The New York Yankees fans still feel the sting of losing the 2001 World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but the St. Louis Cardinals suffered an agonizing first round playoff loss to Arizona that hurt almost as much.
It is interesting to speculate how the Cards would have fared if they had played the Yankees. The feeling is that they would have beaten the only team that has more championships than they have.
The Yankees were where they wanted to be in the 2001 World Series. Mariano Rivera was on the mound in the ninth inning, having to get three outs. He only got one of them.
But Arizona clearly outplayed the Yankees the entire series. It took two out ninth home runs on consecutive nights, the first by Tino Martinez and the second by Scott Brosius to tie each game. The Diamondbacks lost two games in which they needed only one more out to win.
St. Louis Cardinals’ pitchers held the Diamondbacks to one run in three of the five NLDS games. That one run was enough for Curt Schilling in the series opener at Arizona, as he out dueled Cardinals’ ace Matt Morris.
Woody Williams held the Diamondbacks to a single run over seven innings in the second game, but this time, it was good enough. Steve Klein worked the eighth and ninth innings for a two inning save in the Cards’ 4-1 win.
The Cardinals really lost the series when Darryl Kile, who had experienced elbow and shoulder problems in September, could pitch only six innings in the third game.
Going to the top of the seventh inning, the Cards held a slim 2-1 lead over Miguel Batista and the Diamondbacks.
Kile walked Matt Williams leading off the inning, which prompted a visit from Tony La Russa. Kile said he was done, despite making only 97 pitches.
After the game, La Russa praised Kile. “He gave us all he had and that was a lot. He pitched a great ball game.”
Steve Finley forced Williams at second on a failed sacrifice off relief left-hander Mike Mathews, but Damian Miller singled Finley to third, who scored on pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn’s single that moved Miller to third.
The Cards almost got out of the jam when second baseman Fernando Vina threw Miller out at the plate on Tony Womack’s grounder, bringing up Craig Counsell.
Mathews fell behind on the count, three balls and one strike. Not wanting to face Luis Gonzalez, who had hit 57 home runs (26 more than he had hit or would hit in any season), Mathews put the ball over and so did Counsell.
The problem was that Mathews put the ball over the plate while Counsell put the ball over the wall.
The next day, Bud Smith, Dustin Hermanson and Steve Kline held the Diamondbacks to one run as the Cards tied the series with a 4-1 win.
Back to Arizona for the sudden victory contest, where Morris again faced off against Schilling. This time, the Cardinals scored on a J. D. Drew solo home and Morris again held the Diamondbacks to one run, this time Reggie Sanders’ fourth inning home run.
The final game was eerily similar to to the final game of the World Series.
With the Yankees and Arizona tied 1-1 in the eighth inning, Alfonso Soriano hit a home run off Schilling to put the Yankees up by one run. The Diamondbacks scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to win the series.
With the Cardinals trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning, Drew hit a home run off Schilling to tie the game. In the bottom of the ninth, Arizona scored to win the series.
The Cardinals played Arizona tough. The final outcome could have gone either way.
The chances are that the Cardinals wouldn’t have had to wait until 2006 to win their first World Championship under Tony La Russa.
References:
Hermoso, R. (2001, Oct 15). Diamondbacks reach championship series. New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. D3-D3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/92073257?accountid=46260
Hermoso, R. (2001, Oct 13). An unexpected home run gives arizona the edge. New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. S2-S2. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/91989604?accountid=46260