ST. LOUIS – Growing up, Scott Rolen imagined playing in the World Series, dreaming what it would be like to take part in such a fantasy.
The reality, though, was a little different.
“To be honest,” he said last night, “you at least sneak one hit in there in the backyard.”
Not in the 2004 World Series, though. They handed out the MVP after the Game 4 clincher last night, and safe to say, it wasn’t Rolen. The Cards’ third baseman was absolutely miserable in the four games, going an unfathomable 0-for-15.
Obviously, the performance of their All-Planet third baseman was a main reason the Cardinals got swept.
“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s certainly not what you dream of.”
Not that most of his teammates had reason to be proud of their efforts. The mighty Cardinal offense was completely silenced, picking the worst possible time to go into a collective slump. Fact is, after a solid Game 1 showing, the Card hitters belonged on the side of a milk carton for the final three games.
Believed to have a modern-day Murderers’ Row, the Cards scored a grand total of three runs in the final three games, getting progressively worse – two runs in Game 2, one in Game 3 and none in Game 4.
“We didn’t have pressure on them at all,” left fielder Reggie Sanders said. “I wouldn’t have thought in many years that we would have gotten shut down.”
The problems were all over the place. But the most serious ones were in the middle of the order.
No. 3 hitter Albert Pujols went 3-for-4 in Game 2 but 2-for-11 in the other three games.
“I don’t want to disrespect their pitching, but we hit the ball hard,” Pujols said. “It seems everything went their way.”
Rolen, meanwhile, was terrible. In the fourth inning last night, he got so disgusted with his performance that when he fouled out to first base, he discarded his bat and took off his batting gloves while the ball was still in the air.
More? Lefty slugger Jim Edmonds went 1-for-15, with the one hit a bunt single in the second inning of Game 1. Sanders went 0-for-9. And on and on.
The only thing worse than the Cards’ individual numbers was their collective failure in the clutch. In the four games, the Cardinals came to bat 31 times with runners in scoring position. They got four hits.