Cardinals radiate sky-high feeling
ST. LOUIS – Tony La Russa’s cell phone kept ringing, interrupting him once, twice, three times in the middle of an interview.
Understandable, really. All his friends wanted to chat after what they witnessed Monday night, when Albert Pujols’ homer in Houston saved St. Louis’ season with two outs in the ninth inning.
“A lot of people saw it, you know,” the Cardinals manager said Tuesday. “It’s not as neat of a story if we don’t keep winning.”
Pujols’ home run, already one of the most memorable in postseason history, denied the Astros their first World Series berth – at least for a couple of days – and sent the best-of-7 National League Championship Series back to St. Louis for Game 6 tonight.
With Houston leading 3-2, Game 2 winner Roy Oswalt will pitch against Cardinals lefty Mark Mulder. What’s more, after a long season that produced this playoff rematch, the Astros and Cardinals are right back where they were a year ago.
Busch Stadium, Game 6.
Houston needs one victory to win the pennant. For St. Louis, it takes two.
“They’re trying to catch us, we’re not trying to catch them,” Oswalt said.
Last season, it was the Astros who were riding a wave of momentum after Jeff Kent’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth won Game 5.
This time, Pujols’ mammoth three-run shot off All-Star closer Brad Lidge over the train tracks high above the left-field wall at Minute Maid Park has the Cardinals sky high.
“Hopefully, this is the spark that we were looking for,” said Pujols, batting .447 with six homers and 15 RBIs in the past two NLCS meetings with Houston. “The best thing we need to do is not let them celebrate in our stadium. We’ve been in this spot before.”
Last year, the Cardinals won twice in a row at home, rallying to beat Roger Clemens in Game 7 and advance to the World Series, where they were swept by Boston.
“It is weird how we’re back in the same position we were last year, but that’s what makes it so much fun,” St. Louis reliever Jason Isringhausen said.
But the Astros feel better about their situation this time because their pitching rotation is lined up the way they want.
Last season, journeyman Pete Munro started Game 6. This year it’s Oswalt, coming off consecutive 20-win seasons. If he can’t close it out, Clemens will go in Game 7.
Plus, Houston has a road victory in Game 2 to draw on as opposed to 2004, when the home team won every game in the series.
“I think that gives us a lot of confidence,” Astros general manager Tim Purpura said. “Last year, obviously we had two bites at the apple. This year we’ve got three, and we’ve got two more to go.”