With the series tied 2-2, the Cardinals pounced on four Brewers errors and once again relied upon a bullpen that had allowed just four earned runs in 17 1/3 innings in the series.  

“It was a big game for them but it was a bigger game for us,” said Cardinals right fielder Lance Berkman. “You don’t want to have to go back to Milwaukee and have to win two games back to back. It’s going to be tough to win one game.”[1]

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1’s pitching matchup, with Jaime Garcia taking the mound for the Cardinals against the Brewers’ Zack Greinke. Neither pitcher had much success in the series opener. Greinke earned the win despite allowing six runs over six innings, while Garcia took his second loss of the postseason after allowing six runs over four innings.

While Game 5 proved to be a much-improved outing for Garcia, it was a disappointing outing for Greinke. After the 2009 Cy Young Award winner cruised through a 1-2-3 first inning, the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the second.

Berkman led off the inning with a line-drive single into center. Two batters later, Greinke hit David Freese with a pitch and Yadier Molina followed with one of his three hits on the night, a double into right field that scored Berkman. With two outs, Garcia hit a ground ball that went between the legs of Brewers third baseman Jerry Hairston, who had just made a nice diving catch on a Nick Punto line drive. Freese and Molina both scored on the play to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0.

“I look back at it and there’s nothing I would have done different,” Hairston said. “The pitch was up. He’s a good athlete, so I’m playing up because he might bunt for a hit. He hits a rocket and it hits the lip and just stays down. Sometimes at the hot corner at third base, you’re at the mercy when a guy hits a bullet. He hit a bullet and it just stayed down.”[2]

St. Louis played a bit of small ball in the fourth, as Freese and Molina each singled. After running down to the third base coach’s box to make sure he’d read the sign from Jose Oquendo correctly, Punto laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Freese scored when Garcia grounded out to the shortstop to make the score 4-0.

Punto credited the run to Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

“Tony’s creative,” Punto said. “His thinking was ‘get them over’ and we might get lucky with the pitcher, and if we don’t, we might get lucky with (Rafael) Furcal coming up and runners at second and third, and that’s what happened. Tony’s always a step ahead. It was a great call and it worked out.”[3]

Milwaukee got on the board in the fifth when Corey Hart hit an RBI single off Garcia. When Hairston followed with a single into left field, bringing Ryan Braun to the plate with two runners on, La Russa turned to his bullpen. Octavio Dotel, the 37-year-old right-hander acquired from the Blue Jays in July, struck out Braun to end the inning, then returned to the mound in the sixth to retire the side in order.

“Righty against righty is better than lefty against lefty,” said Dotel, who had eight strikeouts against Braun in 10 career meetings. “I guess I’m lucky against him.”[4]

“I wasn’t shocked at all by the move,” Berkman said. “If it was the regular season, yeah, I would’ve been surprised, but it’s not. It’s the playoffs. It’s a situation where it’s better to make a move too early than to make it too late.”[5]

The Cardinals added another run in the sixth when Furcal hit a two-out double and Jon Jay reached on an error by Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. Albert Pujols capitalized on the extra opportunity with a single to left that scored Jay and gave the Cardinals their third unearned run of the evening.

With a 5-1 lead, Lynn threw a scoreless seventh inning. After Hart and Hairston each reached base in the eighth, Lynn retired Braun and Marc Rzepczynski entered the game to strike out Braun. With four outs remaining, Jason Motte was called upon to retire Rickie Weeks to close out the eighth inning.

Matt Holliday hit a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth, extending the lead to 7-1 before Motte retired the side in order in the ninth. With Motte’s perfect ninth, the Cardinals’ bullpen had a 0.82 postseason ERA.

“It was a very important game for us, a must-win,” Holliday said.[6]

Dotel earned the win after striking out two of the four batters he faced.

“I feel like I saved the game,” Dotel said.^[7]

Garcia threw 4 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits and no walks. He struck out five.

Greinke took the loss for the Brewers after allowing five runs – two earned – in 5 2/3 innings.

“He can’t control the defense,” Berkman noted.[8]

Holliday and Molina each had three hits for the Cardinals. Holliday’s three hits represented a big step forward for the slugger in his recovery from a hand injury that kept him out of the starting lineup in the first three games of the NLDS. In the NLCS, La Russa moved Holliday out of his traditional cleanup spot after La Russa said it was “unfair” to the left fielder.[9]

Now Holliday and the Cardinals were just one win away from the World Series.

