ST. LOUIS — Lance Berkman doesn’t blame anybody who thought he was done after his uneventful stint with the Yankees last season.
“It doesn’t take long for people to move on to the next page in the game,” the Cardinals outfielder said before his team’s 4-2 loss to the Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS last night. “[They] say, ‘Well, he’s lost it,’ or you’re never heard from again. You see it happen all the time.”
But life is again good for the 35-year-old Berkman. He had a big season — good enough for a one-year, $12 million contract extension from the Cardinals. Yesterday, he was honored as the NL’s Comeback Player of the Year, after hitting .301 with 31 homers and 94 RBIs for a team that began play in Game 4 of the NLCS within two victories of the World Series.
The Cardinals are Albert Pujols’ team, but Berkman has provided the left-handed pop in an overwhelmingly right-handed lineup that includes big threats Matt Holliday and David Freese.
Now, Berkman has to get rolling in the postseason. With the Brewers sending lefty Randy Wolf to the mound last night, Berkman was sent to the bench in favor of Allen Craig.
Berkman, who pinch hit and singled with two outs in the ninth, is hitting .241 with a homer and five RBIs in 29 at-bats this postseason.
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Milwaukee’s Zack Greinke, who called Chris Carpenter a “phony” before this series started, will face Jaime Garcia in Game 5 tonight. Greinke was asked yesterday if he regretted making the remark about Carpenter.
“My wife likes to read stuff, and then she gets mad – and she’s mad that I said it,” Greinke said. “But it just happened and I don’t need to talk about it anymore.”
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Still searching for the right lineup combination, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke reinserted Nyjer Morgan as the starter in center field, but sent Corey Hart to the bench. Morgan went 2-for-4 and scored a run last night.
Hart was replaced in right field by Mark Kotsay, who homered in Game 3 as the starter in center. Hart has struggled offensively — entering yesterday he was batting .182 with a homer in three RBIs in eight games this postseason. Kotsay went 0-for-4.
