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How Carlos Villanueva put a scare into 2006 Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 26, 2015| 1 Comment »

(Updated Feb. 8, 2016)

As a rookie, Carlos Villanueva almost kept the 2006 Cardinals from qualifying for the postseason and winning their first World Series title in 24 years.

Nine years later, Villanueva was competing for the 2015 Cardinals as an effective member of their relief staff.

On Oct. 1, 2006, the Cardinals entered the final day of the regular season needing a win over the Brewers at St. Louis or an Astros loss to the Braves in Atlanta to clinch outright the National League Central Division title. If the Cardinals lost and the Astros won, the Cardinals would need to win a regular-season makeup game against the Giants to clinch the division title and avoid a one-game playoff with the Astros to advance to the National League Division Series against the Padres.

Rookie starters

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa gambled and started rookie Anthony Reyes against the Brewers on three days of rest, choosing to hold back Chris Carpenter in the hope St. Louis would clinch the division crown versus Milwaukee and have their ace available for Game 1 of the NL Division Series.

Brewers manager Ned Yost chose Villanueva as his starter. Villanueva had faced the Cardinals for the first time on Sept. 20 at Milwaukee and pitched seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 Brewers victory. Boxscore

Reyes flopped.

The Brewers scored four in the first on a two-run home run by Prince Fielder, a solo home run by Geoff Jenkins and a RBI-single by David Bell. Reyes was lifted before he could complete the opening inning.

Keep me in, coach

Given a 4-0 lead, Villanueva faced Cardinals leadoff batter Aaron Miles. who “smacked a sharp one-hopper off Villanueva’s pitching hand,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

“It felt bad,” Villanueva said.

Yost went to the mound and asked his right-hander, “How are you doing?”

“Of course, I said, ‘I’m doing great,’ ” Villanueva said.

In truth, the hand throbbed.

Said Yost: “I came close to taking him out. He couldn’t even swing a bat. I kept an eye on him and if I noticed a drop-off in effectiveness I would have taken him out. But I didn’t see it.”

Villanueva baffled the Cardinals. With each inning, their hopes of beating the Brewers dimmed.

Bailout by Braves

Then, in the fifth, a roar erupted from the Busch Stadium crowd as the final from Atlanta was posted: Braves 3, Astros 1. The Braves had prevailed behind six shutout innings from starter John Smoltz and a home run by Jeff Francoeur. Boxscore

The loss by the Astros meant the Cardinals had clinched the division title, regardless of the outcome of their game with the Brewers.

As fans cheered in appreciation, Villanueva stepped off the mound. Derryl Cousins, the home plate umpire, motioned for the game to resume, but Villanueva lingered, letting “the celebration last a few more seconds,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“I wanted to give them their moment,” Villanueva said. “I knew what was going on.”

Drama in ninth

Villanueva shut out the Cardinals through eight innings, extending his scoreless streak against them to 15 innings over two starts.

In the bottom of the ninth, with the Brewers ahead, 5-0, Villanueva got Miles to fly out to right. Then, the Cardinals thundered to life. Chris Duncan launched a 414-foot home run. Albert Pujols followed with a 424-foot shot.

Francisco Cordero relieved and struck out Preston Wilson, but Scott Spiezio followed with a home run, cutting the deficit to two. Cordero then ended the drama _ and the regular season _ by striking out Juan Encarnacion, preserving a 5-3 victory for Villanueva and the Brewers. Boxscore

Unfazed, the Cardinals regrouped and beat the Padres in the NL Division Series, the Mets in the NL Championship Series and the Tigers in the World Series.

Previously: 2006 was critical to Tony La Russa earning Hall of Fame status

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Denny McLain on Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, 1968 Cardinals

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on February 2, 2015| 2 Comments »

Since 1931, three pitchers have achieved 30 wins in a season: Denny McLain (31 with 1968 Tigers), Dizzy Dean (30 with 1934 Cardinals) and Lefty Grove (31 with 1931 Athletics).

I met McLain on Jan. 31, 2015, at a sports card show at the American Legion Hall in Sebastian, Fla. Richard Stone, who produces the show, was kind in introducing me to McLain and arranging the interview.

