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PrintST. LOUIS — Standing on a folding chair in a raucous clubhouse, Albert Pujols sprayed champagne in every direction. Teammates, even owners, got soaked. No one was immune.
The tension from Chris Carpenter’s shaky beginning, the angst of the St. Louis Cardinals’ late-season swoon, all had evaporated. They’re going to the NL championship series for the third straight season.
“From Day 1, I kept saying this team’s got what it takes to get to the World Series,” Scott Spiezio said. “We’re a step closer.”
Carpenter recovered from a bad first inning to gain his second victory of the series, Juan Encarnacion hit a tiebreaking triple and the Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 Sunday night to win their best-of-five first-round NL playoff, 3-1.
St. Louis nearly wasted a seven-game lead in the final two weeks of the regular season but rebounded against the Padres, a team the Cardinals swept in the first round in 2005.
Escaping trouble in each of the last two innings, the Cardinals sealed the win when Adam Wainwright got Dave Roberts on a groundout with two runners on base. Pujols stepped on the first-base bag for the final out to set off the first postseason celebration at the new Busch Stadium, which opened this year.
“I didn’t blame anybody who didn’t think we had a very good shot,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who improved to 20-5 in the division series. “I’m so pleased because it’s been such a rough year. We’ve popped champagne twice, and the goal is to pop it four times.”
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