Cards Shock Everyone With Five Game Win Over Tigers
October 27, 2006
They were the team least likely of the eight that reached the postseason to win it all.
They won just 83 games and came within one loss of completing the most shocking collapse for a division winner in the history of the sport.
They are the St. Louis Cardinals.
And they are the 2006 World Series champions.
Jeff Weaver capped his strong postseason with eight innings of two-run ball and series MVP David Eckstein contributed two hits and two more RBI as the Cardinals completed a stunning upset of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-2 victory to claim the franchise’s first championship in 24 years.
Sean Casey homered and had three hits for the second straight evening but it wasn’t enough to stop St. Louis from claiming the 10th World Series title in club history.
Justin Verlander took the loss for Detroit, allowing three runs (one earned) over six innings despite walking three and tossing two wild pitches in a 35-pitch first inning.
The 23-year-old fell behind 1-0 in the second when Brandon Inge threw wildly to first after making a nice stop on Eckstein’s grounder down the third baseline.
Yadier Molina scored easily after leading off the inning with a single and moving to third on a sacrifice and groundout.
The Tigers would answer off Weaver in the fourth when Casey (3-for-4, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI) launched his second home run of the series following an error on left fielder Chris Duncan which allowed Magglio Ordonez to reach safely.
Like they have done all postseason, the Cardinals responded quickly.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Molina (3-for-4) and Taguchi reached on consecutive singles before Detroit’s fielding betrayed them yet again.
After fouling off a bunt attempt, Weaver grounded a ball back to Verlander who threw wildly to third – the fifth straight game a Tigers’ pitcher committed an error – allowing Molina to tie the game and Taguchi to move to third.
Eckstein (2-for-4, 2 RBI) brought in the eventual winning run with a run-scoring groundout.
Verlander (0-2) didn’t help himself out with his second error of the postseason, but certainly deserved a better fate after rebounding from his rough first inning.
Weaver (1-1) would have none of it, however, as the ex-Tiger allowed just four hits – one after the fourth inning – and one walk with nine strikeouts in eight innings of work.
Scott Rolen’s two-out RBI single off Fernando Rodney in the seventh made the score 4-2, giving the Cardinals and the 46,638 in attendance another reason to believe this would be the night.
Adam Wainwright allowed a one-out double to Casey and a two-out walk to Placido Polanco in the ninth before striking out Inge to end the 2006 season, making the Cardinals the worst team record-wise (83-79) to win a World Series.
Casey led all hitters in the Fall Classic with a .529 average (9-for-17), two homers (tied with teammate Craig Monroe) and five RBI.
Polanco, the ALCS MVP, went 0-for-17 with just one walk in the five games.
Eckstein earned MVP honors by hitting .364 (8-for-22) with three doubles and four RBI.
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