McLain was friendly, talkative, outspoken.

The pitcher, who used to drink a case of Pepsi a day, said he had dropped 180 pounds, crediting a procedure called bariatric surgery, which removed a portion of his stomach.

In 1968, when he won both the American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards, McLain had a 31-6 record, 1.96 ERA and 28 complete games. He won a second Cy Young Award in 1969, with a 24-9 record, 2.80 ERA and 23 complete games.

McLain was suspended by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn for part of the 1970 season because of his association with bookmakers. After his playing career, he twice went to prison: the first time on a conviction for racketeering and the second time on a conviction for embezzlement.

Here are excerpts from my tape-recorded interview with Denny McLain:

Q.: You are the last pitcher with 30 wins in a season. Do you think the achievement gets the credit it deserves?

Denny McLain: “As time goes by, the stories about it become greater, but the appreciation becomes a little less. Will anyone win 30 again? Obviously not. The game has changed. No else is going to do it.”

Q.: Do you think today’s major leaguers appreciate the feat?

Denny McLain: “A lot of players today don’t know historically what happened 30, 40 years ago. There are some, but they are the exceptions. Very few know or actually care. It’s about the paycheck. Despite how the current guys treat them, the former players still respect the players today. That’s the difference.

“Of course, we’re all a little jealous of the money. The guys today don’t understand what we did to get them to the place where they are today. We walked out (on strike) when we were making $20,000, $30,000 a year. I wonder if they were making $20,000, $30,000 a year today how many guys would walk out. Guys today win 15 games and make $30 million a year.”

Q.: Insane?

Denny McLain: “Insane is a kind word. They should be committed.”

Q.: You and Dizzy Dean are the last two pitchers to win 30 in a season. You both are considered to be free spirits. Do you see similarities to him?

Denny McLain: “Dizzy and I both had the same personalities. We got along super well because he was as nuts as I was.”

Q.: You got to meet him?

Denny McLain: “I met both Dizzy Dean and Lefty Grove.”

Q.: What was Dizzy Dean like?

Denny McLain: “He wanted to have a good time all the time. He was a big-time gambler. On the night before I won my 30th in 1968, Dizzy says to me, ‘How you feeling? Anything bothering you? Think you’re going to win tomorrow?’ At the time, I didn’t know he was a big-time gambler. Dizzy was soliciting information.”

Q.: What was Lefty Grove like?

Denny McLain: “Lefty Grove was the nicest man I ever met in my life. He was a class act. He was articulate. He knew the game.”

Q.: In 1966, at age 22, you were the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game at St. Louis and retired all 9 batters you faced …

Denny McLain: “Six of them are in the Hall of Fame.”

Q.: They would be Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Ron Santo and Joe Torre. Mays led off and struck out …

Denny McLain: “I had him 3-and-2. Bill Freehan, my catcher, called for a curve. In an All-Star Game, to call a curve on 3-and-2 is pretty drastic. I was so pumped up. I threw a curve that was one of the greatest I’ve ever thrown in my life. They call it a 6 o’clocker.” Boxscore

Q.: Then Clemente flied out and Aaron struck out …

Denny McLain: “In winter ball in 1964 in Puerto Rico, I played against Santurce. That team had Clemente and (Orlando) Cepeda. First time I pitched against them, I struck them out each four times. That’s when Clemente came up to me and said, ‘Why aren’t you in the big leagues?’ I said, ‘I am.’ ”

Q.: The story is that before the 1968 World Series you said you wanted not only for the Tigers to beat the Cardinals, you wanted to humiliate them. True?

Denny McLain: “I wanted us to beat them in four. I got tired of hearing about Bob Gibson’s (1.12) ERA. I kept saying, ‘If he’s that good, why didn’t he win some more games?’ I know one of the quotes I said was, ‘He won 22 games. I won 21 by the end of July.’ That really got everybody ticked off.”

