St. Louis – When the raindrops finally stopped, when the skies finally cleared, the World Series featured a watershed moment.
When they mull over this play at Mike Shannon’s restaurant or Chili Mac’s, it will prove beyond question that size doesn’t always matter in baseball. What other sport can boast that its biggest star on the game’s biggest stage is 5-foot-7?
In the eighth inning, David Eckstein delivered the game-winning double, the same guy who has spent his career mistaken for a batboy. The St. Louis Cardinals took small bites out of the Detroit Tigers in a 5-4 victory, leaving them only one nibble away from their first World Series title since 1982.
“I have never had a night like that,” said Eckstein, who went 4-for-5 with three doubles. “To do it here in this game, it doesn’t get much better.”
Eckstein’s mighty swing moved the Cardinals to within handshake distance of destiny. With 83 regular season wins, they would be the worst World Series champion ever. On a cool, damp Thursday night, that hardly mattered. The Cardinals are one win away, meaning the kids who showed up to prom without a tux could very well be kings tonight.
“We have dealt with a lot of injuries. But when we showed up in San Diego to start the playoffs, we had David back at short, Jim (Edmonds) in center field and Scott (Rolen) at third base,” manager Tony La Russa said. “When we put those guys out there we are a pretty good team.”
In many ways, no one is more important than Eckstein. He replaced the popular Edgar Renteria last season, signing with the Cardinals after the Angels discarded him. It only motivated a player who’s more team first than first team.
Before Eckstein could barely describe his winning hit, he was praising 5-foot-8 Aaron Miles for beating out a potential double-play ball, giving oxygen to the rally.
“I have always been compared to (David),” said Miles, who drew inspiration from Eckstein long before they became teammates this year. “I told Tony that I was like Eckstein in spring training.”
Eckstein lulls teams to sleep with his deceptive power. Facing flame-breathing Joel Zumaya in the eighth with Miles on second, Eckstein looked for a pitch he could barrel. He rifled a ball to left field that caught Craig Monroe off guard.
“I didn’t expect it to go that far,” Monroe said.
After a late start, Monroe accelerated and dove fully outstretched. The ball tipped off his glove, shuffling home Miles with the winning run.
“I don’t think Craig could get a really good jump,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, knowing that wet grass made outfield play more difficult. “But that’s just baseball.”
Beyond leaving them a breath from extinction, the Tigers’ loss resonated with haunting ramifications. They hit – and still lost. Sean Casey went 3-for-4 with a home run. Pudge Rodriguez snapped an 0-fer-23 skid with three hits. They led 3-0, but couldn’t keep their grip.
For the fourth consecutive game, one of their pitchers made a throwing error, this time reliever Fernando Rodney inviting trouble in the seventh with a wild toss on a bunt play.
Cardinals left fielder Preston Wilson punished them for the mistake, driving in St. Louis’ fourth run. It put Eckstein in position to embrace the spotlight. He comes across as the guy your mother never warned you about, but he loves competition, enjoys his role as the exemption to the ruling giants.
“Guys like (Derek) Jeter and A-Rod have changed the position,” Eckstein said. “But it’s nice to know that there might be room for the little guy who can get on base.”
La Russa called Eckstein the toughest player he’s ever managed.
“He’s the definition of clutch,” La Russa explained, “and then you try to give an example of what that means. He got the game-winning hit against a guy throwing 100 mph. That’s all you need to know.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
