Aiming for a Busch-Whack

ST. LOUIS —  The St. Louis Cardinals returned to Busch Stadium on Tuesday afternoon like someone preparing for a blind date, unsure of who they were going to face or even at what time.

While Houston Astro Manager Phil Garner had yet to announce whether he would pitch Cooperstown-bound Roger Clemens or the Rochester-emancipated Pete Munro, the New York Yankees had yet to play the hard-charging Boston Red Sox in a game that would determine whether the Cardinals and Astros played this afternoon or this evening in Game 6 of the National League championship series.

Yet, for all the uncertainty surrounding the particulars of a game St. Louis had figured it might not need only 72 hours earlier, there was no question regarding what was at stake for the Cardinals.

A team that had piled up a major league-best 105 victories during the regular season and had made quick work of the Dodgers in a division series suddenly found itself one defeat removed from joining nearly every other team in more leisurely pursuits.

“If you lose,” said St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, his team trailing in the best-of-seven-series, three games to two, “you’re going to have to start over next year. We don’t want that to happen.”

Especially considering the way the Cardinals had defied their middle-of-the-pack expectations, moving into sole possession of first place in the NL Central on June 11 and surging to a 17 1/2 -game lead by Sept. 5 before finishing 13 games ahead of the Astros.

“Hopefully the season, the foundation we’ve built from the season, helps us through the next couple of games,” said pitcher Matt Morris, who will face Munro, the former Rochester Red Wing, this afternoon.

St. Louis appears in need of some assistance after being limited to one hit during its 3-0 defeat in Game 5, a loss that extended the Cardinals’ scoreless streak to 14 innings and dropped their batting average in the series to .226.

“I don’t think there are any switches to be flipped,” said third baseman Scott Rolen, whose .316 average is an anomaly in the St. Louis lineup. “We’ve just got to come out and have a solid offensive approach.”

The Cardinals dropped three consecutive games in Minute Maid Park after winning the first two in Busch Stadium, reaching a low point Monday when unheralded Brandon Backe silenced them for eight innings before closer Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth.

“We weren’t too high after our first two games, and we weren’t too low after our last three,” St. Louis right fielder Larry Walker said. “We know what’s at stake and what we have to do. Who’s on the mound for them isn’t going to dictate what we do or how we go about our business.”

The Cardinals took solace Tuesday in remembering that they had rebounded from Jose Lima’s five-hit shutout in Game 3 of the division series to pounce on the Dodgers in a 6-2 series-clinching victory in Game 4.

“That’s the way baseball is,” said Pujols, whose three-run homer against Dodger reliever Wilson Alvarez propelled the Cardinals into the second round. “You’re going to have some ups and downs. We’re going to be ready to play [today].”

The Astros can relate to the Cardinals’ dilemma, having had to finish 36-10 merely to clinch the wild-card berth on the last day of the regular season.

In a division series, Houston had to beat the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 on the road after failing to secure the series victory in Game 4.

“Every game has been important to us now for quite a while,” Garner said.

“There’s no difference in this game. Even though we might have a one-game lead in this series, it means nothing as far as we’re concerned. [Today] is still the most important game we’re ever going to play.”

The same could be said for the Cardinals, who are looking to build on their 4-0 postseason record in Busch Stadium while averting the inevitable question about the meaning of a 105-victory season that ends in defeat before the World Series.

“That’s a question that doesn’t have to be answered now,” Manager Tony La Russa said, “and I hope it doesn’t have to be answered later either.”