John Lackey dominates Cubs, and Cards manager pushes the right buttons
ST. LOUIS — Mike Matheny sat behind his desk, nearly an hour after the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-0, victory over the Chicago Cubs, too exhilarated, or maybe it was too relieved, to take off his uniform, let alone move from his chair.
He was the guy who walked out to the mound in the eighth inning of a one-run game, and pulled Lackey out of the game, with the crowd of 47,830 at Busch Stadium, showing their disgust.In a game dominated Cardinals ace John Lackey, it was Matheny, the Cardinals manager, who made one of the gutsiest decisons of his managerial career.
Lackey glared at him, glared again, and then walked off the mound, having thrown just 86 pitches.
Matheny was setting himself up for the greatest second-guessing decision since Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams pulled Jordan Zimmermann in last year's Division Series, and Nats fans can tell you how that turned out.
"I knew it wasn't going to be popular, and it wasn't," Matheny said in the privacy of his office. "You just do what you feel is right, regardless of the outcome."
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John Lackey, Cardinals shutout Cubs in Game 1 of NLDS
It turned out to be a stroke of genius, with left-hander Kevin Siegrist striking out Chris Coghlan and Addison Russell, turning the game over to All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth, preventing Lackey from perhaps burning down his office, with Cardinals fan bringing the gasoline.
And Matheny exhaled.
"Man, was he good," Matheny said. "He was incredible. You know, you put a guy in a situation like this, and we talk about him being a big-game pitcher, how he thrives in these situations, and then he just takes it there and goes a step further.
"It was exactly what we needed.
"I don't know if you could ask him to do any more than what he did."
Lackey, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, gave up just two hits in 7⅓ innings, striking out five batters. The Cubs had no prayer. They managed to hit the ball out of the infield just three times during Lackey's stint.
"I saw him as a young man in 2002," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who was on the Anaheim Angels' coaching staff when Lackey helped lead them to their first World Series title, "and he was always kind of fearless.
"He comes from Texas. He kind of does the John Wayne strut out there. He's that guy."
Lackey may be 36 years old, but he's still ornery than ever, and as he showed all night, is just as nasty as he's ever been on the mound. He was throwing 95-mph fastballs, 92-mph sinkers, four-seamers, sliders and curveballs.
The man was so good he looked like Jake Arrieta, who the Cardinals don't have to face until Game 3 at Wrigley Field.
"I call him OG," said Cardinals rookie outfielder Tommy Pham. "He's fearless. He's an original gangster, sort of, you know?"
Certainly, Lackey set the stage for the Cardinals. This may have been just the first game of the NL Division Series, in the first postseason game between these two storied franchises, but to the Cardinals, this meant so much more than just a 1-0 Series lead.
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This was a game they felt they had to win, not only giving them confidence, but stopping the Cubs' steam-rolling momentum, having not lost a game for 13 days.
"It gives everyone in here confidence," Siegrist said. "Takes pressure off. Going to be a big series."
Lackey carried that pressure all game, knowing that one pitch could cost them the game, particularly with the way Jon Lester was pitching. He had retired 21 of 23 batters until the Cardinals broke open the game in the eighth, when rookies Stephen Piscotty and Pham hit home runs.
It was such a classic pitcher's duel that it reminded Cardinals veteran pitcher Adam Wainwright of Game 5 of the 2011 NL Division Series, when Chris Carpenter outdueled Roy Halladay. Every Cardinals fan and Philadelphia Phillies fan can tell you what happened next.
The Cardinals went onto win the World Series, and have been back to the NLCS every year since that day. The Phillies never again returned to the postseason, and lost 99 games this past season, the most in the major leagues.
"I thought about that game a lot," Wainwright said, "from about the fourth inning on."
Lackey and Lester suffocated both offenses with their arsenal, and once Matt Holliday drove in the game's first run in the opening inning, Lester was just as lethal as Lackey. He gave up only two hits until Pham's pinch-hit homer, the first by a Cardinals player in the postseason since the late Oscar Tavares in last year's NLCS against the San Francisco Giants.
"It's kind of hard to talk about because for me," said Pham, a career minor-leaguer, "it's something I dreamed about as a little kid. And now, you know, it's happening. It's truly a blessing, kind of surreal, you know."
For Lackey, this is nothing new. He has already won two World Series games. He has started 19 postseason games, the most by any active pitcher, going 8-5, with a 2.90 ERA.
It's October. It's his time of year.
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"Playoffs, man, this is what you play for," Lackey said. "I've been playing awhile, and this is pretty much the only reason I'm still going.
"I'm trying to win rings, and trying to be part of something special as a team."
But to win, Lackey knew he had to out-pitch his good friend, Lester, his former teammate from the 2013 World Series championship Boston Red Sox. It was only the third time in history that two World Series teammates faced one another in a postseason game.
The only major difference between the two guys is their bank accounts. Lackey earned just $507,500 this year because of a unique clause that gave the Cardinals the right to exercise an option for the minimum salary after he missed the 2012 season with elbow surgery. Lester is in the first year of a six-year, $155 million contract, the richest in Cubs' history.
Instead, it was Lackey who made history this night, becoming only the fourth pitcher in history to throw at least seven shutout innings against the Cubs in a postseason game. He joins Ed Walsh, Babe Ruth and Josh Beckett.
"I knew I was going to have to pitch well because Lester threw the ball outstanding," Lackey said. "He was really tough on our guys. I knew it was going to be a challenge."
Now, these young Cubs have to regroup. They managed just three hits, and struck out five times in the last two innings. Why, take away right fielder Kyle Schwarber's two hits, and the Cubs batted 1-for-25 (.040) with 10 strikeouts and one walk.
They were angry with home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi's wide strike zone, with four of their six called-third strikes actually outside of the strike zone, according to Inside Edge. Yet, the Cubs refused to use it as an excuse.
"I voiced my opinion a couple times," Maddon said, "but it was the same strike zone for both sides, and I really can't complain about that.
"That's just something I really want to stay out of…but you can report on that as you choose."
Would a tighter strike zone have made a difference?
"That's a tough question," Coghlan said. "I'm just going to get into trouble if I say anything."
The way Lackey was pitching, really, it didn't matter. They could have shrunk the strike zone by six inches, and he still would have been painting the corners and blowing away the hitters.
"I know everyone was impressed," Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk said, "but really, we expect this out of him every night. He's that good."
The Cubs found that out the hard way.
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