If These Walls Could Talk: St. Louis Cardinals: Stories from the St. Louis Cardinals Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box

ISBN-13: 9781637273043

Media Type: Paperback(Revised & Updated)

Publisher: Triumph Books

Publication Date: 05-09-2023

Pages: 256

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

Series: If These Walls Could Talk

Stan McNeal is a veteran sportswriter currently writing for Cardinals Magazine. Previously, he has written for Fox Sports Midwest, and he was managing editor and national baseball writer for the Sporting News. He lives with his family in Chesterfield, Missouri.

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If these Walls Could Talk: St. Louis Cardinals

Stories from the St. Louis Cardinals Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box

Triumph Books

Part I: 2014

Cardinals Record: 90–72

Cardinals Finish: Won NLDS against Los Angeles Dodgers

Beating Kershaw Again

Before Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw threw the pitch, Adam Wainwright predicted what lefty slugger Matt Adams was going to do. "I said, 'If he throws a strike breaking ball right here, he's going to hit a home run,'" Wainwright said. "And he sure did."

And what a home run it was.

Adams' three-run, seventh-inning shot that had been called by Wainwright — teammate John Lackey corroborated the claim — wiped out the Los Angeles Dodgers' 2–0 lead and made the difference in a 3–2 victory that clinched the Cardinals' fourth consecutive trip to the National League Championship Series. The magnitude of the homer was matched only by its implausibility. Consider:

• Kershaw had given up only one homer to a left-handed hitter (Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals) the entire regular season.

• Adams had struggled mightily against lefties with a .190 batting average against them during the regular season and went without a homer off one for three months.

• Kershaw had faced 1,139 lefty hitters in his career and had never thrown a curveball to one that had resulted in a home run.

No wonder Adams said he was not looking for a breaker after he had fouled off a 93 mph fastball for strike one. "I have it in the back of my mind that he's got a good one, but I'm just looking for a pitch up in the zone," Adams said, "saw it pop out of his hand, and knew it was going to be a good one to swing at."

Adams was talking to me with a beer in one hand and his T-shirt soaked from champagne and beer in the Cardinals' clubhouse celebration. He already had appeared in the postgame interview room, calling it the biggest hit of his young career. Adams, 6'3" and 250 pounds (at least), had looked like an overgrown kid as he literally skipped around first base. "I don't think I touched the ground the whole way around the bases," he said. About the 386-foot homer that landed in the Cardinals bullpen, Adams said, "I was just looking for a pitch to drive it to the gap to move the guys into scoring position. That's what this team does. We keep the line moving."

As unlikely as was the outcome against Kershaw, no one should have been too surprised. This was not the first time the Cardinals had beaten Kershaw in the postseason. In the past two Octobers, the Cardinals have faced Kershaw four times, and four times they have beaten him. Twice they have beaten Kershaw to end the Dodgers' season. "Just bad déjà vu all over again," Kershaw said. "I can't really put it into words."

Kershaw had lost only three games all season for the Dodgers while winning 21, posting a 1.77 ERA, and taking his reputation as the game's best pitcher to even greater heights. He deservingly won his third NL Cy Young Award in November, and this time it was by a unanimous vote. He became the first pitcher to sign a $200 million contract last January when the Dodgers awarded him a seven-year, $215 million deal that included an $18 million signing bonus.

But he just can't beat St. Louis. The Cardinals have given Kershaw more losses — nine (including the postseason) — than any team in the majors. His 4.13 ERA in 19 starts against the Cardinals is his highest against any National League team. Kershaw was close in these past two postseasons, but one at-bat or one inning made the difference between winning and going home.

In Game 2 of last year's NLCS, the Cardinals beat Kershaw 1–0 on an unearned run. Third baseman David Freese led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and advanced to third when Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis did not catch a routine pitch. "Fastball right down the middle, I just missed it," he told reporters. Adding to the Dodgers' frustration, Freese scored on a sacrifice fly by Jon Jay that came one pitch after he had fouled back an attempt to bunt home the run. "You're not going to get a lot of chances against the best pitcher in the league," Freese said. "Even though you lead off with a double, it doesn't give you a good chance of scoring off a guy like that. We were fortunate that Jon Jay ... battled back and hit a tough pitch."

Six days later in Game 6, with the Cardinals needing one win to advance to the World Series, Matt Carpenter cracked Kershaw in a confrontation that won't be forgotten by either side. It took 11 pitches before Carpenter delivered a one-out double that changed the game. He fouled off five straight two-strike pitches. In one sequence he fouled off a fastball, curve, and slider as Kershaw tried everything he had to retire the lefty-hitting leadoff man. But then, after three straight fastballs, Kershaw left a slider too far up, and Carpenter lined it into right field. "Every pitch I fouled off, the crowd got louder and louder," Carpenter recalled after the game. "That sharpened my focus. I know he's the best pitcher in baseball and I know he's not going to give in either. I was just trying not to strike out. He struck me out the first at-bat and got ahead of me again. I was like, I'm not striking out. I'm putting this ball in play somehow. I just kept trying to stay short and foul pitches off. I was able to do it."

