BOSTON — Getting Carlos Beltran, who has never played in the World Series, a title is a popular topic around the Cardinals.
So much so Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals’ Game 1 starter Wednesday night, had a dream about the subject he said turned into a nightmare.
“I had a dream the day before that we lost and we didn’t get to the World Series and we weren’t the team to get him there,’’ Wainwright said. “And he ended up signing with the Yankees next year, and the Yankees took him to the World Series. The gist of the dream was he was sitting on a podium saying, ‘I am so happy to be a Yankee and in the World Series.’ It was a nightmare.
“I woke up and had sweats. No disrespect to the Yankees. I think the New York Yankees are an amazing franchise.’’
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The game-time temperature for Game 1 at Fenway Park is expected to be 45 degrees with a 30 percent chance of showers. The temperature will feel as if it’s in the upper 30s by the later innings.
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Cardinals first baseman Allen Craig will be on the active roster for the first time this postseason and will be the DH in Game 1.
Craig, who missed time with a left ankle injury, isn’t sure what will happen when the Series arrives in St. Louis, where the DH won’t be in play.
“I am hoping to be out there as much as I can if it feels good,’’ said Craig, who hasn’t taken ground balls at first yet.
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Former Yankees reliever Randy Choate is a good bet to face David Ortiz, Stephen Drew or Jacoby Ellsbury at some point in the World Series, because that’s what lefty specialists are paid to do.
“I have known Stephen since [brother] J.D. and I were at Florida State. He was the little kid playing in the dirt. I have faced Ortiz enough. I don’t know much about Ellsbury,’’ said Choate, a soft-tosser with a funky delivery who will likely be used before Kevin Siegrist, whose fastball is clocked at 95-96 mph and who works later in the game.
Drew is hitless in four at-bats against Choate. Ellsbury is 0-for-1 and Ortiz is 3-for-9 with three RBIs and a strikeout.
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Cardinals Game 2 starter Michael Wacha gives Chris Carpenter a lot of credit for the staffs’ success even though he hasn’t thrown a pitch this season.
“It’s been unbelievable having him around. He knows a lot of stuff and he is good at sharing it,’’ said Wacha, who also credited Wainwright for helping. “You use it to your advantage.’’
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History will be made in the World Series when Japanese baseball writer Gaku Tashiro will be one of three official scorers. He is the first person from Japan to be an official scorer in a World Series.
Rick Hummel of the St.Louis Post-Dispatch and Mike Shalin, formerly of the Boston Herald, are the other two scorers.
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John Hirschbeck will be the crew chief and behind the plate for Wednesday night’s Game 1 at Fenway Park.
Regular-season crew chiefs Dana DeMuth and Jim Joyce are part of the six-man umpiring crew that includes Paul Emmel, Bill Miller and Mark Wegner.
This is Hirschbeck’s fourth World Series. He was the crew chief in 2010. With his fifth World Series, DeMuth joins Gerry Davis and Joe West for the most among active umpires.
The umps will continue to wear patches with the initials “WB’’ honoring the late Wally Bell, an umpire for 21 years who passed away Oct. 14.