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One of baseball's axioms is that the length of its regular season (162 games that stretch over six months) generally results in the crowning of deserving divisional champions.
In other words, you can't trick an entire league for six months.
But in an odd twist, fans, players, and media with ties to a championship team often tend to look back at one particular game (out of 162), and sometimes even one particular play in one particular game, as being pivotal in that year's championship run.
Those kinds of memories, which can last for decades, generally bring smiles to the faces of all involved.
It doesn't seem right to attach great importance to one game out of 162, or one play from one game.
But it happens.
Glenn Brummer's steal of home late in the 1982 season vs. the Giants was one of those plays.
Of course, not all seasons culminate in championships.
And sometimes, specific recollections from less-than-successful seasons don't fade from memory, either...with some of those memories involving plays and/or players from other teams!
Perhaps the Cardinals' best team of the '70s was Red Schoendienst's 1974 squad.
The championship hopes of that club, which finished a game-and-a-half behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates, were dealt a serious blow when, in the Pirates' final series of the year, Chicago Cubs catcher Steve Swisher's passed ball led to a crucial Pittsburgh victory.
Some St. Louis baseball fans never forgave Swisher, despite the fact that he later wore a Cardinals' uniform.
As this is written, the Cardinals' 52-62 record leaves the defending NL Central champions in third place, eight-and-a-half games behind the first-place Houston Astros (and four-and-a-half games behind the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates).
For St. Louis, there are exactly 48 games remaining in the '97 season.
Barring a comeback that would rival the '64 Cardinals, it seems likely that Tony La Russa's 1997 Redbirds club will relinquish the NL Central crown.
With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, can an early-season 1997 Cardinals game be picked out that would typify the disappointing season to come?
A game that was particularly heartbreaking?
A game that was painfully frustrating?
This bureau believes that the Cardinals 1-0 loss to Atlanta on May 16, a game in which Alan Benes took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, was just that game.
On May 16, the Cardinals played the first game of a four-game series in Atlanta.
That Bobby Cox's Braves vanquished the Cardinals in the '96 NLCS only heightened Tony La Russa's interest in his team's first-ever visit to Ted Turner Field.
In mid-May, the time was right for La Russa's 1997 players to find out some things about themselves.
The team's overall record, prior the game on the 16th, was a modest 17-21.
In the month of May (again prior to May 16), the Redbirds were a vanilla 6-7.
But in the getaway game in Philadelphia (on May 14), the Cardinals scored more runs vs. the Phillies (twelve) than they had mustered in the previous four games combined.
So there was reason for optimism, and, with a day off (in Atlanta) on May 15, the Redbirds were rested as they took on the Braves.
Although there were denials from all Cardinals personnel, the fact the '96 Cardinals were similarly mediocre through May 15, 1996 (17-23 on that date)...at least provided some sort of evidence that the '97 team was capable of putting together a long winning streak.
La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan took advantage of open dates on May 12 and May 15 when they called on Alan Benes to oppose Braves' ace Greg Maddux in the May 16 series opener.
Benes, who had lost his previous start on May 10 (vs. the Mets, allowing six hits and one earned run in seven and one-third innings pitched), was arguably the Cardinals' best starting pitcher through the first six weeks of the season.
Alan Benes had allowed two or fewer runs in six of his eight previous starts, but his nondescript won-loss record (3-4) was an indicator of his teammates' meager run support: his teammates scored a total of ten runs scored in the five non-winning Benes starts.
That trend would continue in Alan Benes' start vs. the Braves on May 16.
On that day, Alan Benes picked up a no-decision despite--
*outpitching Maddux while stretching the strike zone in a manner reminiscent of Maddux
*throwing nine shutout innings
*not allowing a hit, and not allowing a runner to reach second base, until Michael Tucker's double with two outs in the ninth inning
*striking out eleven batters (at least one in every inning) while walking only three (one intentionally)
In other words, Alan Benes' nine-inning one-hit shutout effort vs. the defending National League champions wasn't good enough to win the game.
The Braves scored the game's lone run scoring in the bottom of the 13th inning.
Benes' no-decision resulted largely from the fact that Maddux, who was a last-minute replacement for a flu-stricken John Smoltz, shut out the Cardinals for the game's first eight innings.
But whereas Benes dominated the Braves' batters, Maddux survived on guile, stringing together eight scoreless innings despite allowing seven hits.
The game's middle innings were particularly frustrating to Tony La Russa, and to a Cardinal team that was trying to adjust to a lineup that lacked three integral parts from the previous year's team--Brian Jordan, Tom Pagnozzi, and Ozzie Smith.
That was because, in innings three through six, the Cardinals had runners in scoring position.
But each time, Maddux escaped without allowing a run.
Beginning in the ninth inning, six Atlanta relievers continued Maddux' fine work. Finally, Joe Borowski was credited with the victory when, with two outs in the thirteenth inning, Andruw Jones beat out an infield chopper to second base, scoring Michael Tucker.
La Russa's post-game remarks, to a lone reporter in the moments that followed the very tough loss, were pithy at best.
The Cardinals' manager literally spit out these words:
"We had our chances.
"If you pass up that many chances to win a close game...
"We had our chances...we should have found a way to score.
"We didn't.
"And it's a cruel way to lose."
A review of the tape-recorded conversation indicated that La Russa's statements punctuated 20 seconds of silence...and were followed by an additional 15 seconds of silence.
The pungent combination of anger and frustration was in the air...and the visiting manager's office suddenly became a rather unpleasant place to be.
So in a short period of time, La Russa's silence signaled his desire to end the interview.
But, with the benefit of hindsight, La Russa's silence served as a metaphor for two additional things, too.
First, his team's clutch hitters were silent that night, and silent for much of the 1997 season.
Second, his team's post-season chances were pretty much silent, as well.
And An Atlanta Post Script:
The Cardinals went on to lose the next three games of their May series in Atlanta, as the Braves completed their third successive regular season series sweep of the Cardinals.
Prior to the fourth game of the series (May 19), the team's position players gathered for a meeting with La Russa and hitting instructor George Hendrick. La Russa and Hendrick departed rather quickly, however, and the hitters themselves met for over an hour, during the time that the team had been scheduled to take batting practice.
The pre-game sight on the field was strange, as La Russa and some of his coaches took turns trying to swat batting practice pitches over the Turner Field fence.
And after that night's game (a 7-3 loss), it was impossible for working media not to notice the following words, written in red, on the whiteboard at the back entrance to the visitor's clubhouse: "F*** GEORGE HENDRICK".
The obscenity, and Hendrick's name, had been erased prior to the time the media passed the same board on their way out of the clubhouse.
Evidently, someone in that clubhouse didn't want that kind of laundry hung out on the line.
What couldn't be erased was the miserable performance of the team's offense--a performance that seems to worsen as the'97 season inches its way past the 110-game mark.
As this article goes to press (August 7), the Cardinals are closing out a two-game series in Atlanta.
The game scores?
4-3 and 3-0.
In favor of Atlanta.
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