A Penguin in the Orchard

Four Down

.. seven to go.

ESPN: Cardinals thrive on the details

ST. LOUIS — A wrecking ball will take Busch Stadium’s life at season’s end, but by the look and feel of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-3 win in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, don’t reach for a hard hat any time soon.

The Cardinals picked a good time to go on a four-game winning streak. Let’s hope they can extend that by a few games into the weekend.

What’s fun to watch about the Cardinals this year is that they’ve played every element of the game right. I’ve always been a fan of “small ball” (what longtime fan of the Cardinals, including Whitey Herzog’s “Runnin’ Redbirds” would be?), and the Cards have done the little things right all year. National League MVP candidate Albert Pujols can as easily drop a sac single into right field to advance a runner as drop a towering shot into the left field bleachers to clear the bases. David Eckstein, who’s physical stature lends visual meaning to the term “shorstop,” slaps singles, bunts runners over, stands in on the double-play, and runs like it’s the bottom of the ninth every time he’s on the base path. In his first full year behind the plate, Yadier Molina handles the pitching staff like a veteran and guns down more than 60% of attempted base-stealers. That pitching staff, in its entirety, missed less than five scheduled starts this year. The Cardinals turned the most double-plays in the National League this year, anchored by Eckstein and Mark Grudzielanek. Then, there’s this perennial vagabond come home to roost named Reggie Sanders: 12 RBI in the last four games. The Cardinals have shown an amazing grasp of the small details in a very, very complex game, and an uncanny ability to execute those details to perfection.

While there’s nothing quite like a line shot into the stands in an unexpected moment, baseball has always been at its best when the subtleties of the game take the fore. The short burst of adrenaline brought on by a home run is enjoyable, but unsustainable. In some way, the sheer size of a home run is almost counter to the natural rhythms of the game, providing only a brief blast of energy in a game that, for the most part, is played and won by collections of small events strung together well. The game is a beach, not a boulder.

That view might explain why my favorite play in baseball is the squeeze bunt. It’s a perfect example of painting a masterpiece by paying attention to all the tiny details. The Cardinals have been the masters of the squeeze this season (which, in my baseball purists’s mind, is both metaphor and explanation for their success). Sixteen times, the Cardinals have successfully executed this fundamental gem of baseball strategy and courage.

They played it to perfection last night. I think the case could be made that, psychologically, it was a turning point in the game. With one out, Chris Carpenter at the plate and Grudzielanek at third, the Astros knew the situation was perfect for the squeeze. They pitched out twice, hoping to catch Grudzielanek in a rundown between third and home. But the resulting 2-0 count meant that both Carpenter and Grudzielanek knew what pitch Carpenter would see next - a fastball someone near the zone. Without ever giving away his intentions, Grudzielanek burst toward home plate on the first movement of the pitcher Pettitte, a left-hander who faces first base in his delivery. By the time Carpenter laid down the perfect bunt in front of home plate, Grudzielanek was already two-thirds of the way home. Every fan, every Cardinal, every Astro could see the squeeze unfolding, and there was nothing they could do about it.

It’s the smallest of plays in baseball: the shortest possible hit coupled with the shortest sprint, intended to score a single run. Yet, it has a demoralizing effect on the opposition. To know what’s coming, to see it executed perfectly and to be unable to stop it - to watch that runner cross the plate - takes the steam out of even hardened veteran opponents. It’s the smallest of plays, a series of even smaller decisions and actions, and it can change a game psychologically more than a home run.

The Cardinals won a hundred games in the regular season by knowing and minding the details of the game. The occasional home run didn’t hurt, but over 162 games it didn’t define the season like the perfect execution of small fundamental baseball details. If they can maintain that focus and execute the details in seven more games, The Cardinals will earn a World Series ring.