It’s Not in Cards for the Braves on St. Louis’ Night

The St. Louis Cardinals ran onto the field Sunday night and mobbed reliever Dennis Eckersley. Fans in the frenzied sellout crowd stood and screamed until their voices hurt, then went to their cars and honked their horns for hours outside Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals, in one of the most improbable, dramatic comebacks in the proud history of their franchise, pulled out a 4-3 victory Sunday night over the Atlanta Braves to bring them within one game of the World Series.

“This is the greatest win I’ve been part of,” Eckersley said. “It’s just unbelievable. To come back like this, against the Braves, is surreal.

“I think this whole team is in shock.”

The most difficult aspect for the Cardinals may simply be reminding themselves they still have to win one more game before advancing to face the New York Yankees in the World Series. They lead this best-of-seven series three games to one, and can clinch their first National League pennant since 1987 tonight.

“We’ve still got one more, we’ve still got one more to go,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “Let’s not forget that now.”

They listened, but no one bothered to pay attention. Not this night. Not on a night when they were completely dominated by the Braves for 6 2/3 innings, had only one hit off starter Denny Neagle, trailed 3-0, and looked like a team about to go down for the count.

Who would ever imagine they would come back and win their biggest game in nine years with the heroes being an overweight rookie named Dmitri Young, who was suspended from baseball a year ago, and a football player named Brian Jordan, whose 2-year-old son got faint from the excitement?

Young hit a two-out, two-run triple in the seventh inning for his first major-league extra-base hit. Royce Clayton tied the game with an infield single. And Jordan, the former Atlanta Falcon strong safety, hit a one-out homer into the Cardinals’ bullpen in the eighth inning for the victory.

“When things like that happen,” La Russa said, “you start to think maybe it’s your year.”

The Braves are starting to have that sickening feeling the Cardinals could be right. When you have a 3-0 lead in the seventh, two outs and nobody on base, and your starter yielding only one hit, and come away with a loss. . . .

“It’s frustrating and it [tees] you off really when you give them the damn ball game,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said. “We can not throw away games like that.

“We still feel very confident that we can reel off three in a row, but it just [tees] you off that we couldn’t get tonight’s game.”

It was a comeback that came out of nowhere and could be forever etched in Cardinal folklore. They looked finished. They entered the seventh inning with only one hit. Neagle had retired 11 consecutive batters. There were no hints of anything unusual about to transpire.

John Mabry, the No. 6 batter in the Cardinal lineup, hit a sharp two-out single to right field. Tom Pagnozzi, who was batting .111 (two for 18) against Neagle in his career, drew a full-count walk.

Cox went to his bullpen and summoned right-hander Greg McMichael. With light-hitting Mike Gallego due up, La Russa scanned his bench. He considered outfielder Ray Lankford. He looked at Mark Sweeney and Danny Sheaffer. He decided to save Luis Alicea.

So he chose Young.

This is a 6-foot-2, 240-pound rookie from Camarillo, Calif., who was suspended for 20 games last season at double-A Arkansas for going into the stands with another teammate to take on six fans in a fight in Wichita, Kan. The teammate who joined him in the fight, Keith Jones, was released. They decided to hang onto Young.

“I knew I messed up but I couldn’t take it,” said Young, who turned 23 two days ago. “These guys were drunk and calling us all kinds of names. At first it was kind of funny. But when they dropped the N-bomb on me, that’s when I had to go at them.

“I was punching guys and knocking them alongside their heads and Keith took a bat into the stands. We messed them up pretty good.

“But I knew I was wrong. The Cardinals flew me up to see a psychologist to see if I had any screws loose. There weren’t any. Well, I had some screws, but they weren’t loose.”

Young, a switch-hitter who had only seven hits for the Cardinals since being called up in late August, walked slowly to the plate. He had never seen McMichael before. He decided to take the first pitch. Ball 1. He watched the next pitch. Ball 2. He took a called strike on the third pitch.

“I wasn’t nervous or anything,” Young said, “I just wanted to see what he got. There was no time for me to be nervous, or have my knees shaking, or be scared. It’s playoff time.”

McMichael came in with a fastball, and Young slammed it against the base of the fence in left-center. Mabry and Pagnozzi scored easily, and suddenly, the Braves’ lead was 3-2 with 56,764 screaming in disbelief.

“That was the biggest at-bat of my life,” Young said. “Nothing even comes close to it. Game 4 of a playoff game. You kidding me?”

McMichael, now appearing rattled, walked pinch-hitter Alicea on four pitches. That brought up Clayton. McMichael fooled Clayton and he hit a dribbler toward the third-base line. McMichael picked it up, fired to first, but it was too late. Clayton was safe and Young scored, tying the score, 3-3.

The Braves ended the inning but could do nothing to stop the momentum in the bottom of the eighth. Ron Gant led off and just missed hitting a home run. Jordan was up next and didn’t miss. He slammed a 2-and-1 pitch over the left-field fence for a 4-3 lead. Jordan threw his fist into the air, crossed home plate, and was lifted high into the air by Gant.

Minutes later, Jordan learned that his son, Bryson, had collapsed in the team’s family room. Bryson was rushed to a local hospital and was pronounced OK.

“The kid probably got too excited watching dad hitting the big one,” Cardinal pitcher Donovan Osborne said.

The Braves made one last-gasp effort in the ninth. Jermaine Dye hit a leadoff double against Eckersley. Cox summoned pinch-hitter Luis Polonia. Eckersley fully anticipated a bunt, but Polonia was permitted to swing away. He popped up to second baseman Alicea. Terry Pendleton struck out. And Marquis Grissom struck out.