Lots of good examples there. One I’d like to add was my last game at Busch II as a resident of St. Louis - Bat Night on May 29, 1971. Bob Gibson vs. Jim Nash. Gibby gave up 5 runs in 3 innings (among the runs was Darrell Evans’ first major-league homer) and got hurt batting/running in the bottom of the 3rd (Gibby refers to this game in his second autobiography when he complains that the Cards put him on the DL when they didn’t need to).

The Cards chipped away at that 5-0 lead, though, and by the end of the 8th, had tied the game up.

The Braves, though, scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th and the game looked like it was over. Not so - with 49,000+ fans pounding their bats onto the stadium concrete (mine was a Matty Alou model), Brock singled, Alou singled, and Simmons bunted - the pitcher bobbled the play and everyone was safe - and then Joe Torre (this was his MVP season) tripled to score all three runners and win the game.

Terrific game. I was 13 at the time and we left St. Louis a month or two later (my father was in the Army). I’ve only been back to St. Louis three times since then - 1978, 1982, and 1984 - ironically, all four games I attended on those three occasions were against the Cubs.

Another game that I attended, this one on the road, was Jose Jimenez’ no-hitter at Bank One Ballpark in 1999. I never thought I’d ever witness a no-hitter in person, and this was a tight ballgame besides as the Cards didn’t score their run off Randy Johnson until the 8th or 9th inning.

Finally, I didn’t see this one on the list (I might have missed it) but how about the game against the Cubs the night Ozzie Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002 - a 6-run, bottom-of-the-9th rally capped by Edgar Renteria’s 3-run homer and Jon Miller’s tribute to Jack Buck as he made the call: “Go Crazy Folks!”

Nice job by Pineiro. I’m amazed at how well every pitcher that has thrown for Papa Dunc always has bought in to his system. Before the Cards aquired Pineiro he relied on his fastball and tried to blow guys away. Now he has bought into “Pitching to contact” and ” Trusting you defense”. He had good command yesterday, and used both sides of the plate very well. Nice outing by Joel.

The collision at home was just a bad baserunning mistake. I agree that surprisingly Dunc does run very well, but J.D. Drew has one of the stronger arms in the AL. Just don’t understand why you’d send the runner.

TLR has done a great job in this series, but was it the right time to put CPR in? CPR had never entered a game were he had inherited a runner, couple that with the fact that the game was in historical Fenway Park. Shouldn’t TLR have sent a veteran like Springer out. I also didn’t quite figure out the home plate ump during the course of the game. He was never really consistent with the outside strike. I felt that CPR got the raw end of a couple of outside pitches that probably were stikes.

Does anyone really think that Mudler is going to be effective anymore in the big leagues?

Bigt,

Yes. I actually think that Mulder has a chance to return this season and be succesful. He has climbed every obstacle to get here and he might be starting at some point in the next few days. His velocity is around 89- 91 MPH. When the lineup comes around a second time and the hitters have seen what Mulder has then that will be a real challenge. He will then have to efectivly dominant both sides of the plate and try and keep the hitters of balance. Yadi is one of the best catchers in the game at keeping his pitchers in check mentally and Duncan handles pitchers from a mechanical stand point better than anyone to ever coach pitchers.

i don’t remember the specifics, but in 1996, the first year the cards had been playoff-bound in a long time (and the first time for me as a fan), they played a classic game on labor day, and the two stars were the ancient and beloved ozzie smith and willie mcgee. it was a dose of the 80’s heroes that sparked the victory (over the pirates??), and the momentum from that game carried the team right into the division championship.

Bernie, great post. The entire 2004 NLCS should be made into a multi-dvd set with interview and commentary. Both lineups were solid top to bottom, clutch plays and hits, great defensive plays and all around fundamental baseball. I’ll never forget it, but I sure wish MLB would do something with that series….

Bernie? You want the blog further up the street. Can’t miss it.

Without a doubt the 6/12/03 game against the Red Sox is in the Top 3 or 4 that I’ve ever seen. Whenever “great games” come up, this is the first one I mention. My wife and I were sitting right behind the Cardinals dugout. The up and down drama of that day compares favorably to Sunday’s game, better in my opinion because there wasn’t the sloppy play involed. What I remember most about that game is Garciaparra’s 9th inning blast - everyone thought it was gone, Cards fans exhaled when it hit the wall, but grew nervous immediately again when it looked like he might circle the bases for the winning run. Sox fans were going crazy as he rounded third to check on the relay throw.

Think about it….

- Cards up 3-0 going into Bottom of the 9th.
- Varitek homers with one on to bring them to 3-2.
- Someone gets on, Garciaparra cranks one off the centerfield wall and could have possibly made it home to end the game as the ball caromed into left field. There are less than two outs though, so we intentially walk the bases loaded and somehow Kline gets out of the inning.
- JD Drew hits pinch hit 2-run homer in 10th that has Cardinals fans thinking it’s over.
- Sox come back and score two in the 10th with the winning run, again, left at 3rd.
- After Pujols is intentially walked even though he was 0-5 to that point, Jimmy Ballgame jacks his 2nd of the game, a 3-run shot, in the 13th. We again think it’s over.
- Sox come back AGAIN and score two in the bottom of the 13th before Esteban Freaking Yan walks the tying run. LaRussa elects to intentionally walk the potential winning run (Varitek) and with a miracle, Yan gets Damon to pop out to end the game.
- Pujols goes 0-5; don’t see that often (I was looking at my pictures from that game - the dude was THIN. If he got back to that weight, he wouldn’t have to worry about hammies and calves).
- Grady Little calls it one of the most bizarre games ever.
- Rubber game of the first Cards/Red Sox series since ‘67 Series.
- Renteria goes 5 for 6.
- Izzy’s first appearance of 2003 after shoulder surgery.

Here’s the link…and thanks for the memories!
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=230612102&loc=interstitialskip

I’ve got a decent pic of Edmonds reaching the dugout after his 13th inning homer too…I’m no more than 10 rows behind the dugout.

And I can echo what others were saying about the abundance of Cards fans there. I was sitting right next to three guys from SLU that I had some classes with. We drank throughout the game, celebrated the victory and they ended up driving my wife and I to Manhattan right to our hotel the next morning free of charge which saved us train fare and a cab ride and I too got to see Clemens’ 300th win and 4000th K (Renteria). What a game, what a trip!

PHI N 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 - 4 8 0
STL N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 - 5 10 0
August 6, 1989. Busch Stadium. A Sunday. Pendleton homers in bottom of 9th to tie game in what had been lackluster offensive day. Phillies score 3 in 10th. Cards come back, score 3 and then with 2 out and bases loaded Whitey pinch hits Joe Magrane! The stadium is rocking and the pitcher can’t get one near the plate. Magrane walks on 4 pitches. Cards Win. Amazing game.

In 2007 the Cards were up by 10.5 games at the All Star break. The first week in September they were in New York on Friday night and the lead over the Mets was 1.5 games. It was the 9th inning and the Cards were down 4-1. The sign guy had a sign saying “make it a half”. I can’t remember all the details but I think there were 2 outs a man on second - someone singled him in, maybe McGee. The next batter was Terry Pendleton. He hit a home run to dead center to tie the game at 4. I jumped off the couch and yelled when he hit it. In the 10 Herr had a two run single and the Cards won 6-4. The next day the Cards rolled over them 8-0. That was the turning point.