There was a golf cart parked outside the visiting clubhouse at Busch Stadium. The years the Cardinals had won the World Series were painted onto the back26, 31, 34, all the way to 06and filled up the entire bumper.
The rumor was that the cart was positioned like that only when the Cubs were in town, so that the players would see it each time they showed up for work (as if theyd bother to take off their sunglasses, turn off their cell phones and notice). Thats St. Louis.
Theo Epstein grew up rooting for the Red Sox, and went to Brookline High School, which sits about two miles from Fenway Park. He was braced for the Boston media, and understood how much the fans there hated the Yankees.
Cubs-Cardinals wont generate as much heat as Yankees-Red Sox. Fighting George Steinbrenners Evil Empire is a bigger national story. But theres no doubt that Epstein will have to close the gap on the Cardinals.
Because while the Cubs just spent nine days haggling with the Red Sox over two prospects as compensationto get an executive with two championship ringsthe Cardinals were chasing their 11th World Series title.
Does Epstein really have an idea of what hes getting himself into? The answers will start coming Tuesday, when hes introduced as the new president of baseball operations at Clark and Addison.
The Red Sox viewed almost everything through the Yankees prism. The Cubs arent as obsessed with the Cardinals, but Epstein can learn something about this group by how they responded against their biggest rival.
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Just ask Carlos Zambrano, minutes after Carlos Marmol blew the save on June 5 in St. Louis: We played like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team, for the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing. Thats the word here for this team.We stinks.
Or Mike Quade, who sat in his Busch Stadium office on July 30 and was asked if he felt like he was managing for his job: I feel like that every day.When the blame game starts, you cant sit in this seat and not take some of it.I understand that. But me sitting here and cowering because of that is absurd.
Decisions should be coming soon on Quade and his coaching staff, and eventually Zambrano and Alfonso Soriano. Epstein whiffed big on several free agents in BostonCarl Crawford, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, to name a fewand hes coming to an organization that has been crippled by the wrong long-term contracts.
When Albert Pujols hugged Jim Hendry behind the batting cage at Wrigley Field on May 10, the Cubs general manager at the time immediately knew it would become a runaway national story. (The Cardinals were also in town on Aug. 19 when chairman Tom Ricketts publicly announced Hendry was fired.)
Chicago reporters may not become as obsessed with Epsteins personal life, because he didnt grow up here, but its not like hell be getting a free pass. Just ask anyone who covered Dusty Baker or Lou Piniella how worn out they were by the end.
That Pujols ducked out of the clubhouse without speaking to the media after Thursday nights Game 2 loss to the Rangers probably shows that life inside the Wrigley Field fishbowl would get real old, real fast for the future Hall of Famer.
When Epstein became the youngest general manager in baseball history in late 2002, he inherited a 93-win team built around Cooperstown-level talents Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez, plus foundation pieces like Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe.
The Cubs have been a fifth-place team for the past two seasons, but Epstein will find that the game can be more forgiving outside the American League East. The Cardinals won 83 games in 2006and the National League Central and another World Series title.
In Epsteins nine seasons on the job, the Red Sox won at least 90 games seven times, and never less than 86. Even if you are a tortured Cubs fan, you have to like those odds.
If its all about getting in the tournament and getting hot, then these Cardinals are the perfect example. They were 10 12 games back on Labor Day. They snuck into the playoffs by one game as a wild card.
It helped that the Cardinals won 10 of their 15 games against the Cubs, including two on the seasons final weekend in St. Louis. Immediately after that loss on Sept. 25, the Cubs had their rookie hazing. Young players dressed up in short skirts for the long flight to San Diego.
One coach couldnt hide the disgust on his face as he walked out of the dressing room, though it was hard to tell whether it was all the laughter, or another one-run loss to the Cardinals, or some combination of both. It remains to be seen how many will be back in that clubhouse next year.