Pujols' home run was most memorable Missouri sports moment

Down to the final out and facing one of the best closers in the major leagues, the St. Louis Cardinals' season was all but over.

Not so fast.

That adversity turned out to be the signature moment in the stellar career of Albert Pujols, the catalyst for the team's second straight 100-victory season. His memorable blast off Brad Lidge shocked into total silence a Houston Astros crowd ready to celebrate, keeping the Cardinals alive in the NL Championship Series at least for one more game.

Though the momentum didn't last, that single, mighty, swing was among the most memorable Missouri sports moments in 2005.

Other top stories in Missouri included the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter winning the Cy Young award, the death of a Missouri football player, losing seasons for the NFL's St. Louis Rams and baseball's Kansas City Royals, the emergence of Larry Johnson as the Kansas City Chiefs' feature back, St. Louis hosting its first NCAA Final Four in 27 years and Mark McGwire's testy no-comment to Congress during the steroid hearings.

Pujols has been the Cardinals' big bat since almost the day he arrived early in 2000, thanks to Bobby Bonilla's hamstring injury. Last year he had a typical top-of-the-charts season with 41 home runs, 117 RBIs, a league-leading 129 runs and a .330 average.

In his first five seasons, Pujols averaged 40 homers, 124 RBIs and a .332 average.

Carpenter, meanwhile, missed the 2004 playoffs with a biceps injury but was untouchable most the 2005 season and finished 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA. He is the first Cardinals pitcher to win the Cy Young since Bob Gibson in 1970.

In the NFL, Mike Martz put up a pretty impressive record in his first five seasons as coach of the St. Louis Rams.

This year, it all fell apart in an ongoing soap opera.

Martz' heart illness ended his season in early October, and in-house feuding with president of football operations Jay Zygmunt and general manager Charley Armey are likely to end his tenure with the team. The dysfunctional nature of the team came to a head when Zygmunt refused to allow Martz to telephone offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild during a late-October game.

The team is likely to reach a settlement on the final year of his contract so he can make a fresh start with another NFL team.

In college football, Missouri's season carried tragic overtones after the July death of linebacker Aaron O'Neal. The Tigers dedicated their season to the 19-year-old linebacker, a redshirt freshman from St. Louis who died after collapsing during a voluntary workout. Before the home opener, players lined up for a moment of silence at the 25. O'Neal's jersey number and his initials were etched into the turf throughout the season.

It was determined O'Neal died of viral meningitis.

In April, downtown St. Louis came alive as never before for the city's first Final Four in 27 years. The electric championship game saw North Carolina overcoming Illinois' somewhat homefield advantage.

McGwire was the toast of St. Louis, and all of baseball, when he hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998, but by March -- after testimony before Congress during which he repeatedly said, "I'm not here to talk about the past" -- there was talk of stripping his name from a stretch of interstate highway.

McGwire drew mostly cheers, though, when he made appeared at Busch Stadium as part of a final-weekend reunion.

Busch Stadium in St. Louis was demolished after its 40th season. A new, $390 million facility, also named Busch Stadium, will occupy much of the same space and is due to open in April.

In other sports stories:

* The owners of the St. Louis Blues put the for-sale sign on their franchise in June, then stripped down the roster in hopes that being fiscally responsible would attract more buyers. The Blues last week entered into a letter of intent to negotiate exclusively with a Detroit group, General Sports and Entertainment LLC. The Blues, who have made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons, have the worst record in the NHL.

* Missouri quarterback Brad Smith wrapped up a record-setting career, and the Tigers finished 7-5 after beating South Carilina in the Independence Bowl.

* Northwest Missouri State lost a heartbreaker in the NCAA Division II football championship game.