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly explained what happened next. "The floodgates opened," he said. Carlos Beltran singled on a ball that deflected off second baseman Mark Ellis' glove to score Carpenter with the Cardinals' first run. After Matt Holliday was called out on strikes for the second out, the Cardinals went single, single, walk, and single. Kershaw threw 48 pitches in the inning, and the Cardinals took a 4–0 lead. They blew open the game in their half of the fifth inning with two singles and a double by Adams that chased Kershaw. The final was 9–0.

In Game 1 of the 2014 National League Division Series, Kershaw started against Wainwright at Dodger Stadium in what was billed as the pitcher's duel of the postseason. Wainwright, who also won 20 games, had been named by manager Mike Matheny to start the All-Star Game, and the decision drew criticism from some on the West Coast who felt Kershaw was more deserving.

This time Kershaw looked like he would conquer the Cardinals, though he gave up a home run to the second batter he faced, rookie Randal Grichuk. He then set down the next 16 Cardinals before allowing a homer to Carpenter with two out in the sixth. With Wainwright struggling, Kershaw carried a 6–2 lead into the seventh. At this point in his seven-year career, that meant a guaranteed victory. According to the Dodgers, Kershaw had been given that large a lead 67 times and never had lost.

Leave it to the Cardinals to change that.

Kershaw had been efficient with his pitches and entered the seventh having thrown 81. But on a hot, 90-degree day, he lost his effectiveness in a hurry. Kershaw's inning went like this: Holliday led off with a line-drive single up the middle, Jhonny Peralta followed with a line-drive single up the middle, and Yadier Molina loaded the bases with a ground-ball single up the middle.

Adams then lined a single — again up the middle — to make the score 6–3 with the bases still loaded. All these hits to center field were not a coincidence either. The preferred approach of Cardinals hitters is to take the ball up the middle. Pete Kozma struck out for the first out before Jay singled in a run to left to make it 6–4 with the bases still loaded. Pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras then struck out, and Kershaw was just one out away from escaping with the Dodgers' lead in tact.

But then came the big hit again provided by Carpenter. This time, on pitch No. 8, he slammed a bases-cleaning double off the right-field fence that missed being a grand slam by only a few feet. The Cardinals led 7–6, and Kershaw, mercifully, was headed to the showers. "There was a moment during that at-bat where I was feeling kind of the same emotions I was having last year," Carpenter said. "It was a very similar at-bat. I was just being competitive and really having a tough AB and, in an inning where we had a lot of action, I was just trying to keep the line moving. I was able to get a pitch that I could handle and something I could put the barrel on. I hit it in the gap and ended up being a big play for us."

Neither team was done scoring, though, and the Cardinals hung on for a 10–9 victory that ended with the tying run on third.

Undeterred by Kershaw's lack of success against St. Louis, Mattingly started his ace on three days' rest when the Dodgers faced elimination in Game 4 at Busch Stadium. Again, Kershaw dominated the Cardinals early. He had allowed only three base runners through six innings and, after the Dodgers took a 2–0 lead in the top of the sixth, showed no signs of tiring. He struck out Kozma, Carpenter, and Grichuk in the St. Louis side of the sixth.

But the seventh inning again proved his undoing. Holliday started the inning with a ground single that barely eluded second baseman Dee Gordon, and Jhonny Peralta followed with a single that shortstop Hanley Ramirez managed to put a glove on but could not stop. Kershaw then hung an 0–1 curve to Adams for his decisive home run, a line drive that initially looked like it might not land over the fence. "I saw [Matt] Kemp tracking it really well," Matheny said. "It looked like he was right on it. I thought this could be caught. Then, when it cleared the fence, I did pretty much what 45,000 other people did."

Wong Flips Out

The first time Kolten Wong looked like he was ready to take over second base for the Cardinals was March 7, 2014, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, spring home of the New York Mets. After a rough first week in spring training, Wong showed off his all-around game by collecting three hits, stealing a base, and making two strong defensive plays. "It's about time," he said. "It's a weight off my chest."

Four days later the young Hawaiian turned in an even more impressive performance long before he homered in that day's exhibition. As the Cardinals gathered in the outfield for their early morning stretching at Roger Dean Stadium, Wong brought everyone to a standstill when, from a standing position, he flipped over backward and landed on his feet as smoothly as a trained gymnast.

Not far from where the players were warming up, manager Mike Matheny was holding court with reporters at the time. The Cardinals manager happened to be answering a question about Wong when he stopped in mid-sentence. "Did you guys see that?" He asked, clearly impressed. None of us had, but right about then, Wong repeated the feat for anyone who had not been watching.