Q.: Then in Game 1 of the World Series, Gibson strikes out 17, pitches a shutout and you get lifted after five innings …

Denny McLain: “There’s nothing you could do. We got beat 4-0. One of us was going to win and one of us was going to lose. I lost.” Boxscore

Q.: You and Gibson were matched again in Game 4. Again, he won …

Denny McLain: “We shouldn’t have played the game. It was played in a downpour. I was never a mudder.” Boxscore

Q.: In Game 6, you start against Ray Washburn, pitch a complete game and win …

Denny McLain: “That was my day. If we lose that game …”

Q.: The World Series is over …

Denny McLain: “It would have killed me.”

Q.: You received a cortisone shot for your right shoulder before that game. How much did that help?

Denny McLain: “I got the injection about an hour before the game. I got another touch to it about 20 minutes before I went to warm up. Took some kind of pill. I didn’t have any pain until the fifth or sixth inning.” Boxscore

Q.: You struck out seven, walked none, the Tigers win, 13-1 …

Denny McLain: “The thing that made me mad about that ballgame is there were two outs in the ninth and I had a shutout. Julian Javier got a base hit with a man on second. Boy, was I mad. It was just a lousy ground ball that went through the hole.”

Q.: Did you feel the win was redemption after two losses to Gibson?

Denny McLain: “They only had one pitcher. That was Gibson. The rest of them weren’t very good. We were surprised at how bad their pitching was. But what St. Louis did is much like what we did: Play fundamentally sound baseball. If you play the game soundly, you will win.”

Previously: Should Curt Flood have caught Jim Northrup’s drive?

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Gerald Perry and his controversial homer off Pedro Martinez

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on January 14, 2015| 1 Comment »

For Cardinals pinch-hitter Gerald Perry, a controversial feat against a future ace salvaged an afternoon that began with a gaffe.

On April 13, 1993, Perry hit the first big-league home run yielded by Pedro Martinez, then a Dodgers rookie.

Twenty-two years later, on Jan. 6, 2015, Martinez was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. In 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Expos, Red Sox, Mets and Phillies, Martinez produced a 219-100 record and 2.93 ERA with 3,154 strikeouts.

In 1993, Martinez was 21, a relief pitcher in his first full big-league season with the Dodgers.

Perry, 32, was an 11-year big-league veteran, an established professional, but he made a rookie mistake.

Room service, please

Perry thought the Cardinals and Dodgers were playing a night game at Los Angeles. Instead, it was a rare weekday afternoon starting time because the game was the Dodgers’ home opener.

According to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Perry “was resting at the Century Plaza Hotel, having room service and watching a movie (“The Bodyguard”) on television” when he got a call from Cardinals equipment manager Buddy Bates, informing him he was about 90 minutes late.

Perry took a cab to Dodger Stadium and arrived in the clubhouse about 45 minutes before the start of the game. “I was very embarrassed walking in,” Perry said.

The Dodgers led, 7-5, after six innings. Martinez, the Dodgers’ third pitcher of the game, had held St. Louis scoreless in the fifth and sixth. The right-hander was making his second appearance of the season and his fourth overall in the big leagues.

In the seventh, the Cardinals had two runners on base with two outs when manager Joe Torre called on Perry, a left-handed batter, to pinch-hit for reliever Les Lancaster.

Tommy Lasorda, the Dodgers’ manager, stuck with Martinez.

Trouble if it’s fair

Perry swung at a high changeup and lined a deep drive down the right-field line.

As the ball carried toward the foul pole, Darryl Strawberry, the 6-foot-6 right fielder, “leaned over the waist-high wall” and reached for the ball, Hummel reported.

On KMOX radio, Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon told his audience, “Swing and a long one down the right-field line. It’s trouble if it stays fair … Well, we can’t tell.”

A fan with a glove caught the ball.

It landed just inside the foul line _ a three-run home run, giving the Cardinals an 8-7 lead.

Strawberry claimed the fan interfered.

“I would have had it,” said Strawberry. “I had it all the way. He just took it away.”

An inning after the home run, ushers escorted the fan from his seat. “Perhaps for his own safety,” Hummel wrote.

