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Kip Wells failed to click with Cardinals, Dave Duncan

Posted in Games, Pitchers on November 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

After pitching coach Dave Duncan transformed Jeff Weaver from a consistent loser into a postseason ace with the 2006 Cardinals, the club wanted him to work similar magic with Kip Wells in 2007. Duncan and Wells were willing. The results, though, were far from the same.

kip_wellsDesperate for starting pitching a month after winning the 2006 World Series championship, the Cardinals, with Duncan’s endorsement, signed Wells, a free agent, on Nov. 28, 2006.

Wells, 29, agreed to a one-year contract for $4 million. The Cardinals projected him in their 2007 rotation, even though he produced one winning season among his last seven in the majors.

A significant factor in their investment was their faith in Duncan, who had a reputation for bringing out the best in pitchers who had struggled or underperformed.

Pitching mentor

Since joining the Cardinals in 1996, Duncan, a former catcher, had helped rejuvenate the careers of several starting pitchers, most notably right-handers, including Andy Benes, Kent Bottenfield, Garrett Stephenson, Darryl Kile, Woody Williams, Jeff Suppan, Chris Carpenter and Weaver.

In 2006, Weaver joined the Cardinals in July after posting a 3-10 record and 6.29 ERA that season with the Angels. Working with Duncan, Weaver gradually improved. He earned three wins for the Cardinals in the 2006 postseason, including the Game 5 World Series championship clincher.

After the season, Weaver and two other Cardinals starting pitchers, Suppan and Jason Marquis, became free agents. Another starter, Mark Mulder, was injured. That left Carpenter and Anthony Reyes as the Cardinals’ only experienced big-league starters.

The Cardinals planned to replenish the rotation by signing free agents. Wells was an immediate target.

Signs of brilliance

Because of a blocked artery in his right shoulder and a foot injury that required surgery, Wells was limited to nine big-league starts in 2006. He was 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA in seven starts for the Pirates before he was traded to the Rangers for pitcher Jesse Chavez on July 31, 2006. Wells made two starts for the Rangers and was 1-0 with a 5.62 ERA.

The Cardinals were familiar with Wells. With the Pirates from 2002-2006 after starting his career with the White Sox, Wells was 2-6 against the Cardinals.

Duncan saw enough skill in Wells as an opponent to determine the right-hander could be a reliable St. Louis starter.

“I always felt like he had great ability and was a very interesting guy to watch,” Duncan said to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There were signs of brilliance and sometimes mistakes that were made that weren’t understandable.”

Said Wells: “I definitely relish the opportunity to get some insight, some wisdom (from Duncan) and further my career and my ability.”

All aboard

Reaction to the Cardinals’ signing of Wells largely was positive:

_ Bernie Miklasz, Post-Dispatch columnist: “He looks like another low-risk Dave Duncan specialty: a groundball machine, finally healthy and in need of a mid-career tuneup.”

_ Chris Carpenter, Cardinals pitcher: “Getting Kip Wells is a first step. That was a nice first step.”

_ Walt Jocketty, Cardinals general manager: “We got a guy everyone agrees will be very good if he stays healthy.”

_ Randy Hendricks, Wells’ agent: “If Kip does what we and the Cardinals hope, he will be worth a lot more after 2007. So we are betting on each other and the future.”

The Cardinals made aggressive bids for other free-agent starting pitchers, including Jason Schmidt, Miguel Batista and Vincente Padilla (they offered Schmidt, for instance, a three-year contract for $42 million, the Post-Dispatch reported), but were rejected.

So they planned to convert relievers Braden Looper and Adam Wainwright into starters to join Carpenter, Reyes and Wells in the 2007 rotation.

Hard to watch

Wells had a terrible beginning to his 2007 season, losing eight of his first nine decisions. He was 1-8 with a 6.75 ERA after an excruciating performance against the Dodgers on May 16. In that start, Wells threw 125 pitches in five innings. Boxscore

“The Cardinals’ night in the dentist’s chair ended with a root canal gone awry,” Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch noted.