As much as the acrobatics said about his athleticism, the backflip said more about Wong's mental state. After a month in camp, he finally appeared comfortable enough to have a little fun. Matheny and his teammates had been reminding Wong to enjoy the journey, but he was too focused on trying to prove himself. "It's a great step for him," Matheny said. "He wears stuff hard. It's the kind of player he is. He'll evolve over time. Typically, a little success frees you up."

Matheny already had met with Wong in an attempt to help him relax. After a talk with his manager as well as a few hits, something finally seemed to be clicking. "I'm confident in myself that I can play at this level," Wong said. "I'm understanding that and buying into it."

He considers his backflipping to be no big deal. Wong said he was just proving his gymnastic skills to a couple of teammates who had doubted him. He learned the move when he was at the University of Hawaii and frequented a gymnastics facility with his now fiancée. "I can almost do it on command," he shrugged. "I'm that confident with it."

He was not ready to tread on hallowed Cardinals history, though, and mimic the entrance made famous by Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. Wong had yet to master the "Ozzie flip." "That cartwheel to the backflip I've tried," he said. "I can't land straight. It's the hardest thing."

Wong soon would find something even more difficult to handle than a flip: his rookie season in the major leagues. Wong experienced enough ups and downs in his first full season as a big leaguer that at times he felt like he was on a non-stop loop of backflips. He struggled mightily at the outset of spring training but ended up leading the team in hitting in March. Then he started the regular season slowly and before April was over was sent to the minors. He returned and went on a run that earned him National League Rookie of the Month for May. June wasn't a week old before he bruised his left shoulder and eventually landed on the disabled list. When he came off the disabled list, he went off again, hitting five homers in seven games.

And that was just the first half.

A game against the Boston Red Sox on August 7 typified the emotional roller coaster that was Wong's 2014. He hit two homers and scored a third run to lead the Cardinals to a 5–2 victory. At the same time, updates from home were coming in about a pair of hurricanes heading at Hilo, Hawaii. "It sucks not being able to be there," Wong said. By the end of the day, as Hilo avoided any major damage, the folks back home were having a little fun at his expense. "My friends were texting me, telling me that the winds from there came here and blew my hits out," Wong said. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I guess I don't have any pop."

That Wong was able to joke around with the media showed just how far he had come. He had faced one difficulty after another almost since he had been promoted for the first time less than a year earlier. He took his shortcomings to heart, too. Within hours after he had been embarrassingly picked off to end Game 4 of the 2013 World Series, Wong took to Twitter to apologize to Cardinals fans.

Nothing had been as hard about the past year as losing his mom, Keala Wong, to a long battle with cancer. Wong was home for the offseason when she died six days before Christmas. "She was always the one with me, the one I would call when times got tough," Wong told West Hawaii Today. "Now, I'm doing this for her to keep it going. Anybody who played with me or against me knew she was the loudest on the field, always cheering. She's the one who would keep me even-keeled, relaxed, not getting too high or too low. She had a love for her kids and always wanted us to be successful. That support is the biggest thing. She was always there for us. My favorite memory is growing up and her being my No. 1 fan and having her there at all times."

Wong reported to Florida with a tattoo covering his right arm as a way to remember his mom. He had it put on his right arm because that was his strongest arm. Keala Wong undoubtedly would have been proud at how her oldest son handled his rookie season, which ended in defeat for the Cardinals but still as a success for their young second baseman.

Wong finished the postseason with seven hits — none of them measly singles, either. Three homers, three doubles, and a triple gave him more extra base hits in a single postseason than any National League rookie since Chipper Jones in 1995. And Jones needed more than twice as many plate appearances to beat Wong by one extra-base hit. Wong blasted game-winning home runs in both Game 3 of the National League Division Series and Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning that broke a 1–1 tie in a game the Cardinals won 3–1.

He slugged an even more dramatic homer came against Sergio Romo and the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals already were down a game in the best-of-seven series, and, after Trevor Rosenthal blew a one-run lead in the top of the ninth, were three outs from going into extra innings. Busch Stadium had gone silent when Wong led off the bottom of the ninth, but he quickly changed that. Romo threw an 0–1 slider, and Wong lined it into the right-field seats, sending the sold out crowd and his teammates into a frenzy. He had barely crossed the plate before his jersey had been ripped off and shredded into several pieces.

Once a little order had been restored, Wong went looking for backup catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who had volunteered a bit of advice before the at-bat. "Base-hit swing, base-hit swing," Pierzynski had suggested, knowing that Wong sometimes showed a tendency to swing from the heels. Wong looked at his teammate, 14 years his senior, and said, "Was that good enough for you?"

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Excerpted from If these Walls Could Talk: St. Louis Cardinals by Stan McNeal. Copyright © 2015 Stan McNeal. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
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