San Diego – On paper, the Cardinals-Padres series was a big mismatch. In reality, the mismatch was monumental.
St. Louis, owners of the major league’s best regular-season record at 100-62, beat San Diego 7-4 Saturday night to complete a three-game sweep in the National League divisional series.
In retrospect, the Padres, who won the National League West with a less-than-inspiring 82-80 record, never had a chance against the talented and balanced Cardinals. In Game 1, the Cardinals’ big bats did in the Padres. In Game 2, the Cardinals won with pitching and defense. In Saturday night’s clincher, the Cardinals did just about everything right.
St. Louis awaits its next challenger – either Houston or Atlanta – in the National League Championship Series. Houston beat the Braves 7-3 Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, which continues today.
Saturday night, the Padres, who pulled within 7-4 on Ramon Hernandez’s solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, had the tying run at the plate twice in the bottom of the ninth but were unable to score. Brian Giles struck out looking, and Ryan Klesko grounded out to closer Jason Isringhausen to end the game.
Cardinals starter Matt Morris was nearly untouchable through four innings. Although he gave up three walks, he yielded no hits. During a news conference Friday, Morris described his confidence being “as high as it could be.” He also talked about what he needed to do to be effective.
“The bottom line is the location of the pitch,” Morris said. “Whether you’re struggling mechanically or your selection is off or you’re not executing the pitch, the bottom line is that the pitches that are hit – whether they’re curveballs, changeups, fastballs, cutters, whatever – they’re still in the same area. You keep the ball on the edges of the plate.”
Morris was able to do that early in the game as his team staked him to a 7-0 lead through 4 1/2 innings. He pitched through six innings, earned the victory and improved his career postseason record to 2-5 and 2-2 in division-series play.
The Padres raked Morris for two runs on four hits in the fifth and he looked a little rattled. That inning was a flashback to the tail end of the regular season, when he was winless in his last seven regular-season starts, including a shaky three-inning performance in the regular-season finale last Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds. In the first half of the season he was 10-2, but he was 0-4 with a 5.12 ERA in September.
Meanwhile, Padres starter Woody Williams pitched like Woody Allen.
He was gone after just 1 2/3 innings, having given up five runs on six hits, including a two-run homer to diminutive Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein in the second.
Williams’ performance quickly landed him in the Petco Park doghouse, where wild opening-game cheers quickly turned to boos.
Eckstein was the smallest player on the field Saturday, standing 5-foot-7, 165 pounds.
But he played huge, leading off the game with a single and scoring on Albert Pujols’ double to right. Eckstein’s two-run homer to left in the second inning – the first postseason homer of his career – put St. Louis ahead 3-0. His homer was followed by a double by Jim Edmonds and a walk by Pujols to set the stage for series star Reggie Sanders.
Sanders promptly hit a two-run double to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. The hit gave him gave him 10 RBIs in the series to set a NLDS record.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or at psaunders@denverpost.com.