Cardinals catcher Hector Villanueva, who was in the bullpen, witnessed the fan being harassed by fellow spectators. “They were throwing stuff at him,” Villanueva said.

After viewing a video replay of Perry’s home run, Cardinals catcher Tom Pagnozzi opined, “There’s no way Strawberry would have caught that ball because the ball was already by him. What’s he whining about?”

Said Perry to the Orange County Register: “I was hoping and praying (Strawberry) wouldn’t catch it. Thanks to the fan, too.”

Martinez was lifted after completing the seventh. In the ninth, Pagnozzi hit a solo home run off Ricky Trlicek, extending the St. Louis lead to 9-7, and Lee Smith shut down the Dodgers in their half of the inning, earning his 358th save, then a major league record. Boxscore

When Perry got back to the clubhouse, he found a sign, created by his teammates, taped over his locker that informed him of the next Cardinals-Dodgers game. It read: “Night game, Rookie.”

Redbirds vs. Pedro

Martinez took the loss. Against the Cardinals in his career, he would finish 4-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 16 regular-season appearances, including 11 starts. He also earned a win against them with seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the 2004 World Series. Boxscore

Martinez gave up 10 career home runs versus the Cardinals. Six of those 10 occurred in three games.

_ John Mabry and Gary Gaetti connected for home runs against Martinez on July 28, 1996, in a 6-4 Cardinals victory over the Expos at St. Louis. Boxscore

_ Mark Grudzielanek and Abraham Nunez homered for the Cardinals against Martinez in a 7-6 St. Louis victory over the Mets on May 14, 2005, at New York. Boxscore

_ Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel hit home runs off Martinez in an 8-7 Cardinals triumph over the Mets at St. Louis on July 2, 2008. Boxscore

Previously: How Joe Girardi became a member of Cardinals’ family

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Cardinals gave John Smoltz a chance to exit on high note

Posted in Games, Pitchers on January 12, 2015| 2 Comments »

(Updated Aug. 23, 2018)

In a last hurrah to a stellar career, John Smoltz got one win for the Cardinals and it was a gem.

On Jan. 6, 2015, Smoltz was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. The right-hander is the only big-league pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves. He also earned 15 postseason wins: seven in the National League Division Series, six in the NL Championship Series and two in the World Series.

If not for the opportunity given to him by the Cardinals, Smoltz would have had a sour ending to his career.

Saved by St. Louis

Smoltz pitched for the Braves from 1988 through 2008. He made his last appearance for them on June 2, 2008, before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

A free agent, Smoltz signed with the Red Sox in 2009, but he was a flop, posting a 2-5 record and a 8.32 ERA in eight starts.

On Aug. 7, 2009, the Red Sox designated Smoltz for assignment. Ten days later, they released him.

The Cardinals, in first place in the NL Central, were seeking pitching depth. They had tried four pitchers as the fifth starter _ Todd Wellemeyer, Brad Thompson, Mitchell Boggs and P.J. Walters _ and weren’t satisfied with any. They also wanted to bolster the bullpen.

Cardinals third baseman Mark DeRosa, who had played for seven seasons with the Braves, recommended Smoltz to general manager John Mozeliak and manager Tony La Russa, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. DeRosa and Smoltz also were represented by the same agency.

On Aug. 19, 2009, Smoltz, 42, signed with the Cardinals for $100,000. The team planned to give Smoltz two starts to determine whether he would remain in a rotation with Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Joel Pineiro and Kyle Lohse, or move to the bullpen in a setup role for closer Ryan Franklin.

“There is no downside to this move,” Carpenter said.

Mozeliak called it “a unique opportunity” and “too inviting not to take a chance on.”

Said Smoltz: “You’re going to get a nasty guy on the mound … I still believe in everything I’m doing to get myself prepared for battle … You’ve got to want it. I still want it.”

To the rescue

Two days after Smoltz signed, Lohse suffered a groin injury running the bases and was placed on the disabled list. The Cardinals saw Smoltz as the replacement for Lohse. The question was whether Smoltz could be effective.

