(OT) St Louis Cardinals may have a curse

[Like A Mofo]

What some will do for a story!!

 

Keith Hernandez!?!??!

 

'Curse of Keith Hernandez' cripples the Cards

By Dan O'Neill

Of the Post-Dispatch

10/25/2004

 

It's obvious something sinister is at work here, something perversely unnatural.

 

A curse has descended on this World Series, as sure as the sutures on Curt Schilling's ankle. And let's be clear, we're not referring to the celebrated "Curse of the Bambino," the hex that has haunted the Boston Red Sox since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees after the 1919 season. The fractured franchise has been without a world championship since.

But this newly identified enchantment is so powerful it is neutralizing the Sultan of Spells, making the 86-year-old BoSox curse seem like an amusing little sidebar. The Red Sox finally have found an opponent with a poltergeist more profound than theirs, a curse that is reversing the flow of negative energy and threatening to frustrate Cardinal Country for the 18th season in succession.

 

The revelation revealed itself to this scribe and some colleagues early Monday morning. We were engaged in some incoherent conversation on a rental car shuttle bus at Boston's Logan Airport at 4 o'clock in the morning.

 

But, intentionally or deliriously, we were onto something. The Cardinals are in dire shape in this World Series, down two games to nil. More disturbing, they have not looked anything like themselves. The team, which was consistent and efficient enough to win 105 games in the regular season, has been out of sorts in this series from the get-go.

 

The Cardinals have walked 14 Red Sox batsmen, plunked three others and put runners on the bases like they were making donations in the Sunday basket. The Red Sox have plated 17 base runners in the Series, while stranding 21 base runners. They have had more opportunities than Tony Danza.

 

It's not like our boys. We have been missing location, missing bases, missing in action. Boston was nothing but bad weather, bad hotels and bad karma.

 

It's the curse, I tell you, the Curse of Keith Hernandez.

 

This franchise has not won a world championship since it dealt Hernandez to the New York Mets for Neil Allen and Rick Owenby on June 15, 1983, just months after winning the 1982 World Series. Tangibly speaking, that trade didn't go well for our side. The hard-throwing Allen was a bust in St. Louis, first as a reliever and then as a starter. After three seasons, and a 20-16 record, he was sold to the Yankees.

 

Hernandez, who was a National League MVP and batting champion for the Cardinals in 1979, became a cornerstone for the Pond Scum. He set a major league record for game-winning runs batted in (24) in 1985. He helped guide the Mets to a world championship in 1986.

 

The "Curse of Keith" worked against the Red Sox in that one. Boston was on the verge of a World Series title in the 10th inning of Game 6, two outs, nobody on, when the Mets rallied for a 6-5 victory. Hernandez was criticized later when it was discovered he already had retreated to the Mets clubhouse to drink a beer when the improbable uprising occurred.

 

What actually took place is perfectly clear now. At precisely the time Hernandez pulled the tab on a cold Budweiser, Mookie Wilson's ground ball eluded the otherwise sure-fielding Bill Buckner and the series turned around.

 

Coincidence? C'mon.

 

Since trading Hernandez, the Cardinals have had two previous World Series chances to add to their nine world championships. They lost both times under extenuating circumstances. In 1985, the Cardinals lost their base-stealing catalyst Vince Coleman to injury when he got his leg caught under the mechanized tarp at the stadium. Weird.

 

Still, the Cardinals were about to close out the Kansas City Royals in the "I-70 Series" when umpire Don Denkinger blew the call on Jorge Orta. Once again, the crucial, series-turning play developed at first base, Hernandez's old post. Happenstance? Me thinks not.

 

In the 1987 World Series, the Cardinals made it back to the World Series against the Minnesota Twins. But again, their chances were diminished when they lost slugging first baseman Jack Clark to injury. The club still managed to win three in a row at Busch Stadium and went back to Minnesota with a 3-2 lead, one victory away. But the Twins won Game 6 behind a grand slam by Kent Hrbek, who just happened to be a first baseman with the initials "K.H."

 

The Cardinals then lost Game 7 as well. The pitcher who saved the game, Jeff Reardon, was a teammate of Hernandez's in New York, probably popped a beer with him at one point or another.

 

The "Curse of Keith" has tormented the franchise during Tony La Russa's regime as manager. Each time the club advances to the postseason, whether it's Mark McGwire, Mike Matheny, Scott Rolen or Chris Carpenter, it loses a key player to injury. Perhaps the most inglorious disappointment was in 2002, when the team lost Rolen during a sweep of the Diamondbacks in the division series and then lost the NLCS in five games to the San Francisco Giants.

 

Keith Hernandez was born in San Francisco. You see the pattern here?

 

Don't think La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan aren't aware of it. When they play host to the visiting Red Sox in Game 3 tonight, they will send Jeff Suppan to the mound. He will wear No. 37, the same number Hernandez wore.

 

Soupie will tell you he is approaching this game from strictly a baseball standpoint, focusing on hitters, mechanics, pitch selection, etc., etc.

 

But let's not kid ourselves. The mission is simple. Reverse the curse.