Wells finished with a 7-17 record and 5.70 ERA in 34 appearances, including 26 starts, for the 2007 Cardinals. He yielded 186 hits in 162.2 innings. Wells also gave up the most runs (116) and most walks (78) of any pitcher on the staff.

By midseason, Duncan “had become frustrated by Wells’ ponderous pace, heavy pitch counts and inability to avoid huge innings,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Wells complained the coaching staff failed to help him improve his mechanics.”

Bat man

Wells turned out to be a better hitter than he was a pitcher for the Cardinals. He batted .321 (17-for-53). He was used once as a pinch-hitter, producing a RBI-single off Astros reliever Dan Wheeler in the ninth inning of a Cardinals victory on June 1 at Houston. Boxscore

After the season, Wells became a free agent and signed with the Rockies. He was their starting pitcher in the 2008 season opener against the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Though he didn’t get a decision, Wells pitched effectively, holding the Cardinals to one run (a Yadier Molina home run) in 5.1 innings. The Rockies won, 2-1, scoring their runs in the eighth inning off reliever Ryan Franklin. Boxscore

Wells played his final big-league season in 2012 with the Padres. His career major-league record: 69-103 with a 4.71 ERA.

Previously: Why Jeff Weaver rates among clutch Cards clinchers

Previously: Why Cards took a chance on Jeff Weaver

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Larry Dierker and his unsatisfying stint with Cardinals

Posted in Pitchers, Trades on November 18, 2016| 3 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 22, 2019)

Larry Dierker was a popular, personable and productive Astros pitcher, as smooth a fit for Houston as oil, aerospace and barbecue. His trade to the Cardinals caused shockwaves in Texas.

larry_dierkerThe Cardinals acquired Dierker and infielder Jerry DaVanon from the Astros for catcher Joe Ferguson and outfielder Bob Detherage on Nov. 23, 1976.

It appeared to be a masterful move by Cardinals general manager Bing Devine.

Dierker, 30, had produced nine seasons with double-digit win totals for the Astros, including 1969 when he became the first Houston pitcher to earn 20 and 1976 when he had a no-hitter versus the Expos among his 13 wins.

When he joined the Cardinals, Dierker ranked fifth among active National League pitchers in career NL wins, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The four ahead of him were future Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro.

“Every good pitching staff needs a stabilizer and I think he’ll help our staff,” Cardinals manager Vern Rapp said.

Dierker’s stay with the Cardinals, though, turned out to be short and unsatisfying.

Youth movements

Planning to enter the 1977 season with four starting pitchers 27 or younger _ Bob Forsch, John Denny, Eric Rasmussen and Pete Falcone _ the Cardinals sought a veteran to anchor the rotation.

The Astros, flush with young starting pitchers such as Joaquin Andujar and Floyd Bannister, needed a reliable catcher and a power hitter. Ferguson could be both.

Though Ferguson had been a bust with the Cardinals, batting .201 with four home runs in 71 games in 1976, he displayed power with the Dodgers, hitting 25 home runs in 1973 and 16 in 1974.

With other teams inquiring about Ferguson, the Astros offered Dierker to enhance their chances of making a deal.

“We feel he’s the best of all possible available acquisitions,” Astros general manager Tal Smith said to the Associated Press. “There were at least nine clubs in the market for a top-notch catcher and we feel fortunate to get him.”

Smith said he regretted having to deal Dierker, but told United Press International, “If we were going to fill a void, we had to satisfy the other club. In this case, the price was a real quality pitcher.”

Astros ace

Dierker made his big-league debut with Houston on Sept. 22, 1964, his 18th birthday. Facing the Giants, he struck out Willie Mays in the first inning.

In 13 years (1964-76) with Houston, Dierker had a 137-117 record and 3.28 ERA.

Dierker accepted his trade to the Cardinals, saying, “It seems kind of like a new beginning.”

“I’m still confident I can pitch and I’m not going to be afraid for my job until I know I can’t compete with the youngsters anymore,” Dierker said to The Sporting News. “… I like to feel the Cardinals are getting a pretty good pitcher.”

