Williams, Womack go from goats to heroes

PHOENIX (AP) -- When things go wrong for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the fans often turn their wrath on Matt Williams and Tony Womack.

The boos were transformed to delirious cheers in the ninth inning of a 2-1 victory over St. Louis on Sunday night as Williams and Womack came through with the dramatic hits that sent the Diamondbacks to their first NL championship series.

"Very fitting," Curt Schilling said. "Both Matt and Tony have been on the edge with everybody except us, his teammates, all year long."

Schilling was awesome again in another duel with Matt Morris that matched the intensity of their showdown in Arizona's 1-0 victory in Game 1 five days earlier.

"I was probably a lot more nervous tonight than I was in Game 1," Schilling said. "I'm not sure why. I've never pitched a clinching game. That probably had something to do with it."

Arizona will face well-rested Atlanta in the NLCS. Game 1 is Tuesday in Phoenix.

Reggie Sanders' 447-foot home run had given Arizona a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, then J.D. Drew's homer with two outs in the eighth tied it at 1.

Schilling, still throwing 98 mph, struck out the last two batters he faced, then watched his teammates come through.

With Dave Veres relieving Morris, Williams doubled off the bullpen fence in the right field corner. He was replaced by pinch runner Midre Cummings, who advanced to third on Damian Miller's sacrifice bunt.

Womack, who already had singled twice, came to the plate against reliever Steve Kline and tried to lay down a suicide squeeze bunt. But the pitch was in the dirt, and Womack couldn't connect. Cummings was easily tagged out.

"This guy made one of the toughest pitches I've seen to squeeze," Womack said, "so I just put it away. I had to put it away real quick and try to do what I do best. I knew I still had a strike left and just did the best I can."

Four pitches later, Womack slapped a single to left field over the outstretched hands of shortstop Edgar Renteria and Bautista raced home from second, sliding in well ahead of the Albert Pujols' throw.

"This guy was hot all night and playing out of his shoes, diving, making snags," Kline said. "I pitched pretty well against him all year. He got something on his hands and blooped it over Edgar's head."

Schilling got the victory in two of Arizona's three wins in the best-of-five series. He threw a three-hitter in Game 1.

Williams and Womack resisted any temptation to strike back at their critics.

"Everything's magnified now," Williams said of his 0-for-15 slump. "If you have a stretch like that, it's not like the regular season where you can take a day or two and work and try to figure it out."

Womack said he and Williams never lost confidence, despite their struggles.

"When you believe in yourself, things can happen, and I think we both believed in ourselves," Womack said. "We took the long road, but we believed in ourselves."

Morris, winless in the series despite two outstanding starts, allowed seven hits, struck out six and walked three.

"I'm not a betting man, but 16 innings, two runs, and you would thought he would have won them both," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He was great."

Morris threw 130 pitches in eight innings, but again Schilling was just as good, or maybe a little better.

"He stepped it up again," Morris said. "We were able to get one off him, but I made a mistake to Reggie Sanders. I threw him a curveball for a strike, and I'm sure he was sitting on it."

Drew's homer on an 0-1 pitch ended a string of 25 consecutive scoreless innings in the postseason for Schilling.