“We didn’t play our best game and they took advantage of it,” Hairston said. “It’s one of those things where you can’t give that team extra outs, any big-league team, but especially that team. It was a little uncharacteristic of us.”[10]

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[1] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[2] Dan O’Neill, “Brewers’ bungling adds up,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Punto gets a chance, does the right things,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[4] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[5] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[6] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[7] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[8] Joe Strauss, “Bullpen does it again,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[9] Derrick Goold, “Holliday is back on track,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

[10] Dan O’Neill, “Brewers’ bungling adds up,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 15, 2011.

The post October 14, 2011: Cardinals capitalize on Brewers’ errors to win NLCS Game 5 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

To make it happen, he called upon Brandon Dickson, a rookie right-hander who had spent almost the entire season in Memphis, to make his first major league start against the National League Central Division-leading Brewers on September 1, 2011. Dickson had pitched for the Cardinals twice in July, throwing a combined four innings of scoreless relief.

“Our backs are against the wall,” left fielder Matt Holliday said. “We’ve got to win the rest of our games, pretty much, and hope they lose some. It’s really the only choice we have.”[1]

The Cardinals were seeking to complete a three-game sweep of the Brewers and extend their win streak to four games overall. St. Louis trailed Milwaukee and the wild-card leading Braves by 8 ½ games.

Despite the game’s obvious importance, La Russa wanted to give Chris Carpenter an extra day of rest and create better match-ups for the final month of the season.

“What I’ve tried to explain is when you look at the rotation and who pitches when, in my opinion, that gives us our best shot to win the most games from here to the end of the season,” La Russa said.[2]

The Brewers countered with their ace, 25-year-old Yovani Gallardo. Gallardo won 14 games and appeared in the all-star game in 2010, and had built upon that success in 2011. Heading into his start against the Cardinals, Gallardo was 15-8 with a 3.37 ERA.

The match-up clearly favored the Brewers, but someone forgot to tell the Cardinals.

Rafael Furcal, acquired in a deal with the Dodgers at the trading deadline, led off the game with a line-drive home run to right field. Two batters later, Pujols homered to left, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead before Dickson threw a pitch.

Dickson retired the Brewers in order in the first and worked around a Casey McGehee double in the second. In the third, Pujols broke the game open with a grand slam over the right-field wall. It marked the first time in his career that Gallardo had allowed more than two home runs in a game.[3]

Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Hart each hit solo home runs in the bottom of the third to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 6-2.

“They were balls over the middle of the plate,” Dickson said.[4]

After Dickson walked McGehee and Brewers second baseman Jerry Hairston singled, La Russa turned to his bullpen. Octavio Dotel, another July trade acquisition, struck out Lucroy and Gallardo to end the Brewers’ threat.

Holliday hit the Cardinals’ fourth home run of the day – a two-run shot off Gallardo – to make the score 8-3 in the fifth. It marked Holliday’s 20^th home run of the season and the 200^th of his career.

“If you told me in the minor leagues I’d get to 200 in the major leagues, I would have said that’s pretty nice,” he said. “It’s not something you really anticipate for yourself. I’d like to do a lot more of it.”[5]

Dotel threw two more scoreless innings and Fernando Salas pitched two more, allowing just a solo home run by Prince Fielder, before Jason Motte pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game.

With the win, the Cardinals cut the Brewers’ lead to 7 ½ games while Atlanta, which beat the Nationals, stayed 8 ½ games ahead in the wild-card race.

“There’s a lot of games left,” said Pujols, who finished the game with four hits and five RBIs. “We’re not out for sure. Nothing is over. I’m pretty sure that’s the same way they look at it.”[6]

“In baseball, nobody knows,” Dotel said. “This is my 13^th year in the big leagues and I’m always learning something. I always see something different.”[7]

Meanwhile, the Brewers remained confident.

“Even today, we had plenty of chances late in the game,” Hart said. “During the (hot) stretch we capitalized on every opportunity. We didn’t do that this series. There’s not a lot of games left, so we feel pretty good about ourselves.”[8]

The Brewers won the National League Central by six games with a 96-66, while the Cardinals rallied to beat the Braves by a game for the wild-card berth. After toppling the Phillies in the NLDS, the Cardinals beat the Brewers in a six-game NLCS.

The Cardinals went on to win a seven-game World Series over the Rangers, including an extra-inning classic in Game 6. It marked the 11^th world championship in franchise history.

