With decisive homer, Cards' Molina answers his critics

	Yadier Molina, a .216 hitter this season, hit .348 with two home runs, a double and six RBIs in the NLCS. AP
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NEW YORK -- Here was the unlikely hero, dripping with champagne in his team's rhapsodic clubhouse, standing in a corner of the room, triumphantly wagging a finger at his critics. "Everybody said I can't hit, I can't hit," Yadier Molina, the Cardinals baby-faced catcher said moments after his astonishing two-run home run in the top of the ninth punched his team's ticket to the Motor City. "I proved everyone wrong."

A wizard behind the plate, Molina is baseball's best defensive catcher not named Pudge -- it takes the 24-year-old 1.7 seconds to catch, then gun the ball to second base -- but the protégé of Albert Pujols, admonished frequently by his teammates and coaches for his passiveness at the plate, delivered the biggest hit yet of the 2006 postseason when he swatted a fat ninth-inning changeup from Aaron Heilman. Regarded as one of the worst hitters in baseball this season (he hit .216 with a .274 OBP), Molina hit .348 with two homers and a double and six RBI in the seven-game series. "I was yelling at him to be more aggressive [at the plate]," Tony La Russa quipped after the game, "but I don't think he heard me."

After his horrid regular season, Molina tried to change his philosophy at the plate in October. "I was working with [coach] Jose Oquendo and Albert, and I just wanted to look for my pitch," he said. "I was just trying to look for that pitch and put a good swing on it. If it's not there, I don't swing."

Molina had taken strike one in his first two at bats but in the ninth -- to the delight of his teammates and his manager -- he swung on Heilman's first offering. Heilman's changeup was a fatal mistake; Mets pitchers had been successful when attacking Molina with straight fastballs. "He had a tough hitting year but he was going to rise to the occasion-the kid's a player," said La Russa.

FROM THE BENCH

Willie Randolph's biggest misstep was not pinch-hitting for Jose Valentin in the sixth inning with the bases loaded. The Cardinals actually walked Shawn Green to get the second baseman. Not surprisingly, Valentin swung at several bad pitches and struck out ... And why Cliff Floyd in the ninth? Instead of the slow-footed outfielder, Randolph should have had a hitter at the plate who could move his runners over with a bunt with Jose Reyes on deck ... Very curious lineup moves-and non-moves-by La Russa: The skipper refused to start the white hot So Taguchi (4-for-4 in the postseason with two homers and a double) even though the outfielder hits Oliver Perez well (5-for-17 lifetime), plays good defense, and has better plate discipline than Preston Wilson (1-for-13 vs. Perez, 177 Ks on the season), who, hitting second in the order, was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. La Russa said he considered starting Taguchi over Jim Edmonds, who is likely playing his final games in a St. Louis uniform. "One of the lineups I had [Taguchi] playing center, because Jimmy didn't feel as good as he does today, but he was our fourth place hitter so I went with him," defended La Russa. "I go for the energy that Preston's given us and the possibility he can run into something, and with his live bat, it would be special." La Russa continued to slot light-hitting Juan Encarnacion fourth (one of the worst cleanup hitters in LCS history?), behind Pujols. Encarnacion was 0-for-4 and left four runners on base, twice stranding men in scoring position. With his shoulder injury, Scott Rolen is virtually an automatic out but La Russa -- even though he's not even on speaking terms with his third baseman -- thinks that Rolen's struggles are due not to his health but his mechanics. "I actually looked at that last at-bat [from Game 6] 20 times when I got to the ballpark because I'm convinced in my own mind that his struggles are more needing to make an adjustment in his approach than they are his shoulder," La Russa said. Attractive options Taguchi, Chris Duncan, and Scott Spiezo all warmed the bench.. La Russa will start either Anthony Reyes or Jason Marquis in Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday.

CLUBHOUSE CONFIDENTIAL

Standing in front of his locker after the game, Mets third baseman David Wright looked dazed as it began to hit him that his first postseason was over. "I just had an eerie feeling all game that we were going to win," he said, "even until that last pitch. We had one of the greatest postseason hitters at the plate, and then, just like that, it's over. It kind of leaves you breathless."... Mets GM Omar Minaya, after the game, on what his focus will be this offseason. "Pitching, pitching, pitching," he said in the Mets clubhouse... Endy Chavez's spectacular catch on Rolen's home run was a big topic of conversation in both clubhouses. Had Rolen seen a replay of it? "About seven times on the scoreboard -- then I went out and threw the ball into the stands," he said ... More unlikely: Molina's home run or Glenn Close singing the national anthem before the game? Other famous Mets fans in attendance: Jerry Seinfeld, Hilary Swank, Matthew Broderick, and Matt Dillon.

BOTTOM LINE

Let the debate begin where these Cardinals rank among the worst ever to appear in the World Series. They will be massive underdogs against the Tigers, whose power pitchers should be able to shut down the mediocre Cardinals lineup. The Mets lost not because of their tattered pitching staff -- young John Maine and Perez were splendid in their outings -- but because of the failure of their big boppers to cash in with runners on base against St. Louis relievers. "I think you have to just tip your hat to the other club. They pitched real well," Randolph said. "Dave Duncan is a good pitching coach and obviously they had a nice game plan on some of our hitters and some of our big hitters had a tough time there for a while there... Bottom line, it's a team you play against and their team was a little bit better than us this time around."