RMJ 157 July 22

TUESDAY, JULY 22 ● St. Louis, vs Cardinals

There is only one word for downtown St Louis: boring.  Pittsburgh is the same way. So is Houston, for that matter.

We are hoping that our new ballpark will breathe life into downtown Houston, as it has in Baltimore, Cleveland, and Denver.

Busch Stadium in St. Louis was the first of the new downtown stadia. It was completed in 1966. As a ballpark, it leaves a lot to be desired. It was designed as a multipurpose stadium: bowl-shaped, with arches around the rim of the upper deck, mimicking the one enduring symbol of this city, the Gateway Arch.

Over the years, the Cardinals have switched from natural grass to AstroTurf and back again — just like the Giants.

When the football Cardinals departed for Arizona, there was only one purpose for this bowl: Cardinals baseball. The Rams’ recent move to this city was predicated on a brand-new football-only dome. Now the Cardinals are stuck with a ballpark that is as about as stylish as a leisure suit.

When I look at old photographs, it strikes me that the fashions of the ’50s and early ’60s have stood the test of time, but the clothing we wore in the late ’60s and early ’70s is embarrassing. The Astros’ rainbow parfait uniforms and the Braves’ softball-style suits are examples of this era.

But I have to hand it to the Cardinals: they fell for the stadium fad, and they went to doubleknit uniforms. But they didn’t change the design of their traditional uniforms very much.

When this version of Busch Stadium was built – Sportsman’s Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953 —  the Cardinals were enjoying a glorious decade. They won two pennants and attracted new fans throughout the Midwest. From those days until these, the Redbirds have been popular. Their attendance attests to the fact that a small-market team can still operate in a big-market world.

When I started coming here, the team stayed in the Chase Park Plaza hotel, about six or seven miles west of downtown. I still recall coming downtown one day to visit a shoe store that was offering deep discounts to ballplayers. Downtown St. Louis was almost scary back then. The buildings were dirty and dilapidated. Everywhere I looked, I saw images of poverty and urban squalor.

The Cardinals moved out of Sportsman’s Park to escape a decaying neighborhood. Downtown wasn’t much better.

With the success of the team and the growing attendance, a downtown revival began. The Gateway Arch was erected. As far as I know, it is the most ambitious example of public architecture this side of the Eiffel Tower. Laclede’s Landing — a strip of old warehouses along the river just north of the Arch — came alive with nightclubs and restaurants. Several hotels sprang up. A few years later, a downtown shopping mall, St. Louis Center, was built.

From the early Seventies until this day, the Astros have stayed in a downtown hotel, and I have witnessed the ascent and decline of the city, year by year. Until about five years ago, the change was all for the better.

These days, almost half of the retail space in the mall is vacant. There are fewer people on the streets. The unsavory element has returned. And despite the new football stadium and convention center, the downtown area looks like a garden under fungus attack.

The Cardinals have a large and loyal following, built on a foundation of victorious teams and good customer service. They have modified the stadium to look like a ballpark, and they keep it squeaky clean. But the catalytic effect of Busch Stadium on downtown St. Louis has run its course.

My guess is that the Redbirds will continue their winning tradition, but the downtown area will once again reflect the lassitude of the muddy Mississippi River that defines its eastern border.

This year, they were expected to repeat as Central Division champions. And they may pull it off. But for the most part, the Redbirds have been disappointing — and that has given us an opportunity to stage a coup and capture the throne.

 

The calls from radio stations continued today. Hard as they try, the reporters have not been able to get Tony La Russa or me to say that this is a critical series.  It just isn’t. Still, it would be nice to win at least one of these two games to keep them at arm’s length.

In most cities, I like to walk around during the day and kill a little time watching people and shopping.  But it isn’t much fun to stroll the streets of St. Louis in suffocating heat. Consequently, I arrived at the ballpark at 1:30 — my earliest arrival time of the year.

By 2:30, I had La Russa’s lineup. I guess he is bored with St. Louis too.

The amazing thing about it is, I still didn’t have much time to myself. I wanted to finish my player evaluations today, but before the players arrived, (and they came out early, too) the press put “the press” on me. I barely finished looking at scouting reports and matchup numbers when the barrage of notepads and cameras converged upon me.