On Aug. 23, 2009, Smoltz provided the answer. In his first Cardinals appearance, Smoltz started against the Padres at San Diego and displayed the form that had made him an eight-time all-star with the Braves.

Smoltz struck out nine, including seven in a row, in five innings and held the Padres scoreless. Using a mix of split-fingered pitches, a slider, curve and fastball, Smoltz struck out the last batter of the second inning and struck out the side in the third and fourth innings.

Departing with a 5-0 lead, Smoltz earned the win _ the 213th and last of his career in the majors _ in a 5-2 Cardinals victory. Boxscore

“I couldn’t ask for a better beginning (with St. Louis),” Smoltz said. “All the pitches that were giving me trouble, I was able to throw.”

Wrote Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell: “No one could have seen this coming. I mean no one.” Video

Postseason finale

Smoltz stayed in the Cardinals rotation, made seven total starts and finished 1-3 with a 4.26 ERA. His ERA was 3.18 before he got shelled for six runs in four innings in his final career start on Sept. 30, 2009, against the Reds at Cincinnati.

The last pitching appearance for Smoltz came in a relief stint for the Cardinals in Game 3 of the 2009 NL Division Series against the Dodgers at St. Louis. Smoltz, pitching the sixth and seventh innings, struck out five in a row _ Ronnie Belliard, Russell Martin and Vicente Padilla to end the sixth and Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp to start the seventh. Boxscore

“For me personally, this was an incredible opportunity after surgery,” Smoltz said to the Post-Dispatch. “No one thought I could come back … I got a chance and I thank the organization for giving me that chance.’

His final career numbers: 213-155 with 154 saves, 3,084 strikeouts and a 3.33 ERA. In the postseason, Smoltz was 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 41 games.

Against the Cardinals, Smoltz was 11-11 with a 4.13 ERA in 40 regular-season appearances, including 29 starts. He was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA vs. St. Louis in the 1996 NL Championship Series.

Previously: Reaching 3,000 strikeouts was low-key event for Bob Gibson

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The story of Stu Miller and his stellar start with Cardinals

Posted in Games, Pitchers on January 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

A master at changing speeds and controlling his pitches, Stu Miller was a remarkable rookie for the 1952 Cardinals. He earned complete-game wins in each of his first three appearances for St. Louis, yielding a total of one earned run.

In a 16-year big-league career, primarily with the Giants and Orioles, Miller produced 105 wins and 154 saves, led the National League in ERA (2.47) in 1958 and led each league in saves (a NL-best 17 in 1961 and an American League-high 27 in 1963).

It was the Cardinals, though, who developed him and brought him to the majors.

Road to Redbirds

At 21, Miller signed with the Cardinals in 1949 after attending a tryout camp in his home state, Massachusetts.

He quickly rose through their minor-league system, posting records of 16-13 with Class D Hamilton in 1950, 13-10 with Class B Winston-Salem in 1951 and 11-5 with Class AAA Columbus in 1952.

After winning eight of his last 10 starts at Columbus for manager Johnny Keane, Miller, 24, was promoted to the Cardinals in August 1952. Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky was surprised to see his new right-hander was slight (5 feet 10, 150 pounds) and, according to St. Louis writer Bob Broeg, “looks more like a ribbon clerk than a pitcher.”

Dazzling debut

Stanky tabbed Miller to make his big-league debut in a start against the Cubs at Chicago on Aug. 12, 1952.

“Stu’s got ice water in his veins,” Cardinals pitcher Harry Brecheen said to The Sporting News. “I went over the Chicago lineup with him at dinner before his first major-league start and asked him if he’d be nervous. ‘Maybe for one pitch,’ he told me. But the way he curved that first strike past Tommy Brown, I don’t think he was tense at all.”

Miller struck out Brown and settled into a groove, baffling the Cubs with a fastball, changeup and curve.

In the bottom of the ninth, with the Cardinals ahead, 1-0, the Cubs put runners on first and third with two outs. Brecheen was warming in the bullpen.

With Bill Serena at the plate, Stanky went to the mound and stared into the eyes of Miller.

“I’m all right,” Miller told the manager.