Injury woes

The high expectations for Dierker were set back on March 3, 1977, when he broke his left ankle while running wind sprints in the outfield at the Cardinals’ spring training camp. He opened the 1977 season on the disabled list.

On May 22, 1977, Dierker made his Cardinals debut with a start against the Giants at St. Louis. He worked five innings, yielded two runs and took the loss. Boxscore

In June, Dierker developed right shoulder problems.

The Cardinals asked Dierker to go to the minor leagues to work his arm into shape, but he turned down the request, according to The Sporting News.

After missing a start on July 12 at Philadelphia because of shoulder woes, Dierker was shelled in a start on July 16 at Montreal, yielding three runs and being lifted before completing the first inning. He didn’t appear in another game for the Cardinals until working an inning of relief on Oct. 1.

New careers

In an assessment of the 1977 Cardinals, The Sporting News declared Dierker “was useless most of the season.”

Rapp said Dierker was someone “you figured would win 15.”

Instead, Dierker had a 2-6 record and 4.58 ERA in 11 appearances for the 1977 Cardinals.

Dierker went to spring training with the 1978 Cardinals and said he “was feeling great,” but he struggled with command of his pitches. In 17 exhibition game innings, Dierker yielded 21 hits and eight walks and posted a 4.76 ERA.

At the end of spring training, the Cardinals released Dierker, “a development he expected and accepted with grace,” according to The Sporting News.

In February 1979, Dierker joined the Astros’ front office as director of community relations and ticket sales. He was an Astros broadcaster from 1979-96. In 1997, Dierker replaced Terry Collins as Astros manager and led the club to four division titles in five seasons.

Previously: From the start, Cards vs. Houston rivalry was special

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Why Jeff Weaver rates among clutch Cardinals clinchers

Posted in Games, Pitchers on October 26, 2016| 2 Comments »

(Updated Nov. 12, 2024)

Of the 10 pitchers who have accounted for the 11 championship-clinching World Series wins for the Cardinals, Jeff Weaver is the most improbable of the group.

jeff_weaverOn Oct. 27, 2006, Weaver delivered the performance of his career, limiting the Tigers to two runs in eight innings and striking out nine in the Cardinals’ 4-2 victory in the decisive Game 5 of the World Series at St. Louis.

The triumph, sealed by Adam Wainwright’s scoreless relief in the ninth inning, gave the Cardinals the 10th of their 11 World Series titles and capped an unexpected comeback for Weaver, whose pitching career appeared to be in shambles three months earlier.

During the 2006 regular season, Weaver had a combined 8-14 record and 5.76 ERA for the Angels and Cardinals. He was 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA for the Angels. For the Cardinals, who acquired him July 5 for minor-league outfielder Terry Evans, Weaver was 5-4 with a 5.18 ERA.

In comparison, the other nine pitchers who won decisive games of World Series for the Cardinals had solid season statistics. Weaver is the only one who had a regular-season ERA higher than 3.65 and who failed to achieve double-digit wins.

The other nine (Bob Gibson achieved the feat twice) include four pitchers who would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Jesse Haines, Burleigh Grimes, Dizzy Dean and Gibson. Eight won as starters and one, Harry Brecheen, won as a reliever.

Pressure pitchers

Here are the pitchers who won clinching games for the Cardinals in the World Series:

_ Jesse Haines, Game 7, 1926. Regular-season record: 13-4, 3.25 ERA.

_ Burleigh Grimes, Game 7, 1931. Regular-season record: 17-9, 3.65 ERA.

_ Dizzy Dean, Game 7, 1934. Regular-season record: 30-7, 2.66 ERA.

_ Johnny Beazley, Game 5, 1942. Regular-season record: 21-6, 2.13 ERA.

_ Max Lanier, Game 6, 1944. Regular-season record: 17-12, 2.65 ERA.

_ Harry Brecheen, Game 7, 1946. Regular-season record: 15-15, 2.49 ERA.

_ Bob Gibson, Game 7, 1964. Regular-season record: 19-12, 3.01 ERA.