The Cardinals’ September 1 win over the Brewers proved to be the only start of Dickson’s major league career. He made one more relief appearance that season, then pitched four times for the Cardinals in 2012. In 2013, Dickson signed with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japan Pacific League. In 2021, he returned to the Cardinals, making two relief appearances for the Cardinals while spending most of his final professional season in Triple-A Memphis.

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[1] Todd Rosiak, “It’s business as usual for the Cardinals,” https://archive.jsonline.com/sports/breewers/128962898.html.

[2] Joe Strauss, “Holliday reaches 200 career HRs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[3] Joe Strauss, “Cards keep hits coming in sweep of Brewers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[4] Joe Strauss, “Holliday reaches 200 career HRs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[5] Joe Strauss, “Holliday reaches 200 career HRs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[6] Joe Strauss, “Cards keep hits coming in sweep of Brewers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[7] Joe Strauss, “Cards keep hits coming in sweep of Brewers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

[8] Joe Strauss, “Cards keep hits coming in sweep of Brewers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2011.

The post Pujols homers twice, Holliday hits his 200th career home run, and the Cardinals call on a rookie pitcher to sweep Brewers: September 1, 2011 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

After all, Rasmus had long been considered the Cardinals’ top prospect, destined to fill Jim Edmonds’ shoes as St. Louis’s next center field fixture. However, in the months to come, the deal that sent Rasmus and pitchers Trever Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters to Toronto in exchange for outfielder Corey Patterson and pitchers Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, and Marc Rzepczynski proved key to the Cardinals’ 2011 world championship.

The Cardinals made Rasmus their first-round draft pick (28^th overall) in 2005, signing him to a $1 million signing bonus four days later. In 2006, Rasmus earned the Cardinals’ minor league player of the year honors after batting .288 with 16 homers and 28 stolen bases across Low-A Palm Beach and High-A Quad Cities.

After Rasmus batted .275/.381/.551 with 29 homers and 72 RBIs in Double-A Springfield, the Cardinals traded Edmonds to San Diego and general manager John Mozeliak said Rasmus had a chance to make the major-league roster in 2008.[1] After an impressive spring training, however, Rasmus experienced the first prolonged slump of his professional career at Triple-A Memphis, batting just .186 through his first 172 at-bats. He finished the Memphis season with a .251 batting average.

In the midst of Rasmus’s struggles, the first signs of friction in Rasmus’s relationship with the Cardinals emerged when an online account belonging to his father Tony accused the Cardinals of changing Rasmus’s swing. Tony later said that the comments were made by one of Colby’s brothers while using his account.[2]

Rasmus debuted with the Cardinals in 2009, batting .251/.307/.407 with 16 homers and 52 RBIs in 474 at-bats, giving him a higher WAR (wins above replacement) than that year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Chris Coghlan (1.9 to 1.1). That fall, Rasmus received coaching from his father prior to the National League Division Series against the Dodgers. In the three-game series, Rasmus went 4-for-9 with three doubles and an RBI.

He built upon that success in 2010, improving his numbers across the board with a .276/.361/.498 line to go along with 23 home runs and 66 RBIs. Despite that success, Rasmus and Tony La Russa had a heated exchange in the dugout that summer, and in July, Rasmus demanded a trade.

By the 2011 spring training, the dust appeared to have settled, especially after Rasmus got off to a strong start to the year, raising his average to .313 on May 12 with three hits against the Cubs. By the time of the trade, however, Rasmus’s average was down to .246 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs. On July 10, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold wrote that Rasmus was taking extra batting practice with his father to correct his swing. In the same story, La Russa said that hitting coach Mark McGwire and assistant hitting coach Mike Aldrete didn’t deserve the criticism for Rasmus’s struggles, as Rasmus was getting his coaching from an external source.

“I’ve heard grumblings why Mark isn’t doing this or Mike doing that,” he said. “Well, they’re here giving him work, whatever he needs … but the stuff he’s working on is coming from someplace else, and guys are free to do that. The idea is to be productive and hitting is a real peculiar thing. If Colby starts hitting well then whoever he’s going to for advice should get the credit, but if he struggles, it’s not fair to blame Mark and/or Mike.”[3]

“In the end, I have to learn myself,” Rasmus said. “I have to learn my own swing. Then maybe I’ll be whatever everyone wants me to be.”[4]

