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NLCS Notebook Dunston burns former team with clutch ninth-inning singlePosted: Monday October 14, 2002 9:25 PMUpdated: Tuesday October 15, 2002 2:18 AM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- St. Louis manager Tony La Russa was hesitant to talk about Shawon Dunston before Game 5 of the NL Championship Series because he was afraid his former player could come back to beat him. That's just what happened. The seldom-used Dunston had a key single to set up Kenny Lofton's pennant-clinching hit that sent San Francisco to the World Series with a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals on Monday night. Dunston had only one at-bat in the postseason before Game 5, prompting him to wonder what role manager Dusty Baker had in mind for him. "Dusty told me I'm here for a reason," Dunston said. "I kept telling him, 'Why do you have me? Why do you have me?' He kept telling me I'm here for a reason." That was just what La Russa feared when he was asked about Dunston before the game. "It could be tonight, he comes up to beat us," La Russa said. Indeed it was. Following David Bell's two-out single, Dunston singled to center field. Lofton followed with his hit and Dunston was on his way to the World Series for the first time in his 18-year career. "Shawon was in the right place at the right time," teammate Jeff Kent said.
One flap downJeffrey "One Flap Down" Leonard is still a little bitter at the St. Louis Cardinals for beating his San Francisco Giants in the NL championship series in 1987. Leonard was selected MVP with four homers and a .417 average, but he and the Giants were still sent packing. "That series hurt," Leonard recalled. "It was a rough time. Despite all of the individual accomplishments, it's a team thing." Leonard was the central character in that series because of his exploits at the plate and his way of rounding the bases after home runs. Aside from jogging very slowly, he kept his left arm close to his side, as if he had a "flap" down. It irritated opposing players and fans. Leonard said he first did it the previous year and doesn't recall when it got its memorable name. "I don't know who named it, but it just seemed appropriate," he said. Leonard said this series brought back reminders after Kenny Lofton admired a homer in Game 1 and the Cardinals threw a high-and-tight pitch his next time up. Lofton started jawing at pitcher Mike Crudale and the benches cleared. "Lofton is like me, we both didn't hit a lot of home runs so we have to admire one or two -- or flap about it," Leonard said. The Cardinals still remember Leonard's antics 15 years later. "Aahh. Flap down Jeffrey," said Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo, who drove in the only run in Game 6 of that series and hit a three-run homer in Game 7 to send St. Louis to the World Series. "He didn't need to do that. But that fired us up. He didn't need to act like that going around the bases, but he did. And you see what happened," Oquendo said.
Benching TinoSlumping Cardinals first baseman Tino Martinez, who is 2-for-25 in the postseason with one RBI, did not play in a postseason game for the first time in his career. Manager Tony La Russa said he gave the news to Martinez, signed as a free agent in the offseason partly because he had been an October star in the past, after Game 4. "I just think Tino's had a tough time getting hits, even though a lot of times he hits the ball hard enough to get some," La Russa said. Martinez was benched in favor of Eduardo Perez, who played right field. It was the first time Martinez didn't start a postseason game since the 1996 World Series, when Yankees manager Joe Torre used Cecil Fielder at first base in Atlanta, where there was no designated hitter. Albert Pujols moved from third base to first and Miguel Cairo, a surprise star in the postseason who finished 9-for-17 in the playoffs, started at third and batted second. Perez also got the nod because the Cardinals were facing lefty Kirk Rueter, although he hasn't played much in the outfield. "Hopefully, this is a lineup that will get us a lead after the first two-thirds of the game and then you put your defense on the field," La Russa said. "But the other lineup we've been playing is our better defensive lineup."
Avoiding BarryCardinals manager Tony La Russa's strategy was to keep avoiding Barry Bonds and let the other Giants try to beat him him in key moments. La Russa decided to walk Bonds intentionally with no one on base and two outs in the eighth inning of Game 4, and Benito Santiago hit a tiebreaking two-run homer. Bonds walked for the 10th time in the series, tying an NLCS record, in the sixth inning of Game 5. Matt Morris had to pitch to him with the bases loaded in the eighth, and held Bonds to a sacrifice fly that tied the score at 1. "We don't go out there every at-bat just to take Barry out of the game," La Russa said before the game. "When it's real obvious that this is not the time we should even try to be nasty with him, then you play around to get to somebody else." It's been a sound strategy all year. Bonds was intentionally walked 68 times during the season and ended up scoring only three times. He scored one of the three times the Cardinals intentionally walked him in the series. "If you look back upon the whole year and whoever has batted behind Barry, that strategy has probably worked 100 of 105 times," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "So that's a pretty good percentage."
Get in lineMoved by the spirit of adventure, plus the prospect of seeing the Giants play next week, Michael Krantz went to Pacific Bell Park last weekend, plopped himself outside the ticket window and put up a sign that read: "World Series Line Starts Here!" Krantz, 40, was No. 1 in line starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. At midnight after Monday's Game 5, the Giants planned to give fans numbers that will let them buy Series tickets. "I'm a huge fan," said the blue-haired editorial director of a Web site. "I also did it because I like to take something to the extreme every once in a while." The Giants originally asked fans to refrain from lining up too early, not wanting the crowd to get out of hand. At 2:15 a.m. Monday, three police cars pulled up and officers spoke politely to the 100 fans, telling them the Giants had a right to cite them for trespassing. But there were no problems, the fans were allowed to stay in place and the Giants were OK with that.
"We just want to keep the peace, keep it organized," police Lt. Jerry Lankford said. "They're very cooperative."
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