Carpenter Thankful for Reaching Big League Dreams

He wasn't unlike thousands of other young aspiring baseball players.

Chris Carpenter – who was born in Exeter, grew up in Raymond and played for Trinity High School in Manchester – could only dream of one day pitching in the big leagues.

Yet there he was late last month, 36 years old and taking the mound in the deciding game seven of his third World Series.

"You hope you can get the opportunity to do this. I mean pitching in high school, all you want to do is get the opportunity to play major league baseball, never mind pitch in a World Series or do it more than once," said the St. Louis Cardinals ace, who resides in Bedford with his family in the offseason. "But once you get there that's the goal, just like trying to win a state championship or a Little League championship or whatever, the goal is to win, and I've been very fortunate to do that.

"That's all I imagined (while growing up in New Hampshire), and then once you get there, you realize how difficult it is. You feel fortunate just to have the opportunity to play professional level at the Major League level, and you take advantage of the situation for as long as you can," Carpenter continued. "I feel very fortunate to have played in the World Series three times, and to win it twice, it's unbelievable. It's awesome ... but it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of grinding. I mean, it's not easy. It's a long season, and it takes a lot of work in the offseason."

This year was especially gratifying, he added.

The Cardinals, in first place in the National League Central division early in the season, hit a prolonged rough patch through the dog days of summer. Left for dead by most baseball pundits, St. Louis began inching back up the standings, and on the final day of the regular season, completed their crawl out of a 10.5-game hole by clinching the NL Wild Card.

"Fortunately, we were able to turn it around and play well those last couple months of the season," said Carpenter. "I mean, we were essentially playing playoff baseball that entire time because every game we had at the end of the season we had to win or we were going to miss the playoffs."

While the experience playing under the stress of elimination certainly helped in the postseason, Carpenter said the Cardinals' chemistry put them over the top.

"For us, it was huge. We have a great clubhouse and a great group of guys who enjoyed going to the ballpark. We had a lot of guys who would show up early everyday just because they loved being there and they loved hanging out with the guys," he said. "When it's enjoyable to go to the ballpark and hangout with your teammates, it makes a huge difference ... It was very satisfying. We had a lot of fun, we had a great run."

Carpenter pitched six innings in game seven of the World Series, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out five batters to earn the 6-2 victory for the Cardinals.

He finished 2-0 in three World Series starts with a 2.84 earned-run average and posted a 4-0 record in the 2011 postseason.

For Carpenter, who also helped the Cardinals capture the 2006 World Series title, the win represented his second series-clinching victory of the playoffs.