St. Louis Takes Long Way

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants can’t blame the St. Louis Cardinals for beating them Saturday afternoon, 5-4, in Game 3 of the National League championship series. The Cardinals did all they could to give the Giants a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

They froze in the field as if they had gum stuck to their shoes.

They ran into each other.

They fielded poorly.

They surrendered a devastating home run to Barry Bonds.

Yet the Cardinals still managed to crawl away from the brink of elimination and, on three home runs -- by Jim Edmonds, Mike Matheny and Eli Marrero -- and a bullpen by committee, they eked out a win over the Giants in front of a deflated Pacific Bell Park sellout crowd of 42,177.

“We didn’t play very well,” said Steve Kline, a relieved St. Louis reliever. “We didn’t even look as good as the Bad News Bears.”

Of course it helped that the Giants played some sloppy ball of their own and stranded 11 men on base.

“No way could we be down, 3-0, in this series,” said Kline.

In the first inning, it seemed inevitable with the opportunities San Francisco was getting.

Opportunity No. 1: Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria made an error on a routine ground ball by Giant leadoff man Kenny Lofton. Then, with two out, St. Louis second baseman Fernando Vina failed to cover second on another routine ground ball to Renteria, allowing the Giants to load the bases.

But the Giants failed to score.

Opportunity No. 2: In the second inning, with two Giants aboard, St. Louis starter Chuck Finley stood on the mound, staring at a bunt laid down by opposing pitcher Russ Ortiz.

That forced first baseman Tino Martinez to come over to the third-base side to field the ball, but he was too late to get anybody.

“I saw Tino cut across and I thought he was going to third with the throw,” Finley said, “so I stood out of the way, but that was my ball.”

The Giants got one run across on a sacrifice fly by Rich Aurilia, but again left the bases loaded.

San Francisco had gotten men aboard on four hits, a walk, an error and a fielder’s choice, but scored only once, leaving six men stranded.

“We just couldn’t get that big hit today,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said.

In the third inning, it was the Giants who were charitable.

Finley struck out, but reached base when Ortiz’s pitch got away from catcher Benito Santiago for a wild pitch. Vina, desperate to make up for his mental error, hit a long fly to center that glanced off Lofton’s glove. It was generously ruled a double.

The Cardinals didn’t care what it was called. They called it an opportunity and cashed in when Finley scored on Renteria’s sacrifice fly, and they scored a second time on a groundout by Edmonds.

Matheny’s one-out homer to left in the fourth inning and Edmonds’ one-out homer to left in the fifth gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

But no lead against the Giants is safe if a pitcher elects to challenge Bonds, the single-season home run king.

Finley figured he didn’t have much choice when Bonds came to bat in the bottom of the fifth with none out and runners at first and second.

On a 1-0 count, Finley threw Bonds a fastball.

“It wasn’t even a strike,” Finley said. “It was a pitch that I figured the best he could do was pull it foul.”

Wrong.

Bonds hit it straight and long into a blue, cloudless San Francisco sky. St. Louis right fielder J.D. Drew didn’t bother to run.

The man who finally got his hands on the ball was wearing a blue windbreaker, sitting in a yellow kayak in McCovey Cove with a fishing net.

Score tied at 4.

It could have been the ultimate letdown for the Cardinals, but they didn’t have long to agonize.

Marrero led off the sixth with a home run off Jay Witasick into the left-field bleachers.

How Marrero felt about that is hard to say because he doesn’t talk to reporters. But there is no doubt what it meant to his teammates.

Dave Veres, Kline, Rick White and Jason Isringhausen came out of the bullpen to hold the Giants scoreless the rest of the way.

Finley got the win and Witasick the loss.

Bad start but a good ending for those Bad News Bears.