St. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 20, 2001

Morris, Pujols Add Chapters to Unlikely Success Stories

By Mike Eisenbath

Two years ago, Matt Morris was trying to throw a baseball without pain and Albert Pujols was headed to the Cardinals instructional league in Florida. The pitcher was coming off elbow surgery; the infielder had signed his first professional contract out of junior college and was hoping to prove he wasn't too heavy to play the game.

One year ago, Morris was a relief pitcher with the Cardinals, a former first-round draft pick hoping to make it back to the starting rotation. And Pujols was a minor-league phenom after an outstanding season in the Cardinals farm system.

On Wednesday, Morris allowed the Milwaukee Brewers only five hits in seven innings, picking up his 20th victory of the season as the Cardinals won 8-2 at Busch Stadium. Pujols received two standing ovations from the crowd of 29,332 after breaking the National League record for most RBIs in a season by a rookie.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Morris said. "It's just another win. It is my 20th. But when you're thinking about the playoffs, it's just another win."

The Cardinals, who have won nine of their past 10 and 29 of 42 since Aug. 1, will take a six-game winning streak into Pittsburgh to play the scuffling Pirates. Suddenly, they look like the best team in the National League.

"It seems like all year, everybody has been on us about the way we've been playing and the way things were going," Morris said. "Here we are, peaking at the right time."

With an eight-game winning streak, Morris (20-7) is a significant part of the reason. His career-high 13 strikeouts Wednesday were the most for a Cardinals pitcher since Todd Stottlemyre fanned 13 in May 1998.

Morris allowed only a homer to Jose Hernandez, ending Morris' streak of consecutive innings without allowing a long ball at 38 2/3.

With a 14-2 record at home this season, Morris matched John Tudor's 1985 record for most victories at Busch. He and Arizona's Curt Schilling are the only 20-game winners in the NL thus far, and he's the 45th pitcher in Cardinals history to win 20. Teammate Darryl Kile did it last season, making this the first time the Cardinals have had 20-game-winners in successive seasons since Joaquin Andujar and Tudor in 1984-85.

"What an incredible achievement," manager Tony La Russa said. "Where he had to come back from, with the injury, and to do this in his first full year back in the majors - he has very special talent."

Morris thinks he was able to get to 20 victories in large part because his offense has been scoring "a bunch of runs." Catcher Mike Matheny joked that Morris has been spending too much time with Kile, who always passes credit to everyone but himself. Knowing the Brewers can be a good fastball-hitting team, Morris made good use of his offspeed stuff, a curveball and a changeup.

"He's just so strong," Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina said. "A real bulldog. He throws it in there and dares guys to hit it. They usually don't."

That's part of the reason La Russa says he expected 20 wins from Morris this season.

"I was always taught you never underestimate great talent," La Russa said.

But the manager never could have imagined Pujols capable of his feats this season. Not as a rookie at the age of 21. Not with the pressure to often carry the offense for a team that leads the National League wild-card race and has its sights on winning the NL Central.

"To me, he was a sixth- or seventh-place hitter who maybe could get 80, 85, 90 RBIs if he had a really good year," La Russa said.

Pujols drove in three runs Wednesday, giving him 120 RBIs this season. Cincinnati's Wally Berger held the rookie record with 119 RBIs in 1930. Pujols also scored two runs; that pushed his season total to 101 and made him the fourth Cardinals rookie to score at least 100 times.

In three games against the Brewers this week, Pujols batted .545 and drove in nine runs. His first RBI Wednesday was in the first inning. Placido Polanco drove in Vina with a double, and Pujols chased Polanco home from third with a groundout. In the third, Pujols gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead with a two-run double, then scored on Craig Paquette's single.

As Pujols took the field at first base in the sixth inning, the message board at Busch told fans of his latest RBI record. They gave him a standing ovation, cheering until he tipped his cap, and did so again when he batted in the seventh.

"I didn't know what was going on," Pujols said. "I turned around and saw my name up there. These are the best fans in the world."

They know an MVP when they see one.

"I'm not worried about that," Pujols said. "I just want to make the playoffs."