Cardinals clobber Pirates to clinch National League Central title

“You just try not to mess up when you have the opportunity”. “This is exciting and hopefully we can ride this out for a little while longer”.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha (52) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, September 30, 2015.

Even though the elusive prize of the No. 1 seed in the ALCS still eludes them, the Kansas City Royals have at least have assured themselves of homefield advantage in the ALDS. 233 and the internet was on fire with bloggers and social media posters lining up to declare the trade of Shelby Miller for Heyward was the low tide moment for St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak.

It was business as usual for a Cardinals pitching staff that has the best ERA in baseball by a wide margin even though it lost ace Adam Wainwright for most of the season to injury (he is now back in the bullpen). Pittsburgh could still win 99 games this season, but will have to defeat the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card game for another crack at St. Louis.

The way the relentless Pirates and surging Cubs kept coming, St. Louis really didn’t have a choice.

Wainwright returned from a torn left Achilles to pitch one inning of mop-up duty during an 8-2 loss in the opener, his astounding recovery four months ahead of schedule.

“Two o’clock in the morning”, the St. Louis Cardinals manager said.

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the NCAA’s use of college athletes’ names, images and likenesses in video games and TV broadcasts violated antitrust laws but struck down a plan allowing schools…

For a few more hours anyway.

What they did do was put together the best record in the Major Leagues.

Robinson Chirinos and Mike Napoli also homered for the Rangers. We’ve got 96. Separation is what it is. “I think a secondary goal was to disadvantage wild-card teams, to make a division championship meaningful, and I think the system does that, as well”.

NOTES: Cardinals rookie OF/1B Stephen Piscotty rejoined the team Wednesday but was unavailable to play in the doubleheader after sustaining a mild concussion and head contusion on Monday night in a collision with OF Peter Bourjos. Morton went just two innings plus giving up five runs on four hits while striking out one and walking one.

St. Louis third baseman Matt Carpenter watched with an anguished look on his face.

But the White Sox rallied to tie the game at three, and send it into extra innings. With the Dodgers employing a five-man infield, De Aza hit a fly to left against Adam Liberatore for a victory that prevented San Francisco from being eliminated from the pennant race.

Morton (9-9) temporarily gathered himself only to unravel completely in the third. Gregory Polanco added an RBI double later in the inning. “We’ve still got a lot to get done”.

The team also placed right-hander Carlos Martinez (right shoulder strain) on the 60-day disabled list.

While Cole credited Cervelli for his immaculate game calling, he was still plenty good enough to keep the champagne outside the visiting clubhouse at PNC Park on ice. He remained in the game and started the nightcap, a rarity for a catcher. Lester (11-12) finished with nine strikeouts and retired the last 20 batters he faced.