Worldbeaters when it matters

ST. LOUIS – No Fall Classic, for sure.

Flatter than the Midwestern heartland and a flop in the TV ratings, this World Series crowned a champion that barely made it to the postseason and then had to survive rain and cold as much as the bumbling Detroit Tigers.

The St. Louis Cardinals will take it, though.

They beat the Tigers 4-2 in Game 5 on Friday night behind castoffs Jeff Weaver and David Eckstein and sore-shouldered Scott Rolen to wrap up their first Series title in nearly a quarter-century and 10th overall.

“I think we shocked the world,” Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds said.

Manager Tony La Russa’s team had just 83 regular-season wins, the fewest by a World Series champion, and nearly missed the playoffs after a late-season slump.

But St. Louis beat San Diego and the New York Mets in the first two rounds, then won their first title since 1982 by taming a heavily favored Tigers team that entered the Series with six days’ rest and looked as stale as unharvested corn – Tigers pitchers made five errors, two more than the previous Series record.

After closer Adam Wainwright struck out Brandon Inge for the final out, the ballpark erupted. Wainwright raised his arms in triumph, catcher Yadier Molina ran to the mound and the pair bounced off toward second base, where they were joined by teammates running from the dugout and the bullpen. Ace starter Chris Carpenter and injured closer Jason Isringhausen gave La Russa bear hugs.

Minutes later, fireworks filled the sky above the ballpark as the Cardinals prepared to receive the gold-colored Tiffany trophy.

“No one believed in us, but we believed in ourselves,” said Eckstein, the 5-foot-7 shortstop who won selected Series MVP after batting .364.

A repeat of 1968’s dramatic Tigers-Cardinals matchup – won by Detroit in seven games – ended on a cold night more suitable to football than baseball. The Tigers made two more errors, raising their Series total to eight – three by Inge, the third baseman, the rest by pitchers.

“We didn’t play well enough,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “There’s no excuse here. I don’t really know what the reasons were.”

Eight of the 22 runs allowed by the Tigers were unearned, the most by a team since the 1956 New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn.

“If you don’t make the plays, you’re going to lose – whether you’re playing the Yankees or the junior varsity,” Detroit closer Todd Jones said.

Detroit, which had won in three straight Series appearances since 1940, hit .199, the lowest in a five-game Series since the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies, with the averages of key players shrinking with the temperature. Placido Polanco was 0 for 17, Magglio Ordonez 2 for 19 (.105), Craig Monroe 3 for 20 (.150) and Ivan Rodriguez 3 for 19 (.158).

La Russa, who led the Oakland Athletics to a sweep in the earthquake-interrupted 1989 Bay Bridge Series, joined Sparky Anderson (Cincinnati and Detroit) as the only managers to win Series titles in each league.

St. Louis had gone ahead on Eckstein’s infield single in the second, with Inge throwing making a diving stop over the bag put throwing the ball low and wide instead of setting and throwing.

Sean Casey, who batted a Series-high .529, hit a two-run homer in the fourth, but St. Louis came right back to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning as pitcher Justin Verlander threw away a ball for the second time in two starts. One run scored on the error and another on Eckstein’s grounder.

“I just threw it away. I had the wrong mind-set,” Verlander said. “I picked it up and said to myself ‘Don’t throw it away,’ instead of just picking it up and throwing it. I got tentative.”

Rolen, who led Cardinals’ batters at .421, added a big run with a two-out RBI single in the seventh, extending his postseason hitting streak to 10 games.

The Cardinals (83-78) almost didn’t even make it to the postseason. They had a seven-game National League Central lead with 12 to go but lost 8 of 9 before recovering to finish 11/2 games ahead of Houston.

Minnesota, in 1987, had set the previous low for wins by a Series winner, going 85-77.

“The team that wins a world championship is the team that played the best,” La Russa said.

Weaver, cast off by the Yankees three years ago after a World Series flop and dealt to the Cardinals by the Angels in July, allowed four hits in eight innings, matched his season high with nine strikeouts and walked one before Wainwright finished.

Cardinals 4, Tigers 2

a-flied out for Verlander in the 7th. b-fouled out for Weaver in the 8th. 1-ran for Casey in the 9th. E—Inge (3), Verlander (2), Duncan (1). LOB—Detroit 6, St. Louis 8. 2B—Casey 2 (2), Inge (2). HR—Casey (2), off JfWeaver. RBIs—Casey 2 (5), Eckstein 2 (4), Rolen (2). CS—Pujols (1). S—Taguchi. RLISP—Detroit 3 (Monroe, IRodriguez, Inge); St. Louis 6 (Duncan 2, Belliard 3, JfWeaver). RMU—Eckstein, Taguchi, JfWeaver. DP—Detroit 1 (IRodriguez, CGuillen and Casey).

WP—Verlander 2, Wainwright. T—2:56. A—46,638 (43,975).