Cardinals Picked On the Wrong Giant Guy

For some reason the St. Louis Cardinals felt the need to punish Kenny Lofton. That turned out to have all the impact of sending a kid to his room -- where he has a TV, PlayStation and a mini-fridge.

St. Louis pitcher Matt Morris hit Lofton with a pitch in the third inning. Lofton spent the rest of the game hitting back. He came through with three hits, the last of which drove in the winning run in the bottom of a ninth for the 2-1 victory that sent the San Francisco Giants to the World Series against the Angels.

This all dated to the first game, when Lofton struck a pose after hitting a home run off Morris in the Giants’ 9-6 victory. Reliever Mike Crudale threw at Lofton in his next at-bat, and when Lofton took exception both benches emptied.

The St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t let it go. They got caught up in this defend-the-honor of the game stuff. That’s what happens with a manager like Tony La Russa, who doesn’t always abide by the rulebook because he believes he should be the author of the next edition. La Russa set the tone for this when he couldn’t stop talking about Lofton the day after the original incident.

It’s as if they spent so much time swallowing their pride and trying to keep their egos in check by walking Barry Bonds every chance they got that they had to reassert themselves somehow.

So instead of getting over Lofton they carried him with them all the way to Game 5, their last gasp of the season. Morris, wanting his own payback, nailed Lofton when the Giants’ centerfielder led off the fourth inning. It was pretty obvious what was going on. Morris shook off Mike Matheny’s call for a fastball away, shook off the curveball and nodded on a fastball inside. Then he threw it way inside, drilling Lofton.

There was no score, Morris had a perfect game going and he creates a baserunner and increases his chances of facing Bonds just to prove a point?

Pointless.

Did someone forget to tell them the World Series was at stake here? Couldn’t payback wait until next year. All Morris’ pitch achieved was to motivate Lofton and the Giants.

He didn’t have a hit since that Game 1 home run and was two for 18 in the series at before the beaning.

“Sometimes they say, let a sleeping dog lie,” Lofton said.

The wide-awake Lofton finished three for four with a run and the game-winning RBI.

“What Kenny did tonight was phenomenal,” Bonds said. “They hit him on purpose. Everyone knew what happened. We told Kenny just keep his composure, stay focused, don’t allow that to affect you or take you out of your game. That’s a class act on Kenny’s part and he beat ‘em. And he deserves to beat ‘em.”

Lofton finally started barking like a leadoff hitter. He singled to start the sixth, then moved to second when Morris hit Rich Aurilia. They were one batter away from sending Bonds to the plate with a chance to swing the bat, but Jeff Kent snuffed the rally when he grounded to third baseman Miguel Cairo, who stepped on the bag to force Lofton, then threw across the diamond to get Kent at first. With first base open, Morris intentionally walked Bonds, then got Benito Santiago to ground out to third.

Lofton gave the Cardinals a break in the field when he mishandled a drive to right-center by Mike Matheny. It bounced off Lofton’s glove, but was ruled a hit, leading to St. Louis’ only run. Lofton got it back in the bottom of the eighth. His one-out single started a rally that resulted in a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Bonds that brought Lofton home and tied the score.

That brought on the real drama in the ninth. Morris had pitched a terrific game, but he allowed consecutive hits to David Bell and Shawon Dunston. La Russa pulled him out and sent in Steve Kline, the only pitcher in the majors with a dirtier hat than Eric Gagne. And Kline also has some nasty stuff.

Giant Manager Dusty Baker thought about pinch-hitting for Lofton. Then he told himself, “No, don’t be crazy, let Kenny win this game.”

Said Lofton: “I just told myself, swing at a good pitch.”

He liked the first pitch he saw, a slider that he sent to right field as Bell raced home with the winning run.

On to Anaheim.

Yes, Anaheim. Orange County. The 714 area code. Giant fans are going to need a quick reminder. Some started chanting “Beat L.A.” No matter how many fans north of the border have hopped on the bandwagon, Anaheim represents L.A. as much as Oakland represents San Francisco. San Franciscans, please think about that as you eat your clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl at the ballpark.

Either way, California will be a winner. That makes two in-state championship series this year (We all know Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings was the real NBA Finals.)

The travel plans are finalized because Lofton, who was acquired by the Giants in a July trade, finally came through.

“People said I was oh-for-whatever, but I was swinging the bat,” Lofton said. “You can’t make the ball fall for a hit. Just hit it hard. That’s what I was doing, but it just didn’t fall. In the end, they’re going to pay off. And it did.”

He hit .267 and stole seven bases after he arrived, but the Giants kept waiting for him to do his thing in the playoffs.

Lofton, who was with the Cleveland Indians when they lost to the Atlanta Braves in 1995, is one of only five Giants to have played in the World Series. Said Baker: “I just knew Kenny was focused and you can’t keep Kenny down too long.”

He did, even if he picked up a bruise along the way.

“Oh well,” Lofton said. “It doesn’t hurt right now.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.