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Getty ImagesHe’s helped the Cardinals get to that position seven times in these 11 years — seven trips to the playoffs. And he has walked a mile or two in Detroit’s shoes. The Cardinals won those 105 games in 2004, and beat Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the NLCS to get to the World Series.
But they never showed their true colors in that Fall Classic. They made fielding errors, base running blunders. They batted just .190 in the Series and pitched with a 6.09 earned-run average. They got swept in four games by the curse ridding Red Sox.
La Russa and his team had to watch Boston celebrate its first championship in 86 years in the last game played at Busch Stadium II.
La Russa deserved better. This was his fifth trip to the World Series. His only previous win, with Oakland in 1989, was interrupted by the massive earthquake in San Francisco. The A’s beat the Giants in four straight, but the Series seemed like an afterthought.
That Oakland team won 99 games. So what if this Cardinals team won only 83. “I think you can shove those 83 wins,” said Jones. “To win a World Series, you need pitching and timely hitting and they had both. I don’t care what they did in the regular season, that’s a good team.”
Teammate Kenny Rogers added: “I don’t think there is a player in this room who didn’t think that playing the St. Louis Cardinals was a formidable task.. I don’t care about the 83 wins, that is a talented club and you give them all the credit in the world.”
This time around, it was the Tigers who tripped all over themselves, and the Cardinals who did everything right. This time, it was La Russa’s good friend, Jim Leyland pulling his hair out, looking for answers and it was La Russa pulling all the right strings.
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But most of all, La Russa deserves this. He has won 4,286 games. He is the second manager in history to win a world championship in both leagues; the first was his mentor Sparky Anderson. He is ticketed for the Hall of Fame. No matter how many regular-season games the Cardinals won, you can’t deny their manager this moment.
“I just saw Bob Gibson,” La Russa said. “When you’re around here, especially if you’re around here for a while, I just don’t feel like you can join the club unless you can say you won a World Series. Now we can say this group can join the club.”
La Russa belongs there.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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