St. Louis – The serenade from the stands was long, loud and joyous: “Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!”
And make no mistake about it, the Cardinals’ 37-year-old left fielder Reggie Sanders reveled in the moment.
“Postseason is a lot of fun and it can make you or break you,” he said. “And with the fans cheering and really getting excited about what happened, it just added to the drama.”
With one swing in the fifth inning, Sanders wrote the story line for St. Louis’ 8-5 victory over San Diego in Game 1 of a National League divisional series on a sultry Tuesday afternoon.
The 14-year veteran drove a 3-0 pitch from injured Padres starter Jake Peavy over the left-field wall for a grand slam, giving the Cardinals an 8-0 lead.
It was just the third slam in St. Louis’ illustrious postseason history. Ken Boyer did it against the Yankees in Game 4 of the 1964 World Series and Gary Gaetti did it in Game 2 of the 1996 National League Championship Series against Atlanta.
Sanders’ blast helped make up for a rough summer. He missed nearly two months after fracturing his leg July 15 in a collision with center fielder Jim Edmonds.
“I’ve been working so hard to get where I need to be,” he said. “I just worked on getting in the right frame of mind and seeing pitches well.”
The underdog Padres – who entered the postseason with a suspect 82-80 regular-season record – had hoped to use their young ace, Peavy, to get ahead in the series. An MRI after the game revealed Peavy had a fractured rib and will miss the rest of the series. Peavy told San Diego manager Bruce Bochy he began feeling pain in the third inning and it worsened during the game.
The Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter, a 21-game winner making his postseason debut, overshadowed Peavy by throwing six innings of shutout ball, allowing just three hits before cramps in his arms, fingers and legs forced him out. Carpenter said dehydration was the culprit and he was in good shape after the game.
“‘Carp’ did an amazing job,” Sanders said. “He’s had a couple of bad outings recently, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was going to be the Carpenter that we’ve seen all year long. He’s a horse and he’s a guy that you definitely want in a big game.”
But Sanders was the story. His slam and two-run single in the third gave him an NLDS-record six RBIs. Manager Tony La Russa said there was never any question about giving Sanders freedom to attack the 3-0 pitch.
“When you face a guy like Jake Peavy you may have only one strike to hit, so Reggie had the green light,” La Russa said.
Bochy said he wasn’t surprised to see Sanders swing.
“You’ve got to throw a strike there,” Bochy said. “They’re being aggressive on their side, and you have to give him credit. Sanders got hold of it, and that was the difference in the ballgame right there.”
Although Cardinals fans probably are ready to name a candy bar after their hero, Sanders hasn’t exactly been Mr. October in recent years. Since 2000, his postseason numbers had been awful. Leading up to Tuesday’s game, Sanders had 50 strikeouts in 162 at-bats. In four trips to the postseason since 2000, Sanders was hitting .198 for four teams – the Braves, Diamondbacks, Giants and Cardinals.
But right fielder Larry Walker, Sanders’ carpool buddy and good friend, said he never doubted Sanders would come through.
“He’s a clutch player,” Walker said. “He’s been on a lot of teams, but all of those teams go to the playoffs. It’s not by coincidence. His presence rubs off on everybody in this clubhouse.”
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
