Cards pound Brewers, earn trip to World Series
St. Louis hits three home runs to oust Milwaukee 12-6 in Game 6 of NLCS
St. Louis’ David Freese celebrates after hitting a 3-run home run in the first inning of Game 6 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers.
updated 11:58 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2011
MILWAUKEE – An afterthought in early September, the St. Louis Cardinals are taking their wild ride all the way to the World Series.
David Freese hit a three-run homer in the first and manager Tony La Russa turned again to his brilliant bullpen for seven sturdy innings as St. Louis captured its 18th pennant with a 12-6 victory over the bumbling Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday night.
Albert Pujols and the wild-card Cardinals took out the heavily favored Phillies in the first round, then dispatched the division-rival Brewers on their own turf in Game 6 of the NL championship series.
Looking for its second title in six seasons, St. Louis opens the World Series at home Wednesday night with ace Chris Carpenter on the mound against the AL champion Texas Rangers.
Trailing by 10 1/2 games in the wild-card race on Aug. 25, the Cardinals surged down the stretch and took advantage of a monumental collapse by Atlanta to win a playoff spot on the final night of the regular season.
Now, bolstered by a group of no-name relievers who keep answering La Russa’s call, the Cardinals are back in the World Series for the first time since beating Detroit in 2006.
It was a disappointing end to a scintillating season for Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and the NL Central champion Brewers, who completed with a franchise-record 96 wins, six games ahead of St. Louis.
Baseball’s ideal home team collapsed in the NLCS, though, losing twice at Miller Park in an error-filled flop. It was likely Fielder’s final game with the Brewers, too. He’s a free agent after the season.
Rafael Furcal and Pujols hit solo homers off Chris Narveson and St. Louis built a 9-4 lead by the time the bullpen took over for Edwin Jackson in the third inning.
The group of Fernando Salas, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, Lance Lynn and Jason Motte granted two runs the rest of the way. For the series, St. Louis relievers completed 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA over 28 2-3 innings.
The biggest scare came when Pujols appeared shaken up after tagging out Braun in the fifth inning when he fell hard on his right forearm on a close play at first base. The three-time MVP was slow to get up, but stayed in the game.
© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
More newsRed October: Cards in World Series
David Freese hit a three-run homer in the first inning as St. Louis roughed up Milwaukee 12-6 in Game 6 of the NLCS on Sunday night, a win that gave the Cardinals their 18th pennant.
Ronald Martinez
source : nbcsports.msnbc.com
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