The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, winners of just 83 games, won it all. That set a still-standing record for fewest wins by a World Series winner.
Still, the Cards were first in the National League central in '06, and had some chap named Pujols at third and another called Rolen at first. And, still another named Molina catching.
Victories over the San Diego Padres and New York Mets on the road to the Fall Classic were not easy. The best-of-five NLDS went four games and the NLCS went seven.
Waiting for St. Louis in the World Series was the Detroit Tigers, winners of 95 games themselves. The Cards would have to start this thing on the road. But get ready for a surprise.
That would be in the opening tilt. All the visitors in this one. The final score was 7-2 and suddenly, the Cards looked like the better team. Tony La Russa's boys were ones to be reckoned with this World Series.
But in the second contest, the home team fought back. Kenny Rogers continued his postseason mastery. He was 2-0 before game 2 of the World Series and 3-0 after. 8 innings of work, the Cardinals got just 2 hits and no runs off the Tiger hurler. However, the visitors didn't go away without a fight in the top of the ninth, they pried loose a run on 2 hits off reliever Todd Jones. That was all the Cardinals got, but at least they weren't shutout. And St. Louis was heading home with the split.
Did I write, "shutout"? Because that's what happened in game three in St. Louis. The Cardinals, led by the outstanding pitching of Chris Carpenter (Former Toronto Blue Jay). While the home team had only 7 hits, they scored 5 runs. And the opposition had only 3 hits and 0 runs.
Game 4 was much closer. The Tigers, looking for the 2-2 deadlock, took an early lead that the Cardinals not only erased by the 7th, but added a run to make it 4-3. Adam Wainwright tried to protect it the next inning, but a pair of doubles later, it was Ivan Rodriguez touching home with the tying run for Detroit. Undaunted, St. Louis put a "1" of their own up on the scoreboard in the bottom of the frame. Yadier Molina walked and was forced at second by Aaron Miles. One out later, Miles trotted on home on (You guessed it) a double by David Eckstein. This time, the home team protected it as the Tigers went 1-2-3 in the 9th vs. Wainwright.
The next game was where the Cardinals won it all. Trailing 2-1 after 3 1/2, St. Louis scored twice on 2 singles, an error and a grounder by Eckstein. Up 3-2 still in the bottom of the 7th, Scott Rolen singled home a run. Jeff Weaver was pitching for the home team and making the 2-run lead stick up. Adam Wainwright came on in the 9th and had quite an adventure. It was still 4-2, but Sean Casey doubled with the Cardinals 2 outs away from champagne. Ivan Rodriguez grounded out, and St. Louis made sure Casey stayed on second. However, he was soon on third as Wainwright uncorked a wild pitch on Placido Polanco. That ball ran the count full, 3-2. Still a strike away from it all, the payoff pitch missed. Ball four. Detroit was stretching this out. Wainwright quickly got ahead of the next batter, Brad Inge, 0-2. On the next pitch, it was Inge that missed and the Cards that were winners.
References
Youtube. Web. 19 Mar. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com>.
Still, the Cards were first in the National League central in '06, and had some chap named Pujols at third and another called Rolen at first. And, still another named Molina catching.
Victories over the San Diego Padres and New York Mets on the road to the Fall Classic were not easy. The best-of-five NLDS went four games and the NLCS went seven.
Waiting for St. Louis in the World Series was the Detroit Tigers, winners of 95 games themselves. The Cards would have to start this thing on the road. But get ready for a surprise.
That would be in the opening tilt. All the visitors in this one. The final score was 7-2 and suddenly, the Cards looked like the better team. Tony La Russa's boys were ones to be reckoned with this World Series.
But in the second contest, the home team fought back. Kenny Rogers continued his postseason mastery. He was 2-0 before game 2 of the World Series and 3-0 after. 8 innings of work, the Cardinals got just 2 hits and no runs off the Tiger hurler. However, the visitors didn't go away without a fight in the top of the ninth, they pried loose a run on 2 hits off reliever Todd Jones. That was all the Cardinals got, but at least they weren't shutout. And St. Louis was heading home with the split.
Did I write, "shutout"? Because that's what happened in game three in St. Louis. The Cardinals, led by the outstanding pitching of Chris Carpenter (Former Toronto Blue Jay). While the home team had only 7 hits, they scored 5 runs. And the opposition had only 3 hits and 0 runs.
Game 4 was much closer. The Tigers, looking for the 2-2 deadlock, took an early lead that the Cardinals not only erased by the 7th, but added a run to make it 4-3. Adam Wainwright tried to protect it the next inning, but a pair of doubles later, it was Ivan Rodriguez touching home with the tying run for Detroit. Undaunted, St. Louis put a "1" of their own up on the scoreboard in the bottom of the frame. Yadier Molina walked and was forced at second by Aaron Miles. One out later, Miles trotted on home on (You guessed it) a double by David Eckstein. This time, the home team protected it as the Tigers went 1-2-3 in the 9th vs. Wainwright.
The next game was where the Cardinals won it all. Trailing 2-1 after 3 1/2, St. Louis scored twice on 2 singles, an error and a grounder by Eckstein. Up 3-2 still in the bottom of the 7th, Scott Rolen singled home a run. Jeff Weaver was pitching for the home team and making the 2-run lead stick up. Adam Wainwright came on in the 9th and had quite an adventure. It was still 4-2, but Sean Casey doubled with the Cardinals 2 outs away from champagne. Ivan Rodriguez grounded out, and St. Louis made sure Casey stayed on second. However, he was soon on third as Wainwright uncorked a wild pitch on Placido Polanco. That ball ran the count full, 3-2. Still a strike away from it all, the payoff pitch missed. Ball four. Detroit was stretching this out. Wainwright quickly got ahead of the next batter, Brad Inge, 0-2. On the next pitch, it was Inge that missed and the Cards that were winners.
References
Nemec, David. The Baseball Chronicle: Year-By-Year History Of Major League Baseball. Publications International, Ltd., 2008. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major
League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/.
Web. 19 Mar. 2018.
Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 19 Mar. 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org>
Youtube. Web. 19 Mar. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com>.
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