Stanky stayed with Miller.

Serena worked the count to 3-and-2. Miller threw a fastball and Serena struck out, ending the game and securing the shutout win. Boxscore

“I warmed up in the ninth inning and worked up more of a sweat than he did pitching nine innings,” Brecheen said.

The Cubs were limited to six hits _ five singles and a Hank Sauer double _ and two walks.

“I bet he showed me eight or nine different speeds,” Cardinals catcher Del Rice said. “He was really right when he said he could get his slow stuff over nine out of every 10 pitches.”

Plenty of poise

Five days later, Aug. 17, 1952, Miller made his second start, facing the Reds at St. Louis.

Again, he took a shutout into the ninth.

With the Cardinals ahead, 2-0, the Reds put runners on first and second with two outs.

The batter, Roy McMillan, hit a grounder to shortstop Solly Hemus, who booted the ball, retrieved it and made a wild throw. Joe Adcock scored from second, Andy Seminick went from first to third and McMillan made it to second.

Miller, who would have had his second consecutive shutout if Hemus hadn’t made two errors on the play, prepared to face Bob Borkowski with two runners in scoring position and a one-run lead.

Stanky went to the mound and peered into the eyes of Miller.

“I’ll get him out,” Miller said.

Borkowski struck out looking, giving Miller his second straight complete-game win and the Cardinals a 2-1 victory. Boxscore

“He must be more than 24,” Stanky said, “because he’s too smart and too calm to be that young.”

Said Cardinals farm director Joe Mathes, who was among those who had recommended the Cardinals call up Miller: “Hitting is timing and how the hell can they time something that comes up there at a different speed each time?”

It’s Miller time

In his third start, Aug. 22, 1952, against the Giants at St. Louis, Miller pitched another gem _ striking out nine in a complete-game three-hitter _ and got the win in a 3-1 Cardinals victory. Boxscore

After his first three appearances in the big leagues, Miller was 3-0 with a 0.33 ERA in 27 innings.

In his fourth start, a 4-3 Dodgers triumph over the Cardinals on Aug. 26, 1952, Miller took the loss, even though he held Brooklyn to four hits and struck out 10 in another complete game. Two of the Dodgers’ runs were unearned. Boxscore

Miller finished 6-3 with a 2.05 ERA for the 1952 Cardinals.

Ended as started

The remainder of his Cardinals career wasn’t nearly as successful. Miller was 7-8 with a 5.56 ERA for St. Louis in 1953 and 2-3 with a 5.79 ERA in 1954. He spent the 1955 season at Class AAA Omaha, where he was 17-14.

With an 0-1 record and 4.91 ERA for the 1956 Cardinals, Miller was traded with pitchers Harvey Haddix and Ben Flowers to the Phillies for pitchers Murry Dickson and Herm Wehmeier.

In four seasons with St. Louis, Miller was 15-15 with seven saves and a 4.47 ERA.

At age 40 in 1968, Miller ended his playing career as it started _ in the Cardinals organization. Released by the Braves, Miller signed with the Cardinals’ Class AAA Tulsa team, managed by Warren Spahn, and was 1-2 with a 6.43 ERA in 13 games.

Previously: Take a look at the worst bullpen in Cardinals history

Previously: Shelby Miller leads Cardinals rookies to 36 wins

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Cardinals often had effective game plan vs. Randy Johnson

Posted in Games, Opponents, Pitchers on December 29, 2014| 1 Comment »

(Updated Jan. 6, 2015)

The Cardinals were a tough opponent for Randy Johnson.

The 6-foot-10 left-hander had a 7-7 record and 4.17 ERA versus the Cardinals in 16 regular-season career starts. He also was 0-2 against them in two postseason starts.

Johnson, who has 303 wins, five Cy Young awards and ranks second all-time in strikeouts (4,875), was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 6, 2015.

Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols was a Johnson nemesis, batting .458 (11-for-24) against him in the regular season, with five home runs and 13 RBI. He also hit a home run versus Johnson in the postseason.

