NEW YORK -- Tony La Russa could not have had a wider smile on his face as he watched catcher Yadier Molina put one of the most historic swings in St. Louis baseball history on Aaron Heilman's flat ninth-inning change-up.
He grinned when he first laid eyes on Molina. He was glued to the brief, one-pitch at-bat, a trace of a smile still creasing his face as he watched the pitch. And he laughed like an excited schoolboy when the baseball carried over the fence, the two-run homer secure, the World Series now in full view.
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| Yadier Molina hit .216 this season, but got the hit that matters. (Getty Images) |
Outside, in the clubhouse, the Cardinals were spraying champagne in all directions. World Series, here they come. All 83 regular season wins of them, thanks to Molina's ninth-inning heroics that sent the Cardinals to a tense 3-1 win that wasn't over until Adam Wainwright badly fooled Carlos Beltran with a curveball for strike three with the bases loaded and two out and Shea rocking in the bottom of the ninth.
Inside, in the manager's office, with the television up in the corner of the room playing Game 7 highlights on a seemingly endless loop, La Russa was breathing easy -- finally -- after a season that eked every ounce of sweat out of the Cardinals that they could muster.
That 83-78 record? The only team in history to win fewer games and play in a World Series was the 1973 New York Mets, who were 82-79.
Until Saturday, when the Cardinals line up for Game 1 in Detroit in what will be a reprise of the 1968 World Series.
"It's been a really difficult year," La Russa said. "We kept saying, 'If we get in, we're going to be a really difficult team in the postseason. And I think it's true. We can do a lot of things, and I don't think many people want to play us.
"Coming to the park today, I kept thinking about Charlie Lau (the old major leaguer who became a legendary hitting coach). Charlie told me that you don't have a chance to have a good club until you reach 90 wins. Until you win 90, you're not a good club," La Russa said. "I said, 'Today we could become a good club. Today, we could win 90 games.'"
It took seven stellar innings from right-hander Jeff Suppan, who out-pitched Oliver Perez on a night on which Perez's stuff, especially in the first few innings, was electric.
It took a second-inning squeeze bunt from Ronnie Belliard that scored Jim Edmonds with the Cardinals' first run.
It took resiliency and hope and toughness after Endy Chavez made one of the greatest postseason catches in history, going up and over the left-field fence to snow cone Scott Rolen's blast that should have been a two-run homer that would have snapped a 1-1 tie.
It took Molina's homer, a 1-2-3 eighth from reliever Randy Flores and a rollercoaster ride conducted by Adam Wainwright in the ninth.
