Sat, Oct 23, 2004 page20

• Cardinals make it to the World Series

  CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen brought St. Loius past Houston during the sixth inning, giving them the win and the pennant

  • AP
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  Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols hit a tying double and Scott Rolen followed with a home run Thursday as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 5-2 to book their place in the World Series.

  "It's every little boy's dream. I'm glad to have won the MVP, but that trophy is going to stay right in this room because everybody here is MVP," Pujols said after the Astros's Game 7 win of the National League championship series.

  In a matchup where the home team won each time, the Cardinals broke through with two outs in the sixth inning. It came in a span of only two pitches, and Busch Stadium became a roiling sea of red.

  Jeff Suppan overcame a leadoff home run by Craig Biggio to win an apparent pitching mismatch against Roger Clemens, helped by a stunning catch from center fielder Jim Edmonds. The bullpen combined for three scoreless innings, shutting down Carlos Beltran and Co., with Jason Isringhausen working the ninth for his third save.

  After posting 105 wins and running away with the NL Central, the Cardinals advanced to their first World Series under manager Tony La Russa, and first overall since 1987.

  Next up, the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday night at Fenway Park. By all accounts it should be a classic -- they also met in the 1967 and 1946 Series, and St. Louis won both, each time going the full seven games.

  "It's going to be a blast," Edmonds said. "Boston's a great town. They played so well to beat the Yankees."

  Pujols led the way, hitting .500 with four homers and nine RBIs. Overall, the teams combined for 25 home runs, the most in any postseason series.

  Larry Walker singled home an insurance run in the eighth, and the club sporting the famed birds-on-the-bat logo captured its 16th pennant.

  For the Astros, it was total disappointment. They have never reached the World Series since their expansion season of 1962, the same year Clemens was born.

  But the Rocket could not hold an early 2-0 lead in his record fourth start in a Game 7.

  Suppan was 0-4 in head-to-head games against Clemens this year, including a loss in Game 3. Yet he pitched out of trouble for six innings, then turned it over to relievers Kiko Calero, Julian Tavarez and Isringhausen.

  When it was over, the teams did not shake hands on the field, as St. Louis and Los Angeles did at Dodger Stadium after the first round. La Russa, who had previously been 0-3 in the NLCS, waved across the diamond at Houston manager Phil Garner.

  Garner took over the Astros at the All-Star break and when they dropped to 56-60 in mid-August, they were tied for seventh place in the wild-card race. Houston rallied, then beat Atlanta for its first postseason series victory. But with Clemens and 20-game winner Roy Oswalt out of sequence, the Astros could not stop St. Louis.

  The Cardinals improved to 9-4 in Game 7s, the most such wins in baseball. They did it against Clemens, who ended a brief retirement and came back to pitch for his hometown team.

  Clemens seemed born for this occasion -- he was born on Aug. 4, 1962, the same day the Houston Colt .45s lost 2-0 at St. Louis. But at 42, the ace came up empty.

  While Rolen and Pujols did the major damage in the sixth, Roger Cedeno surely deserved some credit for rattling the Rocket.

  Cedeno opened the sixth with a pinch-hit single, his 11th hit in 25 lifetime at-bats against Clemens, and immediately began dancing off first base. Clemens made three pickoff throws and stepped off the rubber three times trying to hold Cedeno close.

  Cedeno moved up on a bunt, and again his leads attracted Clemens' attention before the speedster took third on Walker's groundout. That brought up Pujols, and brought Astros manager Phil Garner to the mound.

  With the count at 1-2, catcher Brad Ausmus again went to visit Clemens. Pujols lined the next pitch into the left-field corner, cocking his arm as he eased into second base with a tying double.

  The crowd was going crazy by then, and Rolen seized the opportunity. Clemens tried to throw a first-pitch fastball by Rolen, and instead the All-Star slugger rocketed it just inside the left-field foul pole.

  A 21-year-old woman died after being shot in the eye by a police projectile intended to subdue an unruly crowd outside Fenway Park on Wednesday night, the authorities said.

  The woman, Victoria Snelgrove, of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon at Brigham and Women's Medical Center in Boston, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney's office.

  The projectile that struck Snelgrove, a student at Emerson College in Boston, was meant to be a nonlethal crowd control device. Two other people were hit by it, but it is unclear if they required medical attention, Procopio said.

  The Boston police commissioner, Kathleen O'Toole, said at a news conference that the department "accepts full responsibility" for Snelgrove's death.

  More than 60,000 people flooded the area around Fenway Park after the Red Sox' victory over the host Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, and were flanked by officers in riot gear. Dozens of people climbed onto billboards, fences and the park's Green Monster wall, near where Snelgrove was struck. Others tried to rip down street signs, and small fires were set.

  Eight people were arrested and 16 were injured, police said.

  Eight people were arrested and 16 were injured, police said.
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