The St. Louis manager once again looked like a genius, especially when Allen Craig pinch-hit for ace Chris Carpenter and delivered a go-ahead single that sent the Cardinals past the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night in the World Series opener.
Craig's slicing hit in the sixth inning fell inches in front of sliding right fielder Nelson Cruz. Game 1 was just that tight throughout a cold, damp evening.
"Man, he's tough," Craig said of hard-throwing reliever Alexi Ogando. "He came right at me with fastballs, and I missed the first two. Then that last one I was trying to get the barrel on it, make the defense make a play. Fortunate, kept it fair, and Cruz made a great attempt on that. It was a great play all-around."
It was a game perfectly suited for the National League style - lots of bunts, intentional walks and pitching changes. And in a postseason in which he's made all the right moves, the 67-year-old La Russa was at the top of his game.
After pulling Carpenter, La Russa coaxed three scoreless innings from his deep bullpen. Five relievers did the job, with Jason Motte closing for his fifth save of the postseason.
A day earlier, Texas manager Ron Washington joked, "I don't think I can ever live up to matching wits with Tony La Russa." Who can, these days?
The Cardinals even won without their Rally Squirrel. There were no sightings of the elusive critter still roaming Busch Stadium - good thing for the rodent, too, because La Russa probably would've devised a way to catch him.
Game 2 is Thursday night, with Jaime Garcia starting for the Cards against Colby Lewis. Texas has not lost two straight games since August.
This was the first time Texas had ever played in St. Louis. Yet Josh Hamilton, Cruz and the big-hitting Rangers looked a lot like the team that fizzled at the plate in last year's World Series against San Francisco.
Each team wound up with six hits. The wild-card Cardinals just did more with them.
Lance Berkman put St. Louis ahead with a two-run single in the fourth. Mike Napoli tied it with a two-run homer in the fifth.
Carpenter earned his eighth postseason win, breaking the team record he shared with Bob Gibson. Of course, all of Gibby's victories came in the World Series.
"Carp, he did what he usually does," Craig said. "He was our leader out there tonight. "Went out there and threw strikes, got early outs, and he led us tonight. It was great."
Carpenter helped himself with a nifty play in the first inning, diving to catch a toss from first baseman Albert Pujols and tagging the bag with his glove. He didn't argue when La Russa removed him - all the Cards know too well to doubt La Russa's smarts.
Cardinals relievers Fernando Salas, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, Arthur Rhodes and Motte finished.
C.J. Wilson fell to 0-5 in his last seven postseason starts, dating to last year.
The Texas lefty recently spent 2½ minutes in a Dallas cryotherapy chamber, where liquid nitrogen lowered the temperature to 295 degrees below zero trying to speed body recovery. It was a bit warmer at the ballpark, at 49 degrees for the first pitch.
Wilson became the first pitcher to lose an All-Star game, an AL division series game, an AL championship series game and a World Series game in the same year, STATS LLC said.
In a postseason where St. Louis and Texas starters have struggled, Carpenter and Wilson each pitched well enough. They both left in the bottom of the sixth when the managerial wheels started to spin.
It was 2-all when the Rangers pitched around eighth-place hitter Nick Punto with a four-pitch walk that put runners at the corners with two outs. La Russa did not hesitate and pulled Carpenter, sending up the versatile Craig.
Washington countered, yanking Wilson and bringing in Ogando. All the pieces in place, it was time to play - and what followed was the play of the game.
Craig swung through two fastballs, then hit a slicing drive toward the right field line. Cruz tried to make a sliding catch, except the ball bounced just before it reached him and thudded off his left leg for an RBI single. The hit scored NL championship series MVP David Freese, the St. Louis area prep star who led off with a double.
Napoli kept up his season of slugging, hitting a two-run homer in the fifth that made it 2-all. He had come into the game 3 for 3 lifetime against Carpenter and had been the only Texas hitter to homer off him, but he bounced into a double play with two runners on his first time up. He avenged that with an opposite-field drive to right.
Traded twice within a week last winter, Napoli blossomed in Texas, prompting Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon to pronounced it "The Year of the Napoli" during the AL playoffs.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth after Pujols hit - or was hit by pitch, more precisely. The St. Louis star was plunked on the lower left leg to start the inning, Matt Holliday sliced a double and Berkman chopped a two-run single down the first base line.
Players, umpires and techs needed a little time to work out the kinks.
Freese saw Ian Kinsler's leadoff grounder glance off his glove at third base for a single, and stared at the glove that betrayed him. The next inning, Adrian Beltre doubled off Freese's leather.
Third base umpire Ron Kulpa missed his first call in a Series. He ruled Beltre caught Pujols' liner to third when the ball actually bounced in the opening inning.
And there was a glitch when "American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery started to sing the national anthem. The microphone didn't work and he got a replacement. The delay came with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden standing on the mound to honor military veterans. The first lady's husband stood in the same place to throw out the first ball at the 2009 All-Star game.
NOTES: It was 49 degrees at the start, tied for the third-coldest for an opener since Major League Baseball started keeping temperature records in 1975. ... This was the Cardinals' 106th World Series game, breaking a tie with the Dodgers and Giants franchises for second most in history. The Yankees lead with 225. ... Garcia is 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA in three postseason starts. ... Lewis is 4-1 in the postseason. His loss came this year to Detroit in the ALCS. ... The team that has won the Series opener in 12 of the last 14 years has gone on to take the crown. ... This was the first AL Central vs. NL Central matchup in the Series since baseball went to six divisions in 1994. ... Texas star Michael Young had his 35th birthday. Cardinals infielder Daniel Descalso turned 25. ... NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki of the champion Dallas Mavericks is set to throw out the first ball at Game 3.
