Ninth-inning baserunning gaffe seals Cardinals' loss

Turning Point

	Albert Pujols gets cut down at the plate while trying to score the game-tying run with one out in the ninth inning. AP
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A game that had more sparring than an episode of Jerry Springer came to a thrilling climax in the ninth inning when the Cardinals made their final mistake. The veteran Red Birds are typically a cool, confident ensemble, a group that takes after their manager, Tony La Russa, but like their skipper, they unraveled.

It was Albert Pujols -- who took off for home on with no outs after Reggie Sanders' dribbler toward third base -- who made the last bad judgment call. Pujols should not have been running; John Mabry's grounder to end the inning scores him from third and ties the score. "[Third base coach Jose Oquendo] told me to stay at third, but I thought the ball would die," Pujols said at his locker after the game. The ball didn't die -- and Morgan Ensberg gunned Pujols down at home.

Said Ensberg of his decision to go home rather than for the double play: "When you have first and third and the tying run is at third, you're definitely thinking that the run at third is the most important run and that you have to stop that. And virtually any play that you can make, you're going to make sure that you are going to get that run. ... It was actually very easy for me just in the sense that I got a slow roller, I saw Albert already running down the line. There actually was no decision; you had to go home."

With Pujols' baserunning blunder, the stage was set for Brad Lidge to face Mabry with runners at first and third and just one out. "I'm not a double play pitcher," says Lidge. So Lidge threw Mabry a fastball up and away in the strike zone with two strikes to induce either a strikeout or a double play. "Surprisingly, [Mabry] actually swung above the ball, and we had the opportunity to turn the incredible double play," says Lidge.

"From my angle I thought when they hit it, there's no way we were going to be able to turn two and it was going to be a tie game," said Jason Lane. "To see [Eric] Bruntlett get that feed like that and turn it ... I don't think there's many guys that can turn that double play."

From the Bench

The night's most surprising managerial move was Phil Garner yanking Brandon Backe after 81 pitches in the fifth inning so that he could match up lefty Mike Gallo against Larry Walker with two out and a runner on first. Other than hits allowed to St. Louis' two best hitters -- a double by Edmonds, a single by Pujols -- Backe had been nearly flawless, showing good command of his four pitches. Garner's move shows how much faith he has in his bullpen, which has been sensational in the postseason (one run allowed, 10 strikeouts, one walk in 10 1/3 innings in the NLCS); last year aside from Lidge, Garner had no confidence in his relievers. This year the opposite is true.

Garner on his decision to take Backe out of the game: "He's not been pitching on a consistent basis. I thought he had struggled, even though he had only give up one or two hits in the first four innings, he got behind a lot of hitters... It had gotten to a point in the game where I just felt like our bullpen was A-OK and wanted to go to him." ...

Garner's decision to run Willy Taveras for Orlando Palmeiro in the seventh inning may have won him the game. Taveras raced down a long fly ball off the bat of John Rodriguez, who replaced Jim Edmonds with two runners on base. "I thought I hit it good enough to get it over his head," said Rodriguez. "If [Chris] Burke was out there it probably would have. This ballpark plays tricks on you. That defensive change really helped them."

Clubhouse Confidential

Before the game La Russa spotted Sanders, still unsure if his left fielder would be up to start. "How are we doing?" La Russa asked. Sanders gave him a thumbs up. La Russa asked no further questions, but maybe he should have: Sanders looked bad at the plate hitting fifth in the order, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and leaving four runners on base. ... The Cardinals big boppers continue to struggle. Larry Walker, who is 2-for-12 in the LCS, says, "We're struggling to hit, but it's not like you see the guys on the other team tearing it up out there. These are close games with great pitching."... Backe says he was disappointed to come out of the game: "I have to be honest, when I saw Phil coming out and pointing to the bullpen, I was a little upset. But that's what competitors do. If I wasn't upset, I think there would be something wrong with me ... I didn't feel like I was struggling at all today. I felt like I had pretty good movement on my fastball, my location was there for the most part. My slider was working really good today."... Game 5 starter Chris Carpenter loves Minute Maid Park. He is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA against the Astros in five starts during the regular season, and at Minute Maid Park he was 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA. In four total career starts at Minute Maid, Carpenter is 4-0 with an 0.84 ERA. "I actually enjoy pitching here," Carpenter said on Sunday. "I think it's a nice place. I like the park. The mound is good. Everything about it is good. If you start concerning yourself with that short wall in left, the next thing you know, you go away from your game and they have still got to hit it out there."

Bottom Line

The Astros have the overwhelming edge because they have Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens set for the final three games of the series. Look for Pettitte to pitch well on Monday night; after being bothered by a knee injury in his subpar Game 2 performance, Pettitte says he's ready to go for Game 5. Said Walker on Sunday night, with his team now facing elimination, "We expect to see a better Pettitte tomorrow. It won't be easy."