Smith, St. Louis Turn It Around

Bud Smith threw his best pitch Saturday in the opposite direction of home plate.

With the St. Louis Cardinals leading by one run in the third inning, Smith gave up a leadoff double to Tony Womack and issued a one-out walk to Luis Gonzalez.

“I think Bud was getting a little vulnerable,” said his manager, Tony La Russa.

That’s when Smith got a sign from second baseman Fernando Vina, spun 180 degrees and fired a strike to the bag. Vina applied a quick tag on Womack and effectively squashed Arizona’s rally. The Diamondbacks never recovered, falling, 4-1, to St. Louis in Game 4 of the National League division series.

“Bud Smith is a tremendous athlete, so we were aware of that [play],” Diamondback Manager Bob Brenly said. “But it happened so quickly.”

That’s about the only thing that happened quickly Saturday. The game, scheduled for a 10:12 a.m. PDT start, didn’t begin until 1:48 because of steady rain at Busch Stadium.

Most of the announced crowd of 52,194 stuck around to watch their Cardinals force a do-or-die Game 5 today. Curt Schilling will oppose Matt Morris in a second battle of the titans in Phoenix.

“We weren’t ready to go home,” Smith said.

Smith, the 21-year-old rookie left-hander, spent the long rain delay in the clubhouse. While his teammates rooted for their favorite college football teams, Smith barely made a peep.

“I was worried that we weren’t going to wake him up in time,” La Russa said.

Smith, who had worked just three innings since Sept. 22, showed his rust. He walked two batters in the first inning before giving up a run-scoring single to Steve Finley.

“I had a lot of time to think about [the start],” Smith said. “And I was a little nervous until I got done with that first inning, 35 pitches later.”

After Jim Edmonds put the Cardinals ahead, 2-1, with an opposite-field home run, Smith saved himself by picking Womack off second base. Vina had called for the pickoff play one pitch earlier by flashing his open glove.

“All the credit goes to Vina,” Smith said. “He’s reading the runner. All I have to do is turn and throw it.

“That was the biggest play. It changed the pace of [the game].”

Said Vina: “You have to watch [Womack] because he’s such a great base-stealer. He was getting off [the base], so we kept an eye on him. Bud’s real quick with that throw. It worked out perfect.”

Vina also contributed with his bat. He singled and scored in the first and ripped a two-run homer in the third that hooked just inside the right-field foul pole.

Vina’s blast came off Albie Lopez, who turned in a sorry three-inning performance that featured four hits, three walks and zero strikeouts. One of Lopez’s mistakes was a 1-0 fastball that he tried to run in on Vina’s hands.

“When they throw inside, I like to attack it and hit line drives,” Vina said.

Smith, who pitched a no-hitter at San Diego on Sept. 3, stranded two baserunners in the third and two in the fourth. Though he was anything but dominant in his first postseason start, he persevered.

“I think he showed us why he got the [starting] assignment,” La Russa said. “This guy just has the ability to concentrate. [Pitching coach Dave] Duncan and I felt that around the fourth he was starting to lose it. But he got through it. That’s classic winning stuff.”

Dustin Hermanson relieved him to start the sixth and posted this economical line: three innings, no hits, no runs, no walks, no strikeouts. Steve Kline sealed the win, which came less than 24 hours after the Cardinals had blown a two-run lead in a 5-3 loss in Game 3.

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Teddy Greenstein is a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune.