Cardinals’ Antics Angered Braves

The Atlanta Braves never say a whole lot. They exhibit little emotion on the field. It’s virtually impossible to get them excited, let alone angry.

The St. Louis Cardinals should have left well enough alone, but they did something very, very foolish while making plans for their first World Series appearance in nine years.

They not only provoked the Braves, but infuriated them, and Monday night felt the full wrath of their rage.

The Braves listened to a fiery speech by manager Bobby Cox then stormed onto the field at Busch Stadium and pummeled the Cardinals into submission, winning 14-0 and sending the National League Championship Series back to Atlanta.

It was the worst postseason rout suffered by the Cardinals in franchise history, spanning 124 games.

“We saw the way those guys acted, we saw what they were doing (Sunday), we saw them going crazy,” Atlanta outfielder Luis Polonia said. “Maybe they forgot you have to win four games in this series.

“Maybe someone should tell them.”

And, oh yes, perhaps someone should remind the Cardinals the Braves still are the defending World Series champions.

“This team has a lot of pride, and you saw that tonight,” said John Schuerholz, the Braves’ executive vice president. “They (Cardinals) got pretty excited when they won three games, and maybe winning three games is exciting, but they still make you win four.

“All we heard all day long is about how they were going to celebrate.”

The Cardinals even had the champagne delivered and put on ice.

Now their plans are on hold.

“They made a big mistake if they thought we were just going to curl up and go away,” Schuerholz said.

The Cardinals still have a 3-2 lead in this best-of-seven series, but suddenly are left with the distressing feeling that they must defeat four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux on Wednesday in Game 6. If they fail, they must deal with former Cy Young winner Tom Glavine on Thursday in Game 7.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we can do it,” Cox said. “There’s no doubt we will do it.”

Cox told his team before the game how simple it is to win three games in a row. When you have John Smoltz pitching Game 5, followed by Maddux and Glavine, what’s a three-game winning streak?

Especially for the team that has won more games than any other the last five years.

“It was important that we won this game,” Atlanta shortstop Jeff Blauser said, “but the fashion in which we won it was even bigger for us.”