Cardinals send Padres packing
ST. LOUIS – Standing on a folding chair in a raucous clubhouse, Albert Pujols sprayed champagne in every direction. Teammates got soaked – even owners – no one was immune.
The tension from Chris Carpenter’s shaky beginning, the angst of the St. Louis Cardinals’ late-season swoon, all had evaporated.
They’re going to the N.L. championship series for the third straight season.
“From Day 1, I kept saying this team’s got what it takes to get to the World Series,” Scott Spiezio said. “We’re a step closer.”
Carpenter recovered from a rough first inning to secure his second victory of the series, Juan Encarnacion hit a tiebreaking triple and the Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 on Sunday night to win their best-of-five first-round N.L. playoff 3-1.
St. Louis nearly wasted a seven-game lead in the final two weeks of the regular season but rebounded against the Padres, a team the Cardinals swept in the first round in 2005.
Escaping trouble in each of the last two innings, the Cardinals sealed the win when Adam Wainwright got Dave Roberts on a groundout with two on.
Pujols then stepped on the first-base bag for the final out to set off the first postseason celebration at the new Busch Stadium, which opened this year.
“I didn’t blame anybody who didn’t think we had a very good shot,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who improved to 20-5 as a manager in the division series.
“I’m so pleased because it’s been such a rough year. We’ve popped champagne twice, and the goal is to pop it four times.”
Back in the NLCS for the third straight year, the Cardinals will open the next round Wednesday night on the road against the New York Mets, who took the season series from St. Louis 4-2.
“They’ve got a great club,” Carpenter said. “We’re going to celebrate tonight and worry about them tomorrow.”
While the Cardinals won the N.L. pennant in 2004 before getting swept by Boston, the Cardinals lost last year’s N.L. championship to Houston in six games.
San Diego manager Bruce Bochy, whose team won the division for the second straight year, dropped to 1-9 in the postseason against the Cardinals, who also swept the Padres in 1996. San Diego was 2 for 32 (.063) with runners in scoring position in the series.
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Cardinals 6, Padres 2
ST. LOUIS WINS SERIES 3-1
| San Diego | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| DRoberts lf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .438 |
| BGiles rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .286 |
| AGonzalez 1b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .357 |
| Bard c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .143 |
| Branyan 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .231 |
| a-Piazza ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .100 |
| Bellhorn 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Cameron cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .143 |
| Blum ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .125 |
| Meredith p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | —- |
| Hensley p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | —- |
| b-Klesko ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 |
| Barfield 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| WWilliams p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| KGreene ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Totals | 34 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| St. Louis | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Eckstein ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .133 |
| PrWilson lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Pujols 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .333 |
| Edmonds cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .308 |
| JEncarnacion rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .286 |
| Belliard 2b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .462 |
| Spiezio 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
| YMolina c | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .308 |
| Carpenter p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
| TJohnson p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | —- |
| Kinney p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | —- |
| Wainwright p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | —- |
| Totals | 30 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| San Diego | 200 | 000 | 000 | — | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| St. Louis | 200 | 004 | 00x | — | 6 | 7 | 0 |
a-grounded into double play for Branyan in the 8th. b-doubled for Hensley in the 9th. E—Branyan (1). LOB—San Diego 8, St. Louis 5. 2B—Klesko (1), YMolina (1). 3B—JEncarnacion (1). RBIs—Branyan (3), Cameron (1), Eckstein (1), JEncarnacion (2), Belliard 2 (2), Spiezio (1). SB—Cameron (1). CS—DRoberts (1). S—Eckstein. GIDP—Piazza. RLSP—San Diego 4 (DRoberts 2, Barfield 2); St. Louis 3 (Eckstein, PrWilson 2). RMU—Pujols. DP—St. Louis 1 (Eckstein, Belliard and Pujols).
| San Diego | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| WWilliams L, 0-1 | 5 1/3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 82 | 6.75 |
| Meredith | 1 2/3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 0.00 |
| Hensley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.00 |
| St. Louis | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Carpenter W, 2-0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 106 | 2.02 |
| TJohnson H, 3 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Kinney H, 2 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Wainwright | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 0.00 |
Carpenter pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. IR-S—Meredith 1-1, TJohnson 2-0, Kinney 2-0.
HBP—by Meredith (Belliard), by WWilliams (Edmonds). T—2:44. A—46,476 (43,975).