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7/28, 7:05 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium
(Or, "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!")


Box score | Recap
R H E
Cubs
Cardinals
2 0 4 0 0 0 2 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 6
9 9 1
10 14 1

There really couldn't have been a more fitting ending to a Cardinals game on the day that Ozzie Smith, perhaps the greatest fielding shortstop in the history of the game, was forever enshrined in Cooperstown. Of all the memories The Wizard left behind for his adoring public, his game-ending (they weren't "walk-offs" back then) home run in the '85 playoffs may be his most enduring. So when the 2002 Cardinals' light hitting shortstop blasted a game-winning three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, you could understand why the fans who stuck around to see it again followed Jack Buck's 17-year-old advice: They went crazy.

It's been a tough year for the Cardinals. They lost Buck, their ambassador, their number one fan and their long-time announcer, to a long battle with

a variety of illnesses. Then, less than two weeks later, they lost one of their major clubhouse presences and best friends when Darryl Kile died suddenly of heart failure. But rather than going through the motions and dragging through the season, they've dedicated their season to the memories of their fallen friends because - and please remember that clichés can be genuine once in a while - it's what they would have wanted.

Even they couldn't have expected this. After stumbling out of the gate, the Cards have roared back to take the lead in the NL Central, thanks in large part to games like this one. The Cards, squaring off with their fiercest rivals - in what Steve billed "The Second Best One-Sided Rivarly in Baseball" - battled back from six runs down to win in their last at-bat and bring St. Louis to their feet.

Down 6-0 early, the tide began to change for the Cardinals when Cubs manager Bruce Kimm made a suspect pitching change in the 5th inning, removing starter Matt Clement. To that point, Clement had five sparkling shutout innings under this belt, allowing only three hits and an unearned run. The last pitch he threw yielded a double play ball to short that Mark Bellhorn managed to play into a run-scoring three base error. His pitch count wasn't too high. He showed no signs of wildness, and was barely getting hit. But with two lefties coming up, Kim abandoned his starter and turned to one of the worst bullpens in baseball to keep the Cards at bay for four full innings.


Cubs' pitcher Matt Clement was pitching great when his manager yanked him from the game in favor of a pathetic bullpen. 		Big mistake. Not only did it cost the Cubbies the game, but it screwed Jeff out of a hefty number of fantasy points for Clement.

If there's one thing worse than relying on the Boston Red Sox bullpen, it's relying on pitchers who have been exiled from the Boston Red Sox bullpen. The Cards would score four runs in the fifth, two of them off former Sox reliever Jeff Fassero, who only recorded one out in giving up three hits and two runs. Kyle Farnsworth replaced Fassero (a.k.a. "Crapssero") and came on to put out that fire and work a total of 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. But Farnsworth
can't pitch any longer than that, so Kimm sent former Sox closer Tom "Flash" Gordon to close the door in the ninth.

Big mistake: See above. Gordon didn't record any outs, giving up a single, an RBI double and an RBI single to the three batters he faced and letting the Cardinals close to within three. Kimm trudged out of the dugout once again, the jeers raining down from what was left of the crowd, and called on his six-fingered closer, Antonio Alfonseca. The outcome, however, was not what Kimm was expecting. Not even the most jilted, pessimistic Cubs fan could have expected this.

After walking Albert Pujlos, Alfonseca buckled J.D. Drew with a called third strike and it looked like the Cubs pen had finally sent someone out there who could get them out of a jam. But then former Yankee Tino Martinez hit a seeing-eye single through the right side to plate another run. That closed the gap to 9-7, put runners on first and third and set the stage for Craziness.

There was never any doubt that his homer was going to leave the yard. Before the ball even landed in the Cubs bullpen - fitting, no? - left fielder Moises Alou was already on his way to the dugout and Busch Stadium was already rocking. And while about 2/3 of the near sellout crowd had already left, those who remained made enough noise for a season's worth of sellouts. Many stayed for nearly fifteen minutes, wildly cheering the replay each time it was shown on the Jumbotron. Madam Lucy (more on her below) hugged just about everybody she could find. Cubs fans, who had made the five hour drive for the game, admitted defeat and - imagine this ever happening in the Best One-Sided Rivalry in Baseball - congratulated and embraced the
Cards fans going mildly crazy.
hometown crowd.

For years, our heroes had heard about how St. Louis was such a great baseball town, how they understood the game and stuck by their team through thick and thin. True to form, most of the fans lived up to their hype, though Jeff and Steve were more than a little disappointed to see so many leave before the magic happened. Sure, they were down 5 runs again in the ninth inning, but they were playing the Cubs. The Cubs!! Their bullpen folds easier than a wet piece of paper.

Jeff and left field bleacher boss "Mama Lucy" exchange pleasantries about Tino Martinez (and phone numbers). 		While obviously thrilled with the outcome, Mama Lucy, the unofficial "boss" of the leftfield bleachers, was most disappointed with all those fans who broke one of her "Cardinal" rules:
  • No early arrivals or departures. We aren't Dodger fans. The game doesn't end until the last out.
Mama Lucy is a colorful character, a rosy cheeked, overweight and dedicated Cardinals fan who attends every home game, watching from leftfield bleachers. Jeff had a face-to-
face meeting with Mama Lucy during the early stages of the game after Martinez ended the fourth with a flyout to shallow left. Several fans around her jeered Tino, who came over as a free agent this past winter following several solid years in New York. When she heard the boos, Mama Lucy sarcastically compared his hecklers to New York fans, which of course got Jeff's attention, and prompted this exchange between the two:

Jeff: You got something to say about New York? I'm right up here!
ML: How do you treat your players in New York?
Jeff: I treat them very well, thank you.
ML: But how does everybody else treat them?
Jeff (thinking, trying to choose his words carefully): "What have you done for me lately?"
ML: Exactly. That's all I meant. Hey, I do it, too. Enjoy the game, welcome to left field. (Hands Jeff a free, homemade shirt listing the rules for the left field bleachers, which you can read here once we get back and scan it in.) Come back anytime.

Following the game, Jeff waited for Lucy to stop hugging everybody and went down for a final visit:

Jeff: Who was that with the RBI single there?
ML: You know it was Tino! We're cheering him now! Woooooo!
Jeff: What a game! Enjoy the rest of the season…(Gesturing to his Yankees jersey) We'll see you in October!
ML: (excited but unintelligible yelling)

Busch Stadium may be the most remarkable in baseball. Sure, there are newer stadiums with better amenities older stadiums with more history, but if you visited Busch Stadium without knowing the history of the park, you could have no clue that it was one of the "cookie cutters" of the 1970s, built in the same vein as Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. But, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, renovations have turned Busch Stadium into one
The Cards fans love their center fielder, Jim Edmonds.
of the nicest places to watch a baseball game. It's amazing what you can do when you kick out the football team, put in grass, make the seats match the team's official colors and field a team that doesn't suck. St. Louis is next in line for a new ballpark, but Busch may be the first stadium people are sorry to see go.

Great game, great fans, great stadium: All things considered, this may turn out to be the most memorable day of the Yay Baseball 2002 tour. We can only imagine what instructions Jack Buck's lustrous voice would have given to us on this day, but it's a pretty safe bet that there were a couple of Cards going crazy up in the heavens.

 

 


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