St. Louis Cardinals open 2022 season with flare, pageantry and comfortable victory

Since returning from spring training in Florida, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol has had the same wakeup call each day.

Thursday morning, before his first game as a Major League manager, he heard a soft but insistent tapping on his bedroom window, just as he had the day before. At 7:20, he dragged himself from bed and pulled back his curtains to find an inquisitive bird knocking its beak against the glass.

A cardinal, of course.

Some things you can’t write, especially when they’re so on the nose as to be absurd. But Marmol grinned ear to ear as he told that story in his spartan office, personalized only by his iPhone constantly lighting up and a 1.5-liter bottle of wine next to the phone, a gift from backup catcher Andrew Knizner.

Knizner said he’s more a bourbon drinker than a wine drinker, but he’s ordered The Prisoner Red Blend at dinner with teammates, so he got a kick out of congratulating Marmol on his new digs with a bottle.

Plus, he said, it was in stock at Total Wine. Efficiency counts.

Less than half an hour after that meeting with the manager, at 12:11 p.m., Albert Pujols stepped into the cage on the field for his first game day round of batting practice as a Cardinal in more than ten years. The sound that greeted him was less a gentle tapping and more a dull roar, as fans allowed into the ballpark early — perhaps more than were able to attend opening day at all in 2021.

The noise was louder at his first appearance in archive footage on the video board. And when he emerged from the dugout for his first at bat in the first inning, the wave of sound that swept across the field was emotional enough to cause Pujols to step back from the batter’s box, running his forearm across his eyes.

The lazy fly ball he lifted into left field was just enough of a glimmer just barely a split second to rouse the crowd, but they would have other moments. Tyler O’Neill racked up four RBI in the game’s first two innings and five total, marking his third consecutive opening day with a home run.

O’Neill’s five RBI on opening day tied a club record previously held by Del Gainer (in 1922) and Wally Roettger (1928), both of whom also turned in their performances against the Pirates. With nearly a century of separation, still the Bucs are tormented by the Birds at the onset of the season.

Adam Wainwright turned in six shutout innings, extending his streak of scoreless innings against Pittsburgh to 32, and Paul Goldschmidt’s four walks tied a major league record for opening day — though that, at least, was somewhat less dramatic.

Wainwright collects 100th career victory at Busch

Thursday’s crowd would’ve been larger than all but one of 2021’s attendance totals, trailing the season finale by a mere 269 fans.

Wainwright’s victory was his 100th career at Busch Stadium, making an even deeper impression on the park that’s been so defined by the three players who were honored by the club in a special video package narrated by Jon Hamm to kick off the opening day parade. He described catching the eye of a smiling Ozzie Smith and forcing himself to duck down and away, wiping the tears from his face.

Earlier in the day, caught in an unexpected snarl of traffic on his way to the ballpark, Wainwright caught the eye of an unsuspecting Cardinal fan, mid-hot dog bite, who clearly did not expect to see the starter on his commute.

For Pujols and catch Yadier Molina, the honors were explicit, and the acknowledgment of the ends of their careers is equally so. Wainwright has steadfastly refused to make any pronouncements, no matter how firmly team executives attempt to prod him along. He’s mused about the possibility of pitching next season if he finishes this year healthy and effective; after one game, that’s not terribly difficult to imagine.

More about opening day

It was Wainwright, too, who took the wider view of the offense’s depth and the way it could play throughout the year. He mused that if Goldschmidt walked four times in every game this season, O’Neill could very well finish with 300 RBI. That total may be slightly high, but it’s demonstrative of the potential of a lineup that O’Neill himself described as “an offensive force.”

“I think they’re going to try to find an adjustment for him, but Tyler is really good, so he’s going to adjust right back,” Arenado said. “TO’s a special ballplayer. He’s a five tool player.”

Arenado, after Pujols was released by the Angels last summer, concluded a conference call with the media by declaring, unbidden, “Albert Pujols, I love you man,” and today said Pujols is, by his estimation, “the greatest right-handed hitter ever.”

Pujols was 0-for-5 in his first game back as a Cardinal, reaching twice on errors by Pittsburgh defenders. His first steps on the field after warmups were in response to that video tribute, and his last will come later this year.

Arenado: ‘Good to get a win’

When they do — and Molina’s, too — his teammates will be watching. They were today, gathered around televisions in the bowels of the stadium, straining to hear the audio track that was swept up by the exalted crowd. Ultimately, that defined the day much more than the 9-0 victory which followed.

Arenado mused, “it’s good to get a win, but I feel like the bigger picture was them, you know?”

At Busch Stadium on opening day, people knew.