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The Childhood Dream, Almost
Adam Wainwright celebrates after closing out the St. Louis Cardinals' 3-1 victory over the New York Mets in Game 7 of the NLCS.
(By Winslow Townson -- Associated Press)
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The Braves relented and sent Wainwright and pitcher Jason Marquis to the Cardinals for Drew and outfielder Eli Marrero. The task of telling Wainwright was given to Moore, but he was unable to find the pitcher for several hours that day, Dec. 13, 2003, because Wainwright was planning his engagement to his longtime girlfriend.
"Knowing that it was his boyhood team and how dearly he wanted to be with the Braves and win a championship with them, it was difficult," Moore said. "He was upset. His mom was upset. Not angry, but disappointed."
Nancy Wainwright, who had raised her two sons alone after a divorce, sobbed when told the news.
"It was such a fairy tale at the time," Trey Wainwright said.
Moore explained that the Braves were committed to winning the World Series and that the team owed it to their veteran players to try urgently to win.
"One day," Moore told Wainwright, "you will appreciate that commitment."
And Wainwright does. Because a team desperately trying to win a championship will often do peculiar things, such as converting its best starting pitching prospect to a relief role when the closer is injured. That's what happened to Wainwright in September when Jason Isringhausen was lost for the season.
Wainwright's seven scoreless postseason appearances entering Tuesday night's Game 3 are a major reason the Cardinals are still alive in the playoffs. In the ninth inning of Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, the New York Mets loaded the bases against Wainwright trailing by two runs. But Wainwright escaped trouble with a pair of looping curveballs that Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran both took for strike three.
That curveball was the reason the Braves had been so interested in Wainwright and why Moore had thought Wainwright would be such a success in the majors.
"I had goose bumps that night pulling for him," Moore said. "It's hard to root for another team. In this case I'm rooting for Adam Wainwright."
