Wainwright Completes What He Starts As Cards Win Division Series

By Rob Rains

When Adam Wainwright had thrown his 107th, and final, pitch of the night, it was finally OK to let all of the emotions go. He had pitched the game he wanted to pitch, the game the Cardinals needed him to pitch.

Wainwright’s final curveball struck out Pedro Alvarez and put Wainwright where he wanted to be, next to his teammate and mentor Chris Carpenter as pitchers who had delivered a complete game victory for the Cardinals in a winner-take-all game in a postseason series.

The 6-1 win by the Cardinals over the Pirates in game five of the Division Series Wednesday night at Busch Stadium continued the team’s almost magical performance in games when a loss would have ended their season.

The Cardinals are 8-1 since the start of the 2011 season in those games, including victories this season in game four in Pittsburgh on Monday and again in game five. 

“I didn’t want to go home,” Wainwright said, as Carpenter emptied a bottle of Budweiser over his head in the Cardinals clubhouse. “It’s not time for hunting season for me yet. We’ve still got some more champagne to pop.”

Wainwright, with the help from his teammates both on offense and defense, made certain the Cardinals have at least one more series to play this October – the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers will begin Friday night at Busch Stadium. It’s the team’s third trip to the NLCS in as many years.

Wainwright has closed out two postseason series before, in game seven of the 2006 NLCS and game five of the World Series that year, but both of those appearances came as a closer. Getting the final out in a game where he also made the first pitch, and doing it in an elimination game, was something special.

“I’ve got to put it right up there with the most fun and one of the greatest moments of my career so far,” Wainwright said.

Wainwright became only the fifth pitcher in franchise history to pitch a complete game in a winner-take-all elimination game. Dizzy Dean did it in the 1934 World Series, Bob Gibson in 1967, Danny Cox in game seven of the 1987 NLCS and Carpenter two years ago in the final game of the Division Series in Philadelphia.

“I’m trying to live up to the standard that Carp put out,” Wainwright said, “to be a Cardinal leader. That’s the guy I always wanted to be, watching Carp.”

It was one of Wainwright’s teammates who knows a little about October success as well, David Freese, who staked him to an early 2-0 lead when he hit a slider from Gerrit Cole into the Pittsburgh bullpen for his seventh career postseason home run.

Like Wainwright, Freese believes one of the secrets to his success – especially in the elimination games such as Wednesday night – is just getting the opportunity to step onto that October stage.

“The more opportunities you have the more chances you have to come through,” Freese said. “It’s part of being a Cardinal. You really just have to go out and play the game, and understand how close you are to doing something special. Winning a ring doesn’t come around very often. You get to October, you know it’s close.”

If it’s an elimination game at Busch Stadium, it’s also a good possibility that Freese is going to do something special. Wednesday night was the fourth such game Freese has played at home since the start of the 2011 playoffs – and in those four games, game four of the 2011 NLDS, games six and seven in the 2011 World Series, and now game five in this year’s Division Series, he is now 6-of-13 with three home runs and 11 RBI.

“I think success breeds success,” said manager Mike Matheny. “He (Freese) has the belief that he can perform in the postseason. He’s a guy who realizes he can do something special.”

Wainwright’s first reaction after Freese hit the home run was that the two runs was all he would need to win the game. He adapted the attitude he had as a closer when he went back to the mound, even if it was only the third inning.

“I started counting outs, one batter a time, trying to make one pitch at a time,” Wainwright said “I wanted to keep it simple and not look too far ahead.”

As each inning passed, and he moved three outs closer to the win, Wainwright tried hard to keep his emotions in check. He made a few exceptions. For what he believed was the first time in his career, he gave a fist pump after the first out of an inning, when Pete Kozma made a spectacular diving catch of a low line drive behind second base to retire Neil Walker leading off the fourth.

There were more first pumps after the Pirates – twice – lined into double plays, and again after he was able to get out of his only jam of the night, when the Pirates bunched three odd infield hits in the seventh to score their only run, before Wainwright retired Russell Martin on a grounder to short to strand two runners.

Wainwright got a little more breathing room for the ninth when Matt Adams hit a two-run homer as part of a three-run eighth inning which turned the crowd at Busch Stadium into a roaring mob.

The added runs gave Wainwright enough room to allow two singles in the ninth before Alvarez again came to the plate, the last hope for the Pirates. As he had done with his other five strikeout victims on this night, Wainwright retired him with a curveball.

The fists were raised, as were both arms, as Wainwright let out an ear-splitting yell as Molina charged toward the mound, where Wainwright quickly wrapped his arms around his catcher.

“It was hard to contain myself,” Wainwright said. “I was tearing up big time. I latched on to my catcher and I wasn’t letting him go, and I think he knew that. There was nobody else I wanted to share that moment with other than Yadi Molina. I couldn’t be more happier.

“There’s no amount of money that’s worth what we have going on inside this clubhouse... [continue reading]