NLCS Game 6 St. Louis Cardinals tag Clayton Kershaw and defeat Dodgers to ...

CARDINALS 9 DODGERS 0

ST. LOUIS For 16 summers and four Octobers Carlos Beltran has been elite and low key defined by quiet excellence and behaving with deep reserve. For five months Yasiel Puig has been the most thrilling athlete in baseball or the most infuriating depending on one s values and codes.

On a raw Friday night in the Midwest steady and sublime beat electric Beltran s hitting and defense finally drove him into his first World Series while Puig committed two errors as the Dodgers unraveled. The mercurial team from Hollywood saw its ace Clayton Kershaw look stunningly inadequate in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series and lost to phenom Michael Wacha and the St. Louis Cardinals 9 0.

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Scott Rovak/USA Today Sports Carlos Beltran drives in two runs earning his first trip to the World Series.

I m so happy right now Beltran said beaming in a corner of the winning clubhouse as teammates sprayed champagne toward him. I woke up this morning with a feeling that we were going to do it. I don t know man.

Wacha threw seven scoreless innings and was named series MVP the 22 year old has allowed one run in 21 postseason innings. The Cardinals champions in 2006 and 2011 advanced to their second World Series in three seasons.

After Kershaw began with two scoreless but ominous innings bad vibes exploded into disaster for the Dodgers in the third against the man who will likely win this year s NL Cy Young Award but allowed seven runs in four plus innings on Friday. It began with an 11 pitch at bat by Matt Carpenter with one out which ended in a double. Beltran followed and what else would you expect He singled to right knocking in Carpenter for the game s first run.

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Elsa/Getty Images Michael Wacha earns NLCS MVP by shutting out the Dodgers in Games 2 and 6.

I feel happy to be able to contribute like that Beltran said.

That play introduced another troubling subplot for the Dodgers Puig s erratic defense. The rookie was the most exciting player in the series probably in the entire league. But he is also mercurial and erratic and at this moment he missed his cutoff man which enabled Beltran to move to second.

That proved significant after Matt Holliday struck out and Yadier Molina singled. The catcher and MVP candidate killed two rallies in Game 5 by hitting double play balls but in his team s second chance to clinch the series he singled in a big moment. Beltran because he had advanced on Puig s bad throw was able to score on the play.

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Elsa/Getty Images Clayton Kershaw walks off the mound after a disappointing outing lasting just four innings and allowing seven earned runs.

And that by some miracle was only half of the damage in the frame. After David Freese singled Matt Adams walked on a low strike that umpire Greg Gibson called a ball. Kershaw and manager Don Mattingly chirped and they had a strong argument but it was not enough to be right the bases were loaded.

That presented Shane Robinson with the opportunity to single to right and create another chance for the electric Puig to overcharge a throw home. The right fielder sent a ball way over the head of his leaping catcher A.J. Ellis and two runs scored.

Yasiel gets excited Mattingly said of the 22 year old Puig. He s going to try to make plays all the time and that s the way he is. We ve got to do a better job of helping him mature.

Two batters later when Kershaw struck out Wacha to the end the inning down 4 0 he had thrown 48 pitches in the third alone and 81 in the game.

Nearly everyone at Busch Stadium not wearing blue seemed to want a Cardinals win naturally but Beltran seemed particularly eager to storm his way into a World Series after so many years including a narrow miss with the Mets in 2006. The 36 year old right fielder is now slowed by bad knees but with two outs in the fifth he dove toward the warning track fully extended to snag what seemed like an uncatchable ball.

Moments later Puig presented a stark contrast whiffing on an attempt to pick up a Molina single allowing the runner to take second. It was Puig s second error in five innings at the time his team had just one hit. By the end of that frame Kershaw was gone after allowing seven runs and St. Louis was romping toward a 19th NL pennant.

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