One writer brought me a cigar, because he remembered me smoking one after a game in our first series here. That was a nice touch.

I did manage to get through my interviews with Bagwell and Gutierrez. There wasn’t much to say to Jeff except “nice going.”

Ricky’s situation is different; he was hoping the shortstop job would fall in his lap after Listach was released. But he was a little slow at first, and Bogar took the job and ran with it.

Ricky is a good player, but he’s not a good shortstop yet. I still have hopes that he will improve in the field, because he is a pretty good hitter. Tonight I am playing him at third base, because he is a better fielder than Sean Berry.

I know I have to try to get Berry going, because he is capable of swinging a good RBI bat. But it is hard for me to pencil him into the lineup, because all five of our starting pitchers throw a lot of ground balls. If Sean were hitting like he did last year, I would sacrifice the defense for the offense. But he is not swinging all that well, so I find myself playing Ricky and Billy Spiers for their fielding prowess.

 

In the conference at home plate before the game, I asked the umpires for an explanation of something that happened the night before. It was a situation where the Giants batted out of order — sort of.

La Russa called them on it the second time around, after Stan Javier reached base on an error. Javier’s name was not on the lineup card that the Giants handed to the umps before the game. Instead, Bill Mueller’s name appeared twice. Giants coach Carlos Alfonso copied it down that way by mistake.

The first time up, Javier and Mueller made outs. When Javier reached base the second time up, La Russa called them on it, thinking the proper hitter, Mueller, would be called out and that Javier would have to return to the dugout.

Umpire Jerry Layne told him that because the Giants had already batted around, the lineup was set. Javier was, in effect, an unannounced replacement for Mueller.

I read the rule, which is complex enough to be part of an LSAT question. I concluded that this type of mistake was not covered in the rule.

My logic told me that because the Giants only have one player named Mueller, and since Javier replaced Mueller, Mueller would have to come out of the game. Tony was trying to get a clarification, and so was I. Stadium music was blaring in the background, and I couldn’t hear everything that was said.

I still don’t think this type of error is covered, but I now know that if the other team presents a faulty lineup, I need to call them on it the first time around. I also need to check and double-check our lineup, so that we are not embarrassed by this type of clerical error.

The batting-out-of-order rule is so complicated that a player who is already on base can be the “proper” batter. If this situation occurred, the last person I would want to be is the umpire.

I have seen three or four examples of this during my career. Each time, the umpires seemed as perplexed as the managers.

 

It looked like a long night for us when Mike Hampton walked the first batter and then gave up three consecutive singles. We were down 2-0 with two men on base and no outs. Hamp got lucky when Gary Gaetti lined into a double play. After that, it was all Astros.

Andy Benes held us hitless through four innings. Luis Gonzalez reached on an error by Dimitri Young to lead off the fifth. It was an easy play, and Benes was visibly upset. Derek Bell followed with a home run, and we were tied. Ricky hit the next pitch into right for a single.

We tried a hit-and-run with Brad at the plate. He swung at a slider in the dirt, and he may have distracted Cardinals catcher Mike DiFelice. The ball got by, and Ricky went all the way to third. Benes pitched around Bogey and walked him. I put the steal sign on with Hampton batting; it worked perfectly.

At this point, the Cardinals brought the infield in. I was hoping Hamp could hit one over or through the infield, because if he failed, the Cardinals would probably walk Biggio and pitch to a slumping Chuck Carr.

I got my wish: Hampton singled to right, and we led 4-2.

After the seventh inning, Hamp said he was gassed. He had only thrown 96 pitches, but on a hot-and-humid night, that is a full load. Russ Springer came on and got them out in the eighth. Wagner closed the deal in the ninth, and we won 4-2 to stretch our lead over the Cardinals to 3-1/2 games.

I can’t remember the last time we have swept an entire road trip, but we have a chance to do that tomorrow, with Chris Holt on the mound.   

 

After the game I joined two of our writers for a little smooth jazz and red wine. Back at the hotel, I dove into Body and Soul, trying to stay awake as long as possible to shorten the next day — our last day in St. Louis.