ST. LOUIS — Welcome to the heart of baseball’s oldest rivalry and yet another October example of The Cardinal Way.
The Northeast has the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, but here in the Midwest it is all about the Cubs and Cardinals.
The Cardinals once again put on a postseason baseball clinic that would make Branch Rickey proud.
Veteran John Lackey was magnificent through 7 ¹/₃ innings and two Cardinals rookies, Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty, came up with huge home runs in the eighth as St. Louis came away with a 4-0 victory over the Cubs on Friday night at Busch Stadium in the opening game of the NLDS, the first ever postseason meeting between baseball’s oldest rivals.
Lackey did not give up a hit until a single to open the sixth. He surrendered only two singles.
“I love him, I call him O.G.,’’ Pham said of Lackey. “He has that relentless attitude out there. He’s an Original Gangster.’’
The Cardinals are originals, too.
After 123 years and 2,345 games between the rivals, the Cards want to show why they have been on top so often. Catcher Yadier Molina played with a bum left thumb, directing the Lackey Show. The Cardinals get it done.
Piscotty doubled and scored in the first in his first postseason at-bat to put pressure on the Cubs.
That’s what young Cardinals do.
Holy Bartman, Cubbies.
Pham blasted a pinch-hit bomb to left in the eighth off Jon Lester in his first postseason at-bat, and later in the inning, Piscotty crushed a two-run shot, off reliever Pedro Strop.
“It’s hard to talk about because it’s something I dreamed about as a little kid,’’ Pham said. “For us to be on this stage, helping out the team, it’s wonderful.’’
These home runs don’t just happen.
There is a plan.
During the game, Pham told Randal Grichuk he was going to sit on a Lester cutter, and that’s what he did. He credited a stint in the wild Winter Leagues in Venezuela to get him ready for the excitement of this postseason moment.
Take a deep breath, soak it all in, do damage.
“In the minor leagues we’re kind of groomed,’’ Piscotty said. “You know, to come up here and contribute right away. The expectations are high for us. So when we come here, we expect to help out the team. There is no secret about it. We prepare and we work really hard to put ourselves in this position.’’
That is a perfect description.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon grew up a Cardinals fan in Pennsylvania, so he knows all about The Cardinal Way — and Lackey.
“I could see from the beginning we were going to have a hard time with John Lackey based on his location and the kind of swings we were getting,’’ Maddon said, adding he thought it was a generous strike zone from umpire Phil Cuzzi. “I think we had to expand our zone offensively to try to cover some pitches that we normally don’t have to swing at in order to avoid strikeouts.’’
Lackey is here for one reason.
“Playoffs man, this is what you play for,’’ he said. “I’ve been playing a while, and this is pretty much the only reason I’m still going.’’
A month ago, Maddon was giving the Cardinals a hard time after a beanball battle between the two teams. Maddon declared the Cardinals a “vigilante squad.’’
The Cubs were going to stand up for themselves and Maddon would lead verbally, calling out the Cardinals.
It’s a whole new game now in October.
The Cardinals have won 11 World Series. The Cubs are coming after the Cardinals this season even though the Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and have just two World Series wins to their name.
The Cardinals are seeking their fifth pennant in 12 years. The Cubs are seeking their first pennant in 70 years.
The heart of the country has an October baseball rivalry.
To get where they want to go, the upstart Cubbies are going to have to find a way to beat The Cardinal Way.