_ Bob Gibson, Game 7, 1967. Regular-season record: 13-7, 2.98 ERA.

_ Joaquin Andujar, Game 7, 1982. Regular-season record: 15-10, 2.47 ERA.

_ Jeff Weaver, Game 5, 2006. Regular-season mark for Cards: 5-4, 5.18 ERA.

_ Chris Carpenter, Game 7, 2011. Regular-season record: 11-9, 3.45 ERA.

Duncan delivers

Weaver is the only winner of a Cardinals World Series clincher who pitched for a big-league team other than St. Louis during the regular season. He also is the only one of the 10 who defeated his former team in the World Series finale. Weaver debuted with the 1999 Tigers and had a 39-51 record in four years with Detroit before he was traded to the Yankees in July 2002.

Helped by the mentoring of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, Weaver was much more effective in the 2006 postseason than he had been in the regular season. Weaver was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in the National League Division Series versus the Padres, 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA in the NL Championship Series against the Mets and 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in the World Series.

According to Sports Illustrated, “Weaver and Duncan isolated some technical glitches _ from the angle of Weaver’s arm to the way he lined up facing home before his delivery.”

Weaver also cited the help he got from catcher Yadier Molina.

Tigers tumble

In Game 5 of the World Series, with the Tigers ahead, 2-1, in the fourth, the Cardinals had Molina on second, So Taguchi on first, one out, and Weaver at the plate. Attempting to sacrifice, Weaver bunted to pitcher Justin Verlander, who threw wildly to third. “He didn’t throw the ball,” analyst and former Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver said on the Game 5 telecast. “He goosed it to third base. He just tried to push it over there.”

Molina rounded third and scored the tying run. Taguchi scooted from first to third and Weaver got to second. The next batter, David Eckstein, grounded out to shortstop Carlos Guillen and Taguchi raced home with the go-ahead run, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. World Series Game 5 video, with bottom of the fourth inning at about the 53-minute mark.

(The Tigers committed eight errors in the five World Series games.)

Winning hand

In the sixth, with two outs and the bases empty, Sean Casey doubled over the head of Cardinals right fielder Chris Duncan (son of Dave). With the tying run in scoring position, a composed, determined Weaver struck out Ivan Rodriguez on three pitches, ending the threat.

In an interview with Fox Sports Midwest, Weaver recalled, “I just knew I had to slow things down because your heart is racing.”

Weaver retired the Tigers in order in the seventh and eighth innings. The Cardinals added a run in the seventh on Scott Rolen’s RBI-single. Boxscore

Brought in to pitch the ninth, Adam Wainwright gave up a double and a walk before striking out Brandon Inge for the final out. Weaver celebrated on the field and in the clubhouse with his brother, Jered, a rookie who had replaced him in the Angels’ rotation. “Weaver wept as he embraced his younger brother,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

In summarizing the performance of a Cardinals pitching staff that had a 2.05 ERA in the World Series, columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote, “The wild card in this deck of aces was Jeff Weaver.”

 

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How Grover Cleveland Alexander mastered ‘Murderer’s Row’

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers, Records on October 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

In a span of about 24 hours, Grover Cleveland Alexander twice held the fate of the 1926 Cardinals in his right hand. With a loss meaning elimination of the Cardinals from the World Series, Alexander delivered a win and a save against the Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at New York.

grover_alexander2Alexander’s save, one of the top five iconic moments in Cardinals lore, was accomplished on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 10, in Game 7 with 2.1 innings of hitless relief, including the storied strikeout of Tony Lazzeri with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, in a 3-2 Cardinals victory.

Alexander’s win, accomplished a day earlier on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 9, in Game 6, was just as impressive, but often overshadowed by the Game 7 drama.

With the Yankees in position to clinch the championship with a victory, Alexander, 39, got a complete-game win for the Cardinals in Game 6.

Displaying remarkable command of his pitches, Alexander kept Ruth from hitting a ball out of the infield and limited Gehrig to a single in the 10-2 Cardinals victory.