Sixteen days after the story appeared in the Post-Dispatch, Rasmus was sent to Toronto. The week prior to the deal, Mozeliak declined a trade offer from the Rays that would have sent starting pitcher Jeff Niemann, reliever J.P. Howell, and a prospect to St. Louis. The deal collapsed, however, when Mozeliak insisted the Rays include either Jeremy Hellickson or James Shields.[5]

“Why Toronto?” Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz opined. “Easy: Because Siberia doesn’t have a major-league baseball franchise. And the Cardinals clearly wanted to get Colby and his Daddy as far away as possible.”[6]

Meanwhile, Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos, aware of Rasmus’s drama in St. Louis, had targeted the young center fielder as a potential target months earlier, and told the National Post that Rasmus had a chance to be part of the Blue Jays’ core.[7]

“We’d asked about him a lot last off-season, during the season, and the answer was always no,” Anthopoulos said. “I’d say late afternoon, early evening (Tuesday) there was kind of a breakthrough.”[8]

After the trade was announced, Rasmus exchanged hugs with many of his teammates and shook hands with La Russa.

“I don’t know what’s really best for Colby. I think that’s the question,” said David Freese, who was Rasmus’s roommate in Triple-A Memphis. “To be honest, I hope that he takes this move in a positive direction. He’s got a lot of time left in this game. I also hope he can learn and grow as a person. … Colby just needs to do what makes himself happy off the field, because if you’re not happy off the field (it is) extremely difficult to focus and perform on the field.”[9]

“He has a great future ahead of him,” Albert Pujols said. “He’s going to be an all-star, probably. I’m telling you, he’s going to have a great career, man, as soon as he puts things together.”[10]

In Miller, the Blue Jays were getting a 38-year-old situational left-hander who had pitched 15 2/3 innings in 39 appearances for the Cardinals. Though he had a 4.02 ERA for the season, in three years in St. Louis, Miller had gone 4-3 with a 3.12 ERA over 95 1/3 innings.

Tallet, another left-handed reliever who pitched five seasons in Toronto before coming to St. Louis on a free-agent deal prior to the season, had pitched just 13 innings in 18 appearances for the Cardinals, posting an 8.31 ERA.

Walters, a 26-year-old right-hander from Dothan, Alabama, had appeared in 19 major-league games for the Cardinals since 2009. Over that span, he was 2-0 with a 7.38 ERA over 50 innings.

In exchange, the Cardinals sought to improve both their starting pitching and bullpen. Jackson, whom the Blue Jays had acquired just a few hours earlier from the White Sox, was immediately slotted into Kyle McClellan’s rotation spot. The 27-year-old Jackson was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA, and had earned all-star honors two years earlier in his final season with the Tigers.

Dotel, who came to the Cardinals with a 3.68 ERA in 29 1/3 innings, was a 13-year veteran who had pitched for the Mets, Astros, A’s, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, and Rockies before landing with the Blue Jays. Dotel’s contract called for a club option for the 2012 season. If the Cardinals chose to decline it, they would receive a supplemental-round pick in the upcoming draft or, if he became a “Type A” free agent, they would get first-round and supplemental picks.

At 25, Rzepczynski was the youngest player included in the trade. The left-hander from Oak Lawn, Illinois, had posted a 2.97 ERA in 39 1/3 innings that season for the Blue Jays.

“He was real tough to give up,” Anthopoulos said. “This deal wasn’t getting done without him.”[11]

Patterson, a 12-year veteran who played six seasons with the Cubs, was batting .252 with six homers, 33 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases in 317 at-bats. With the ability to play all three outfield positions, he was slated to serve as the team’s backup outfielder while Jon Jay took over Rasmus’s center field duties.

Miklasz wasn’t immediately impressed with the Cardinals’ haul, though he admitted it had short-term value. “We already knew the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate isn’t what it used to be, but I didn’t realize it applied to baseball,” he wrote. “In dealing Rasmus, the Cardinals should have secured a No. 2 starter and an elite prospect to set up their future.”[12]

Mozeliak, however, was looking to win in 2011. As La Russa wrote in One Last Strike, prior to the trade Mozeliak had approached La Russa with a seemingly simple question: could the Cardinals win if they traded Rasmus for additional help? La Russa discussed the question with his coaching staff.

“Simply put, we believed in their character, chemistry, and will to win, so we bet on it,” La Russa wrote. “I gave Mo my answer: yes, we can win.”[13]

“This is a window to win,” Mozeliak said. “Today we feel like we’re a better team than we were yesterday.”[14]

The remainder of the season proved Mozeliak right. At the time of the trade, the Cardinals were 55-49 and in second place in the National League Central Division. With an 18-8 record in the month of September, the Cardinals surged into the postseason with a 90-72 record.

