Rays/MLB

La Russa's challenge

The Cardinals enter the stage of the playoffs where they and manager Tony La Russa have struggled.

By EDUARDO A. ENCINA
Published October 11, 2006

NEW YORK - On the eve of another NLCS for Tony La Russa, the Cardinals manager stopped just short Tuesday of calling this roller-coaster season in St. Louis one of his most difficult. Still, he believes this team might have its best shot of breaking St. Louis' recent string of postseason heartaches.

His Cardinals backed into the postseason. On July 26, the Cardinals were 15 games over .500 and held a 4½-game lead over the Reds in the NL Central. From that point, St. Louis was 26-36, barely holding off the late-surging Astros to claim the division.

It was hardly a strong finish for a club that regularly plays well into October. However, La Russa said this season's team showed moxie that some of his past teams might not have.

As the Cards enter Game 1 of the NLCS tonight in New York, La Russa - a Tampa native - finds himself four wins away from his second World Series in three seasons.

"We've been real good and we've seen some periods where we have not been a good club," La Russa said Tuesday after his team's workout at Shea Stadium. "I think when we struggled, we did the right things. We never quit playing, we just kept trying to fix it. I think we're coming into the postseason and we've gotten by one series with a lot of character, and we know we've been tested in ways that have not been fun to go through, but we've gone through it."

La Russa's teams have averaged 93 wins this decade, making the playoffs six times in those seven years. This season's 83 wins were the fewest this decade.

Given the regular-season finish, St. Louis' four-game division series victory over San Diego came as a surprise, but not to the Cardinals.

"It was very frustrating," shortstop David Eckstein said. "We had an up-and-down season this year, but we've got a veteran-type club that understands how to go about playing the game. There were a lot of things that did not go right with us this year, but we were able to right the ship enough to get into the playoffs. Once you get there, anything can happen."

La Russa has a track record of success in the NL division series. The win over San Diego was his sixth out of seven, 20 wins in 25 games.

Still, this is the time when the Cardinals seem destined to sputter. They lost last year's NLCS to Houston in six games. La Russa enters his sixth NLCS 11-19, having lost four of the past five series.

His Cardinals lost the NLCS in 2000 to the Mets, a team they are just 2-4 against in 2006, including a three-game sweep of the Cards in late August. This time around, St. Louis has a healthy Eckstein and outfielder Jim Edmonds, as well as the confidence that comes from handily beating the Padres.

"I think we're playing a much different ballclub than the one we played toward the end of the season," Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca said. "They have a lot of playoff experience. They've been there before."

But what's to think this Cardinals postseason won't end like so many other recent ones, with unfulfilled hopes? La Russa believes that this team began to jell in tough times, and overcoming that adversity will help it as it plays the underdog role to the Mets.

"This club decided they weren't going to point fingers," he said. "You lose three or four games, 1-0 or 2-1, and you don't have pitchers walk in here and say, hey, we can't get any runs. Or you have games that are 10-9 and the hitters don't say you can't make any outs.

"You'd be surprised what happens when you're not pointing fingers and not trying to cover your butt by pointing at the other guy. You've got to start trusting each other and staying together. It's just human nature and common sense. Really, you've just got to be careful. Just treat your teammates like you would your family. Just be careful with them. It ain't all that tough."

Now comes the tough part.

[Last modified October 11, 2006, 01:42:22]