In an Associated Press report, Cardinals player-manager Rogers Hornsby said of Alexander, “(He) has left a mark for the next generation to aim at.”

Wrote The Sporting News: “(Alexander) has been pitching a long, long time, but it is doubtful if he ever rose to the heights he ascended in this Series.”

Duel of veterans

On Oct. 3 at Yankee Stadium, Alexander started and won Game 2 of the 1926 World Series, pitching a complete-game four-hitter and striking out 10 in the Cardinals’ 6-2 triumph. That win evened the best-of-seven Series at 1-1.

The Yankees won two of the next three at St. Louis.

With Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, Alexander was matched against Bob Shawkey, 35, who had pitched primarily in relief during the regular season.

Yankees manager Miller Huggins was confident Shawkey could deliver a strong start. Shawkey had pitched in relief in Game 2 and Game 3 and hadn’t allowed the Cardinals a baserunner over 3.2 total innings. Huggins also was confident Alexander wouldn’t be as sharp in Game 6 as he had been in Game 2.

Under control

As Shawkey took the mound for the start of Game 6, “the sun was shining but there was an October chill in the air,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Cardinals scored three in the first, led 4-1 through six and secured their grip with a five-run seventh.

Alexander never gave the Yankees a chance to rally. He threw 104 pitches, including 75 for strikes. “It was remarkable to watch the old master put the ball almost where he wanted to,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “It was the finest exhibition of control seen in many a day.”

Said Alexander: “The day was cold and at times I had trouble in cutting loose with my fastball, but my control was exceptionally good with men on the bases and that was what helped me.”

Besting The Babe

Alexander especially was effective against Ruth, who’d hit 47 home runs during the season and three against the Cardinals in Game 4 of the World Series at St. Louis. Ruth was 0-for-3 with a walk against Alexander in Game 6. In the third inning, Ruth batted with runners on first and second, two outs, and grounded out to first. In the seventh, with runners on second and third, two outs, Alexander induced Ruth to ground out to shortstop.

“It was my control that kept Ruth from hitting,” Alexander said. “Every ball that Babe hit broke on the inside of the plate, close enough so that the big fellow could do no damage.”

Said Huggins: “Alexander had a better game left in his system than we thought.”

Alexander was supported by the hitting of Les Bell (four RBI, three hits, including a two-run home run), Hornsby (three RBI) and Billy Southworth (double, triple, three runs). Boxscore

“I want to thank the fans of New York for the way they have treated the Cardinals at the Stadium,” Alexander said. “They have been fair and square, ever ready to applaud when a good play was made.”

 

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Jesse Haines and a joyous St. Louis World Series welcome

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on October 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(Updated Nov. 22, 2024)

In the first World Series game played in St. Louis, nine future inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby, appeared in the starting lineups. The player who delivered the masterpiece performance was the pitcher among that stellar cast, Jesse Haines of the Cardinals.

jesse_hainesOn Oct. 5, 1926, in Game 3 of the World Series at Sportman’s Park, Haines pitched a complete-game shutout and hit a two-run home run, carrying the Cardinals to a 4-0 victory.

Haines and Bucky Walters of the 1940 Reds are the only pitchers with a shutout and a home run in a World Series game. Walters achieved his feat in Game 6 against the Tigers.

Impossible dream

With his performance, Haines defied the odds. Consider:

_ The 1926 Yankees featured the famed “Murderer’s Row” lineup of Ruth, Gehrig, two other future Hall of Famers, Tony Lazzeri and Earle Combs, and standouts Bob Meusel and Joe Dugan.

(In “Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball,” Ruth said, “Lou Gehrig would rather fish than eat. Most any day in winter you’ll find him out on the banks after cod … Lou is a great eel fisherman, too, and in the summer after the ballgame he’ll take his mother in his car and go shooting down to Long Island to spear eels. His mother pickles them, and now and then she’ll send a big jar of pickled eels around to the clubhouse. When the boys struck a big hitting stride, they got the idea that the pickled eels were responsible for their hitting, and for weeks they wouldn’t go into a ballgame until they all had taken a couple of bites of pickled eel.”)

