Title heals Rolen's bruised ego

~ Although the third baseman has not spoken with his manager, their playoff rift appears left in the past.

ST. LOUIS -- The Tony La Russa-Scott Rolen feud appears to be yesterday's news.

The combination of the St. Louis Cardinals' unlikely World Series championship with two strong personalities who realize it's time to move on should serve to keep postseason bile from rising anew in spring training.

A few months of basking in the afterglow of the 83-win team's October charge no doubt helped heal wounds that were opened during the National League Championship Series. Back then the manager and his star third baseman were not on speaking terms after Rolen, slumping and clearly hampered by soreness in his surgically-repaired left shoulder, was twice benched in the postseason.

There was no scent of tension when the two appeared at the team's Winter Warmup fan festival this week.

"We haven't talked, we haven't spoken," Rolen said. "I went home and we went about our lives. I don't think there's a conversation that's going to take place."

Brusque? Just a bit.

But Rolen also blamed himself for not taking the advice of La Russa and the team's medical personnel, who wanted him to take some time off when fatigue in the shoulder began to build in early September. The final month he batted .225 with three home runs and 14 RBIs, then he began the playoffs 1-for-15 with the lone hit coming on a bloop double, prompting La Russa to sit him for the Game 4 Division Series clincher over the Padres and again in Game 2 of the NLCS.

Rolen finally admitted the shoulder was bothering him, submitted to a cortisone injection on the night the Cardinals finished off the Padres, and in a matter of days felt like a new man. The Cardinals saw a different Rolen the rest of the postseason.

"I learned from that experience that I'm a pretty stubborn, hardheaded guy," Rolen said. "I thought, I'll try to remember that on Sept. 4 instead of October."

La Russa was in a more overt peace-making mode when the Cardinals got a chance to relive the championship that ended the franchise's 24-year title drought at the annual Winter Warmup and the sold-out dinner hosted by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Accepting an award at the dinner for Rolen, an absentee due to a conflict, La Russa proclaimed,"I love Scott Rolen." When a glove autographed by Rolen was auctioned, La Russa backed that up when he began the bidding at $1,000, prompting broadcaster/celebrity auctioneer Jay Randolph to proclaim: "You really do love Scott Rolen."

More pragmatically, La Russa realizes what Rolen means to the middle of his lineup, not to mention his reputation as the game's premier defensive third baseman. Rolen won his seventh Gold Glove last season.

"When he's healthy, he's proven that if he can play enough years he will join the great Cardinals in the Hall of Fame," La Russa said. "We're really hoping he has that kind of season and career for us."

Rolen expects to be at full strength from the start of spring training next month, a big change from last season when he was still in rehab mode. Team doctors anticipated bumps in the road and were surprised Rolen didn't run into problems until late in the year.

"The surprise was 'Wow, you made it to September,"' Rolen said. "The surprise was you went into spring training and did every drill and didn't miss a day.

"The surprise wasn't that I was going to have a setback."

A month away from the Cardinals' report date to Jupiter, Fla., on Feb. 14, Rolen said he was miles ahead of last year's model from a conditioning standpoint. At this time last winter he had just begun to swing a bat and had not lifted any weights.

"I'm a different guy sitting here today than last offseason when I was hopeful and optimistic," Rolen said. "I'm doing everything I've done in the past. I'm totally free from any limitations."

Despite the lateseason slump, Rolen ended up five RBIs shy of a seventh 100-RBI season. He led the team with 48 doubles, one shy of his career best, and played in 142 games.

He also got a happy ending that eluded him in the 2004 World Series, when he went 0-for-15 while the Cardinals were getting swept by the Red Sox, and again in 2002 when he hurt his left shoulder for the first time in the NL division series against the Diamondbacks.

This time, there was elation. The Cardinals were lightly regarded to say the least after nearly blowing a seven-game lead while limping in with a 3-9 finish, but then knocked off the Padres in four games, the Mets in seven and the Tigers in five.

Rolen didn't allow himself to dream about his first championship until Jeff Weaver got pinch hitter Alexis Gomez to fly out for the final out in the seventh inning of Game 5 with the Cardinals leading 3-2.

Rolen's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh provided an insurance run.

"I ran off the field and you kind of have to pinch yourself because up to that point you're going about your business, trying to concentrate to have your best performance," Rolen said. "I guess the little kid comes out a little bit where you're thinking 'Man, we're in control of this thing and this could happen.'

"All you're thinking about is just throwing your arms in the air."

Rolen distanced himself from all of his postseason failures in the World Series, leading the Cardinals with a .421 average and 14 total bases and five runs scored, and tying for the lead with eight hits.

"I'm still excited to think that no matter what happens in your career, at any time, you won a World Series ring, a World Series ring," Rolen said. "That's pretty good. You don't want it to wear off and I don't think it will ever wear off."