Here is a look at some memorable matchups between Johnson and the Cardinals:

Roughed up by Redbirds

Mike Matheny and Eli Marrero hit solo home runs on consecutive pitches off Johnson in the third inning and Edgar Renteria knocked him from the game with a three-run homer in the sixth, powering the Cardinals to a 9-4 victory over the Diamondbacks on April 8, 2001, at Phoenix.

Johnson yielded 11 hits and nine runs in 5.2 innings. He also walked two and hit two with pitches. Pujols, batting fourth for the first time in the big leagues, had a two-run double off Johnson and Fernando Vina contributed a two-run single. Rick Ankiel got the win, his last as a big-league starter. Boxscore

The nine earned runs were the most Johnson had yielded in a game since April 10, 1994, when the Blue Jays scored 10 in 2.1 innings against him.

“A game like this will stick with you a little while … I pitched real bad,” Johnson said to the Arizona Daily Star after the loss to the Cardinals.

Johnson, 38, recovered from the pounding and posted one of his best seasons. He was 21-6 with a National League-leading 2.49 ERA for the 2001 Diamondbacks. He struck out a career-best 372 and earned his third consecutive NL Cy Young Award.

Pujols delivers

In Game 2 of the NL Division Series at Phoenix on Oct. 10, 2001, Pujols hit his first postseason home run, a two-run shot off a high fastball from Johnson in the first inning, and sparked the Cardinals to a 4-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.

“I wish I could have that pitch back,” Johnson said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Said Pujols: “That was my pitch.”

Johnson also yielded a run in the third. Pitcher Woody Williams doubled, advanced to third on a bunt by Vina and scored on a sacrifice fly by Placido Polanco.

Johnson went eight innings, surrendering three runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out nine. Boxscore

“He made two mistakes the whole game, to Pujols and Woody Williams,” said Diamondbacks catcher Damian Miller. “The only two bad pitches.”

Good game plan

Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen each hit a two-run home run off Johnson, leading the Cardinals to a 12-2 triumph against the Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the 2002 NL Division Series on Oct. 1 at Phoenix. Matheny contributed a RBI-single and a double against Johnson.

In six innings, Johnson allowed 10 hits, six runs and two walks. Boxscore

The Cardinals benefitted from a disciplined approach, laying off sliders and waiting for fastballs, according to Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch.

“We did a great job of sticking to our game plan,” said Edmonds. “We made him pitch and tried to hit strikes instead of being overaggressive and trying to match his power.”

Said Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly: “It appeared to me that he was rushing a little bit. When he does that, his velocity drops (and) his slider is not quite as sharp as it usually is. They were a very unforgiving team to him.”

Escape act

The Cardinals hit four home runs off Johnson, but he escaped with a no-decision in an 8-6 Diamondbacks victory on Sept. 1, 2008, at Phoenix.

Pujols hit a two-run home run and Yadier Molina, Joe Mather and Felipe Lopez each hit solo shots against Johnson. He gave up six hits and five runs in 3.2 innings. Eight of the 11 outs Johnson recorded were on strikeouts. Boxscore

Last win

In his last career appearance against the Cardinals, Johnson gave up two home runs to Pujols but earned the win _ the last of his big-league career _ in a 6-3 Giants victory on June 30, 2009, at St. Louis.

Johnson gave up four hits, four walks and three runs in 5.1 innings. Pujols hit a solo home run in the fourth and a two-run shot in the sixth. Ryan Ludwick accounted for the other two hits off Johnson: a double and a triple. Boxscore

The first home run by Pujols carried an estimated 445 feet. “I didn’t make the pitch I wanted to make,” Johnson said to the San Jose Mercury News. “I think it will probably be landing sometime shortly.”

Johnson has the most career strikeouts of any left-hander. Only right-hander Nolan Ryan (5,714) has more. Johnson and Steve Carlton (4,136) are the only left-handers with more than 3,000 strikeouts.

Johnson ranks fifth all-time among left-handers in wins, trailing Warren Spahn (363), Carlton (329), Eddie Plank (326) and Tom Glavine (305).

Previously: Rick Ankiel and his last hurrah as a pitcher

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