With one wicked curveball, both time and Carlos Beltran stood still as the St. Louis Cardinals punched their ticket to the 2006 World Series.
It’s hard to believe that it has been 18 years now since Adam Wainwright’s first truly iconic moment of a decorated career with the Cardinals, but one of the best follows on Cardinals Twitter, Augie Nash, shared a clip of the iconic moment, and I couldn’t help but be taken back to my childhood.
#OTD 2006 – Yadier Molina hits a two-run home run, and Adam Wainwright freezes Carlos Beltran with a nasty curve with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 victory in game 7 of the NLCS. #STLCards🎤Mike Shannon pic.twitter.com/is28cYffsl
— Augie Nash (@AugieNash) October 19, 2024
I apologize if this makes you shake your head, but I was eight years old on this day in 2006, so many of my first core Cardinals memories revolve around this team of destiny. Wainwright, a 23 years old rookie at the time and filling in for the injured Jason Isringhausen, was looking to hold the Cardinals 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th inning, but after two singles and a walk, had to face one of the greatest postseason hitters in recent memory with the bases loaded in Beltran…