In the course of this remarkable 2005 Cardinal season, we’ve seen
Redbirds injured and on the DL, Redbirds injured and playing hurt, and Redbirds
seemingly standing in line waiting to get hurt. Without knowing how the National League
Manager of the Year voting will turn out, how Tony La Russa was able to cobble
together line-ups day after day sans Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, Reggie Sanders,
and other key players and still win 100 games was beyond me until yesterday.
When Cards starting pitcher Mark Mulder took a Joe Randa line drive off
the bicep of his pitching arm in the second inning, my first thought was a
resigned “Here we go again.” That
Mulder stayed in the game, gutted out the pain, and turned in a terrific effort
is an absolute testament to the toughness, fortitude, and courage of the 2005
Cardinals. For all his ups and
downs during the season, his performance Thursday has earned for him my undying
respect and admiration. Mark Mulder
is one tough dude.
Mulder, you’ll, recall, was obtained in the '04-'05
off-season in an expensive trade that saw the departure of young phenom Dan Haren, reliever Kiko Calero (I know, I like to pronounce his name, too), and
minor league batting whizkid Daric Barton. Mulder was to be the missing link in
the starting rotation, the heavy lifter who would muscle up and become that
crucial lefty starter to go alongside Chris Carpenter.
Although Mulder finished the regular season with an
excellent 16-8 record with a 3.64 ERA, he was erratic on occasion. He was never better than during a
workhorse, 10-inning complete game shut-out victory over Roger Clemons and the
Houston Astros in April.
Conversely, Mulder, like the rest of the Cardinals, muddled through September
with a 1-2 record, although his ERA was a respectable 3.77.
He entered the play-offs with some justifiable questions about his
consistency and certainly his ability to pitch and win in a day game. Incredibly, when Mulder pitched at night
during the regular season, he was 14-3 with an ERA of 2.26. When he pitched under the sun, he fell
to 2-5 and a 6.86 ERA. Not unlike
Count Dracula, perhaps Mulder SHOULD only come out at night.
Given the previous paragraph, you can just about guess the conditions
under which Mulder was asked to pitch in his first play-off game as a
Cardinal. Yep, a 3:00 start at
Busch Stadium. So, with all the
circumstances presented, one would have a reasonable expectation of a shaky
performance. One would be
wrong. Against the Padres, Mulder
was as solid as a rock. Not that
there weren’t moments. After he was
hit by the line drive and with one out, Mulder hit the first batter he
faced. He went 2-0 with the next
batter, regained his composure and struck him out on three pitches. The last batter, pitcher Pedro Astacio,
grounded back to Mulder, who tossed confidently over to first base and the inning
ended quietly.
Mulder would finish the game after 6.2 innings surrendering one earned
run before turning over the pitching reins to Julian Tavarez. Tavarez promptly got into trouble, but
Randy Flores, now the leading lefty reliever in place of Ray King, struck out
the troublesome Mark Sweeney with the bases loaded. Jason Isringhausen may have been shaky
in Game One, but he pitched a strong ninth to put the game in the
books.
No professional athlete should need motivation for appearances in
play-off games, but sometimes performances rise above the level of the ordinary
and inject an additional dose of adrenaline and excitement into a team. Mark Mulder’s remarkable comeback from a
potentially game-ending injury sent an important message to his teammates about
his hunger to win, and also an important message to the rest of the play-off
contenders. The St. Louis Cardinals are for real, they mean business, and
cannot and will not be taken lightly, and that, my friends, is the stuff of
champions.
Rex Duncan
rdunc221@yahoo.com
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