DOWNTOWN — Into the skillet of a ninth inning that, for the moment, defined the Cardinals’ playoff chances, rookie Chris Perez did more than save a game against rival Milwaukee or save a season for the contending Cardinals.

He dispensed with semantics.

He obliterated this ninth-inning correctness employed by the Cardinals.

Call him closer, even if nobody in uniform will.

“That stuff, the ‘closer’ — that’s for you guys to say,” the rookie righthander told the media after his scoreless ninth inning cemented the Cardinals’ 5-3, come-from-behind victory Wednesday at Busch Stadium. “I have no reason not to think that that’s what I’ll do (the ninth inning). My last six, seven, eight appearances have all been in the ninth inning. … That’s what I come here prepared for.

“I’ve said before, actions speak louder than words.”

Kid K is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities since his return to the majors, and a majority of them have been longer appearances than Wednesday’s, but not one of them tougher. Manager Tony La Russa said the only trickier situation Perez could have been called in to face was the same lineup with a one-run lead. La Russa then added that Perez would have had exactly that situation had the insurance run not scored. It’s as close to calling Perez the closer as La Russa has come.

The manager may not be ready to “anoint” Perez. But we joked in the press box that the white smoke steaming from the dugout last night wasn’t just from Troy Glaus.

Wednesday’s ninth inning was the kind of performance Perez was earmarked for back when he was drafted and all along as he’s been groomed as closer. He was aggressive. He used his flamethrower fastball. He threw his slider for strikes. He overpowered hitters, but overmatched a few as well.

We have the technology, we can reconstruct the inning:

To Rickie Weeks: 97 called K, 96 ball, 97 called K, 86 … K.

To J.J. Hardy: 97 called K, 97 called K, 96 … Double.

To Ryan Braun: 97 called K, 86 ball, 97 ball (!), 97 foul, 96 ball, 85 … K.

To Prince Fielder: 97 called K, 96 foul, 82 ball, 94 … K.

Four batters, three outs, three swinging strikeouts, not one pitch slower than 82 mph and no fastball hummed less than 94 mph — and that was the last fastball he threw. Perez’s pitch selection is simple: If it is in the 90s it’s a fastball; in the 80s it’s his slider. The at-bat that stands out, of course, is against his former University of Miami teammate, Braun.

Perez lost control of the at-bat with the third pitch.

The Cardinals, ahem, “clincher” threw a 97-mph fastball that appeared to catch the outside edge of the plate. Yadier Molina had bounced outside of the strike zone to catch it, and he didn’t get the call. Right there, as Perez later describe, the at-bat went from one he controlled to feeding into Braun’s favor. With a 1-2 count, Perez has two chances to spike sliders in the dirt and see if Braun — moved from the gravity of the moment — went fishing for them. With a 2-1 count, Perez had to come back with a fastball.

Braun fouled it off.

“Just missed it,” Perez said.

The Cardinals, ahem, “Duke of the Ninth” (trademark, Kevin Wheeler) added that he had the advantage from all those years ago in college. Braun had the advantage in the at-bat for that pitch, but Perez had the history. After missing with another fastball to run the count to 3-2, the Cardinals righthander went to his slider.

You’ll recall that’s the pitch he was returned to the minors to work on.

The instruction the Cardinals gave him when they optioned him back to Triple-A was to throw one slider for every fastball. Perez understood the reason. The breaking pitch that he could throw out of the strike zone in Triple-A and get strikeouts was not good enough to get the same in the majors. Hitters would take the slider out of the zone and wait for the heat. He had to get the slider over the plate — tighter, harder bite — to be successful.

He conceded that he missed with the 3-2 slider to Braun, that he “got away with one”, but it had that tight break, it looked enough like the fastball and he had thrown it enough times for strikes recently that Braun missed it. He looked for a fastball. He whiffed on the slider.

“Feather in my cap,” Perez said. “I’m 1-0 against him. I have bragging rights.”

More importantly, he has the job.

It may be a temporary posting. There are no promises for 2009 and no indications that the Cardinals aren’t planning to consider other options. Perez is open to that, saying not to long ago that if he closes for “only two weeks” it will be the “best two weeks of my career so far.”

What stands out from Perez’s August arrival as the Cardinals’ closer isn’t just that the chaos in the bullpen during July may have cost the Cardinals wins and maybe the spot atop the wild-card standings, but what Perez has improved upon in his second sip this season. In his two appearances in Florida — his first two saves as the undesignated closer — Perez fell behind hitters, got help from Molina and escaped with saves.

In his three appearances since, he’s dictated the innings.

Of the last 10 hitters Perez has faced, he’s gotten Strike 1 with the first pitch — almost always a fastball in the high 90s — against nine of them. He controls the count. He controls the at-bat. And now he has been control of the stuff to put hitters away.

At the end of his post-game press conference last night, La Russa said he didn’t feel right leaving until answering a question posed by colleague Rick Hummel. There was only one question left to ask, especially with the open invitation and promise of an answer: Is Chris Perez his closer?

La Russa grinned, knowingly, and laughed.

Actions speak louder than answers.

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Shameless, though related, plug: Over at the Bird Land page on Facebook there is a discussion point on who should be the Cardinals closer in 2009. Also there are some pictures from bygone/soon-to-be-bygone ballparks.

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