After arriving in St. Louis, Jackson went 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 78 innings. Rzepczynski made 28 relief appearances, posting a 3.97 ERA over 22 2/3 innings, and Dotel was even better, posting a 3.28 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Patterson provided a veteran left-handed bat off the bench, though he hit just .157 in 51 at-bats.

The pitching acquisitions proved even more valuable in the gauntlet of the postseason. Jackson, who had pitched with the Rays in the 2008 World Series, earned the win in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Phillies, allowing two runs over six innings. He started two games in the NLCS, allowing six runs over 6 1/3 innings, and took the loss in Game 4 of the World Series after walking seven and allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings.

Dotel made three appearances in the NLDS, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings against the Phillies. He pitched in four of the six games in the NLCS, earning the win in Game 5 with 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Jaime Garcia. For the series, he allowed one earned run in four innings pitched. In the World Series, Dotel pitched in five of the seven games, allowing two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Rzepczynski was equally impressive. After all three batters he faced in Game 1 of the NLDS came around to score, Rzepczynski retired two of the three batters he faced in Game 2. In Game 4, he struck out the only batter he faced, Ryan Howard, with a runner on second and two outs in the eighth inning.

In Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers, Rzepczynski struck out Nyjer Morgan and retired Corey Hart to end the seventh. He threw a scoreless seventh inning in Game 2, then struck out Prince Fielder in the eighth inning of Game 3. In Game 5, Rzepczynski entered the game with runners on first and third in the eighth inning and struck Fielder out again. In the decisive sixth game, Rzepczynski threw 2 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win.

In the World Series against the Rangers, Rzepczynski struck out Craig Gentry and Esteban German to end the seventh inning of Game 1. He retired both batters he faced in Game 2, then retired one batter in Game 5. In Game 6, Rzepczynski retired Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland, and Adrian Beltre in a scoreless eighth inning to help set the stage for the Cardinals’ comeback win.

As Miklasz had written the day after the trade was made, “If the Cardinals make it to the 2011 postseason and go on a run, no one will be growling about selling off Rasmus for short money.”[15]

Rasmus hit .234/.295/.433 with 66 homers and 194 RBIs in 3 1/2 seasons in Toronto. In 2012, he hit 23 homers and drove in a career-high 75 RBIs. He signed with the Astros in 2015 and hit 25 homers, then had a 15-homer season in 2016. He played 37 games with the Rays in 2017 and 18 with Baltimore in 2018 before stepping away from the game. He retired with a .241 career average, 166 home runs, and 491 RBIs.

Miller pitched in six games for the Blue Jays before signing with the Red Sox and appearing in the final three games of his major-league career. Tallet allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning in his lone appearance for the Blue Jays, then pitched in Triple-A Tucson in 2012 and the independent Atlantic League in 2013.

Walters pitched one scoreless inning for Toronto before signing with Minnesota. He appeared in 20 games over two seasons, going 4-10 with a 5.74 ERA, before pitching the next two seasons in the minor leagues.

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[1] “As Colby Turns,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[2] “As Colby Turns,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[3] Derrick Goold, “Maybe father knows best,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 2011.

[4] Derrick Goold, “Maybe father knows best,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 2011.

[5] Joe Strauss, “Rasmus Saga Ends,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[6] Bernie Miklasz, “Smart move, at least in the short term,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[7] Bruce Arthur, “Risk Factor,” National Post, July 28, 2011.

[8] John Lott, “Jays’ GM Set To ‘Star Fresh’ With Rasmus,” National Post, July 28, 2011.

[9] Derrick Goold, “Ex-teammates laud Rasmus’ skills, talent,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[10] Derrick Goold, “Ex-teammates laud Rasmus’ skills, talent,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[11] John Lott, “Jays’ GM Set To ‘Star Fresh’ With Rasmus,” National Post, July 28, 2011.

[12] Bernie Miklasz, “Smart move, at least in the short term,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[13] Tony La Russa (2012), One Last Strike, Kindle Android Version, Page 122.

[14] Joe Strauss, “Rasmus Saga Ends,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

[15] Bernie Miklasz, “Smart move, at least in the short term,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 28, 2011.

The post How the Colby Rasmus trade helped the Cardinals win the World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.