_ The Yankees, who led the major leagues in runs scored (847) in 1926, had been shut out just three times during the regular season.

_ Haines, in his eighth big-league season, had hit one career home run. It occurred six years earlier on Aug. 11, 1920, at Philadelphia against former Cardinals pitcher Lee Meadows of the Phillies.

Seeing red

Haines also had to deal with the heightened expectations of a city stirred into a frenzy by the thrill of hosting its first World Series game.

“Classes in public schools were dismissed at 1:30 and the pupils assembled in the auditoriums to hear the Cardinals-Yankees scores by radio,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“Buildings in the neighborhood of the (ballpark) held many long-distance fans, who cocked ears and craned necks, some leaning out windows, others standing on roofs,” the newspaper reported. “Many a chimney top was dusted off to make a seat for a fan.”

In the New York American, Damon Runyon observed, “The city is jammed with wide-hatted Missourians and fat-waisted Ohioans and thin-flanked Illinoisans and other of the citizenry of the Mississippi Valley.”

A crowd of 37,708 _ the largest to attend a baseball game in St. Louis at that time _ stuffed into Sportsman’s Park.

“When the teams took the field, there was not a vacant seat in lower stand, upper stand, pavilion or bleachers _ row upon row of humanity splashed with red,” the Post-Dispatch wrote. “It was the only color visible. Women wore it in their hats. Men in their neckties. Red scarfs, red shirts, red dresses, red flowers _ Cardinal red.”

Go crazy, folks

The Cardinals and Yankees had split the first two games of the World Series in New York. Haines had appeared in Game 1 on Oct. 2, pitching a scoreless eighth inning in relief of starter Bill Sherdel.

Three days later, he was starting Game 3 behind a Cardinals lineup that included fellow future Hall of Famers Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey, Billy Southworth and Hornsby. (Unlike the others, Southworth, though an outfielder with pop, would be elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager, not a player.)

In the top of fourth, the game was delayed for a half-hour by a downpour that left the infield a mess.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Cardinals ahead, 1-0, Haines batted from the right side against starter Dutch Ruether with a runner on first and two outs.

Ruether, a left-hander, threw a pitch high and outside. Haines swung at the curveball and connected with what Runyon described as “a line wallop over Bob Meusel’s head into the laps of the fans in the long, low green pavilion in right field.”

Wrote the Associated Press: “It was a towering blow, worthy of a Ruth or a Southworth.”

Haines’ home run gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead and created bedlam.

“Screams, shrieks, whoops, bawls, howls, hollers, roars swept the muddy ballyard with the weird noises raised by cow bells, auto horns, whistles, rattles and musical instruments mixed with the medley,” wrote Runyon.

Battling The Babe

In the fifth, the Cardinals added a run on a RBI-groundout by Bottomley, making the score 4-0.

Three innings later, Haines walked pinch-hitter Ben Paschal to open the eighth. With the top of their batting order coming up next, the Yankees sensed this was their chance to get back into the game.

“Even the Cardinals betrayed a little concern,” wrote the Post-Dispatch. “They gathered about Haines to steady him.”

Haines struck out Combs. The next batter, Mark Koening, grounded out to first, moving Paschal to second.

That brought to the plate Ruth.

“Ruth was an enemy and they didn’t like him and nobody made any attempt to conceal the fact,” James R. Harrison of the New York Times reported. “… Ruth was met in St. Louis with a frank chorus of boos, groans and hisses.”

With first base open, some expected Hornsby, the player-manager of the Cardinals, to order an intentional walk.

The first two pitches from Haines to Ruth were outside the strike zone. “It was evident that Jess was trying only to keep the ball out of the home run circle,” wrote the Post-Dispatch.

On the third pitch, Ruth looked at a called strike.

The Bambino swung at the next delivery and pulled a grounder to Hornsby at second for the third out of the inning.

