen- free Minute Maid Park in the seconds after Hurricane Albert’s bat knocked the signature off the Brad Lidge slider on Monday night was the thud of flattened ball off plexiglass. You could truly hear it in the seats behind home plate. The last time as many dazed Houstonians stood up and headed to their cars at the same time was when Hurricane Rita took a hard left turn and headed for Galveston.
Pujols and his Cardinals have now been upgraded from tropical disturbance to full- fledged disaster.
History is on the Cards’ side. Pujols’ was the first one-outawayhomer since the Red Sox’ Dave Henderson took Angels reliever Donnie Moore deep with one out to go in Game 5 of the ’ 86 ALCS. The Angels were also one out away from their first World Series. The Sox went home and won Games 6 and 7. The Cards will try and do the same. One good thing that comes out of the NLCS being extended to a Game 6 is that Busch Stadium will get a proper sendoff as it prepares for the wrecker’s ball after 40 years. If the Cards had lost on Monday, Game 2 would have marked the end of the Stadium. Nobody would have had a chance to mourn. My first visit was 1979. In the ensuing 27 seasons there have been unforgettable personal memories. Because I won’t get another chance before they knock her down, here are some of my lasting Busch moments: 1. Mark McGwire’s 62nd homer. On Sept. 8, 1998, with Sammy Sosa in right field and with the Roger Maris family in the stands, Big Mac turned on a Steve Trachsel fastball and drove it to left just inside the foul pole for No. 62, breaking the 37- year- old record. 2. The Red Sox World Series win. Closer Keith Foulke fielded a grounder by Edgar Renteria and flipped it to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz for the final out. It was Boston’s first title in 86 years. That was the moment.
3. Vince Coleman eaten by the tarp. With the old Busch Stadium artificial turf, there was an automatic tarp under the field that popped up and rolled out by itself. I was sitting in an empty press box hours before Game 4 of the ’ 85 NLCS, when I saw the tarp heading for the left fielder as he stretched. Look out, Vince!
4. Ozzie Smith’s home run in the ’ 85 NLCS. The next game in that same series, the Wizard was facing Dodgers’ reliever Tom Niedenfuer in the ninth. He slammed a line drive for his first career homer batting left. The Cardinals flew to L. A. and won Game 6 to take the series.
5. Moises Alou’s broken leg. The Expos left fielder singled to centre on Sept. 16, 1993. Rounding first, he caught his spikes in the artificial turf, snapping his shinbone and tearing ankle tendons. They wheeled him past his father, sitting up with his foot on the gurney flopped at a 90 degree angle. The Expos flew back to Montreal without him. That night, Pirates manager Jim Leyland visited Alou in St. Louis hospital unannounced. When he became a free agent, Moises signed with Leyland’s Marlins and they won a World Series.
6. Terry Francona’s knee. On June 16, 1982, the current Red Sox manager was with the Expos, and chased a double by Julio Gonzales into the left field corner and tore up his knee catching a spike on the rubber warning track. He was never the same. 7. David Palmer sleeping through his perfect game. On April 21, 1984, I went downstairs during a rain delay and found Palmer, who had worked five perfect innings, asleep in the tunnel to the dugout. The game had been called. I woke him to tell him he had pitched a perfect game. He said it was a dream come true. Later, they changed the rules and took his mini- feat out of the record book.
8. Cards owner Gussie Busch’s dramatic entrance strapped to the driver’s seat of a huge Budweiser beer wagon being pulled by galloping Clydesdales. It was the start of the ’ 85 World Series and someone thought it would be a good idea. 9. The final memory will be the final out of the final game as the history finally comes to an end.