It's not a glamour matchup, but the Astros and Cards are excellent teams with lots of intensity.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published October 13, 2004
ST. LOUIS - Cardinals pitcher Steve Kline knows the way it was supposed to be; the way baseball's romantics wanted it.
The Yankees would play the Red Sox in the AL Championship Series. The Cardinals would play the Cubs in the NL. Two bitter rivalries with Boston and Chicago trying to snap epic World Series droughts.
The Yankees and Red Sox did their parts. But instead of the self-destructive Cubs, the Cardinals face the Astros tonight when the NLCS begins at Busch Stadium.
No blood feud, little history, no managers yelling at each other from the dugouts, all the stuff that makes a Cardinals-Cubs series great. Even the players admitted a Cardinals-Astros series just doesn't have the backstory to compete with New York-Boston.
"We'll probably get the day games if the Yankees and Red Sox play," Kline said Tuesday. "Everybody in the world wanted the Cubs to be here. We never really had a big rivalry with the Astros."
"It's hatred with those guys," said Astros pitcher Pete Munro, who grew up a Mets fan in Flushing, N.Y. "We've never really had that here."
What we have here, then, is simply the game, and two teams that have played it at astonishing levels.
The Cardinals ran away with the NL Central with 105 victories and could be the majors' best team. The Astros secured a wild-card spot with a 36-10 finish and 18 consecutive victories at home.
St. Louis shook off a 2-5 finish to dominate the Dodgers in the divisional playoff. Houston hit an NLDS record 11 home runs to beat the Braves and clinch its first playoff series victory.
And you can't swing a bat without hitting a great story.
Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols is one of the game's most feared hitters. Astros centerfielder Carlos Beltran lifted his team on his shoulders with four home runs against Atlanta.
Houston has the Killer B's of Beltran, Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman and Craig Biggio, and Roger Clemens never seems to get old. St. Louis has the Band of Sluggers that includes Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders. The team's nine World Series titles are second to the Yankees' 26, and it plays in front of some of the game's most knowledgeable fans.
But something is missing. The teams have never faced off in the playoffs and St. Louis has a comfortable 31-game edge in the all-time series. And you can't ignore the 1,000-pound elephant in the room. Listen to how the NLCS is playing in the northeast.
"This is like the B series," said Mark Herrmann, who writes for New York's Newsday. "It's like the vice presidential debate. For our readers this is the other series, a distant other."
Boston Herald sportswriter Michael Gee said the NLCS is being "completely ignored" in Boston. "My God, you've got an NFL team (the Patriots) that won 19 games in a row that is being totally ignored."
The players said they are not bothered.
"Look, we all know that's a big series and a big rivalry," Cardinals rightfielder Larry Walker said of the ALCS. "But they're only going to be half of a World Series. Hopefully we can face one of them and have our own war."
"From a media standpoint, (the NLCS) probably is secondary," Astros rightfielder Lance Berkman said. "But it's primary for us. I couldn't care less who wins that Yankees-Red Sox series. It's a nice storyline and a lot is made of it in the media, and they're fun games to watch. But from a personal standpoint, all I care about is this series."
But what's the hook?
"Astros, Cardinals," Bagwell said. "If you've been an Astros or Cardinals fan, you know about each other. Anytime the Cards come to Houston, it's a sold-out crowd, and it's a special place for baseball here in St. Louis. I don't know what the hook is. All I know is you're going to have two teams that are going to battle the hell out of each other."
Said Kline: "We probably could find some hatred here somehow."
