Tony La Russa played a hunch Wednesday. Or perhaps he was just managing by the book.
Then again, maybe it was really an educated guess from the most educated of baseball managers.
Whatever word you choose to define the moves the Cardinals manager made in Game 1 of the World Series, there is only one way to describe the outcome: successful.
St. Louis rode pinch-hitter Allen Craig's two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth inning and a parade of relievers to a 3-2 victory against the Texas Rangers, drawing first blood in the best-of-seven series before a sellout crowd on a frigid night at Busch Stadium.
Photos: Rangers vs. Cardinals in World Series
The two previous postseason series in the American and National leagues were slugfests that averaged nearly 10 runs a game. But playoff baseball was back in vogue Wednesday, when managing and pitching -- some of it done from a tightrope -- dominated the World Series opener
C.J. Wilson, who hasn't won a game since the Rangers clinched their division last month, started for Texas and struggled early, throwing five of his first six pitches for balls, walking batters in each of the first two innings and giving up a single to start the third. But the left-hander, wearing short sleeves despite a 43-degree wind chill -- five degrees colder than it was at the start of the NHL's Winter Classic on Jan. 1 in Pittsburgh -- didn't allow any of those runners to get past first base.
That all changed in the fourth when he hit Albert Pujols on the foot to start the inning, gave up a double to Matt Holliday, then watched both runners score on Lance Berkman's single.
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