The threat was over and the Cardinals prevailed. The final line for Haines: 9 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts. All of the Yankees’ hits were singles: two by Gehrig and one each by Ruth, Combs and Dugan. Boxscore

Haines got his next start in Game 7. He pitched 6.2 innings and earned the win in a game best remembered for Grover Cleveland Alexander striking out Lazzeri with the bases loaded and getting the save.

Previously: How Cardinals got Grover Cleveland Alexander

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Cardinals pitchers delivered rare RBI prowess in Series

Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers, Records on October 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

After a season in which he ranked among the National League leaders, no one would have figured Cardinals ace Mort Cooper would do better as a hitter than as a pitcher in the 1942 World Series.

mort_cooper5Cooper, who led the NL in wins (22), shutouts (10) and ERA (1.78) and placed among the top two in strikeouts (152), starts (35) and innings pitched (278.2), started Games 1 and 4 of the 1942 World Series against the Yankees.

To the surprise of most, the right-hander posted an 0-1 record and 5.54 ERA in those two games.

However, in Game 4, Cooper delivered a two-run single off starter Hank Borowy and scored a run, contributing to a 9-6 Cardinals triumph and putting the Yankees on the brink of elimination.

In the ninth inning, Cardinals reliever Max Lanier, who got the win, produced a RBI-single off Tiny Bonham, the Yankees’ 6-foot-2, 215-pound pitcher.

Pitchers with pop

With the run-scoring hits from Cooper and Lanier, the 1942 Cardinals are one of five teams that have had two pitchers produce RBI in a postseason game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The others:

_ Jack Bentley and Hugh McQuillan for the Giants versus the Senators in Game 5 of the 1924 World Series.

_ Lefty Gomez and Johnny Murphy for the Yankees versus the Giants in Game 6 of the 1936 World Series.

_ Steve Avery and Mike Stanton for the Braves versus the Pirates in Game 2 of the 1992 NL Championship Series.

_ Kyle Hendricks and Travis Wood for the Cubs versus the Giants in Game 2 of the 2016 NL Division Series.

Cooper contributes

Cooper was the losing pitcher in the 1942 World Series opener on Sept. 30. He yielded 10 hits, three walks and five runs in 7.2 innings.

After the Cardinals won Games 2 and 3, manager Billy Southworth opted to start Cooper in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium on three days’ rest on Oct. 4 rather than Lanier, a 13-game winner who hadn’t yet appeared in the 1942 World Series.

Lanier, a left-hander, had made 20 starts for the 1942 Cardinals, but he was 5-0 with a 1.25 ERA in 14 relief appearances that season.

The Yankees led, 1-0, in Game 4 before the Cardinals scored six runs in the fourth. Stan Musial opened the inning with a bunt single. The Cardinals took the lead on Whitey Kurowski’s two-run single and Cooper, who batted .184 with seven RBI during the regular season, increased the advantage to 4-1 with his two-run hit.

“Cooper found an outside pitch to his liking and blooped a single to right that sent (Johnny) Hopp and Kurowski home and moved (Marty) Marion to third,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Run-scoring hits by Terry Moore and Musial capped the inning and gave the Cardinals a 6-1 advantage.

Manager misjudgment

Cooper, though, couldn’t shut down the Yankees. He surrendered five runs in 5.1 innings.

Cooper “went into the classic too tired to show at his best,” wrote columnist Dan Daniel in The Sporting News. “After he had been batted out of the first game, he decided that his troubles traced to his fastball. When again he encountered the Bombers (in Game 4), he tried to get by on his curve and it was nothing much. He just didn’t have it.”

Fortunately for the Cardinals, Lanier, who followed Cooper and relievers Harry Gumbert and Howie Pollet, pitched three scoreless innings for the win.

The Cardinals clinched the title with their fourth consecutive victory in Game 5.

“About my only regret was that the Yankees did not see the real Mort Cooper,” Southworth said. “In Mort’s first game, he just wasn’t sharp. He was too careful. In his second start, he should have had another day’s rest. I was to blame. But Mort wanted to go and I admit I wanted him to. I should have waited another day.” Boxscore

Previously: Big-game losses haunt Mort Cooper, Justin Verlander

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