St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 33

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ThlrsdaV-L Jine 27 2002 A Brazil soccer fan celebrates after the victory. Brazil advances to World Cup final Brazil outlasts Turkey 1-0 in the semifinals Wednesday, setting up a showdown with Germany on Sunday for the championship. D2 i SPORTS DARRYL KILE'S MEMORIAL 0 Dan O'Neill donejUposttispatch.com "WE LOVE YO CARDS 5, BREWERS 2 Williams, Matheny salute Kile off and on the field ANDwEM Pair speak at service, then help end 4-game skid By Tom Timmermann Of the Post-Dispatch On Wednesday afternoon," Woody Williams and Mike Matheny honored teammate Dar? ryl Kile with words, Scripture readings and prayers at a Busch Stadium memo rial service. On Wednesday evening, they saluted him with their play.

In a situation 1 that would have seemed right at A umw I 4 ABOUT THE GAME Closer Jason Isringhausen earned his first save since May 28. UP NEXT 7:10 tonight vs. Milwaukee home in a movie, yet for the Cardinals was all too real, two of the three St. Louis players who spoke at Kile's service played key roles in the team's 5-2 win over the '1 41 liaia li i iTi niill LAURIE SKRIVAN POST-DISPATCH Jorie Lewis of St. Louis, a Darryl Kile fan, was one of the last to leave Busch Stadium after Wednesday's memorial service.

"He was such a role model for everybody on the team and for all the kids in the community," she said. Kile's friends remember the man, the athlete and the practical joker Brewers. Williams, the starting pitcher, shut the Brewers out for seven innings before allowing two runs in the eighth. He struck out a season-high seven and drove in a run. Matheny, who was too distraught to play on Sunday, matched his career high with three hits and drove in two runs.

The third Cardinal to speak at the service, reliever Dave Veres, still played a role in another emotional game. Before the game, he accompanied Kile's 5-year-old son, Kannon, to the pitcher's mound for a poignant first-pitch ceremony. See Cardinals, D5 By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch friends, teammates and former teammates saluted Darryl Kile after On this special day, stadium became temple of healing This field has seen so much living, so much joy. This piece of downtown real estate, encircled in concrete and attached to our hearts, has so often lifted spirits and enriched lives. There have been moments of great drama here, romantic heroes, fantastic spectacles.

The Beatles made music here, the Wizard made magic, Big Mac made history. When the die is ever cast to build a new stadium, when they come to tear old Busch Stadium down, many will remember nights they spent here, finding nine innings of happiness in their otherwise complicated lives, finding 27 outs of comfort in disconcerting times. Many will remember this field for what took place here on Wednesday, remember it for spiritual inspiration of a different nature. They will remember the day' they memorialized Darryl Kile, less than a week after they said "so Jong for just a while" to Jack Buck. They will remember their Redbirds dressed in black, a young wife and her innocent young children, the initials "DK 57" lighting up the scoreboard, the initials "JFB" fading in the grass.

And if the divine plan speakers so eloquently referenced is sincere, if the verses this grieving baseball family embraced are well-served, they will remember what took place on this field on a warm and woeful Wednesday afternoon. They will gain strength from it, strength to be better people, depth to do more living and experience more joy. Cardinals pitcher Woody Williams tearfully asked, "Please, let the healing begin." Perhaps now it can for this organization that has carried so crushing an emotional weight, for this community that has mourned right alongside. In his book, "Maximize The Moment," preacher and motivator T.D. Jakes writes: "There is a place called It is not a neighborhood one lives in." You can't find it on a map.

Neither money, nor education, nor influence can get you there. It is a place in life that all wise people seek. It is the place where your soul starts to sing, the place that you sense with all that is in you: 'This is where I was meant to There is the place that God calls us to from the beginning, and most of us spend years, like rats in a maze, trying to make it through all the twists and turns of life to get Loved ones, friends and teammates of Darryl Kile stood on this field and recognized he got "there." Those who considered Jack Buck extended family, those who knew him on a personal basis or heard him on a regular basis, knew he got "there." For those of us still searching, there is comfort in the knowing and a reflective responsibility to get "there" as well. Sportswriters don't pursue their profession for the opportunity to cover memorials, for the chance to trouble a hurting human being with questions about their pain. These past few days have been the worst time to carry a press credential.

But these past few days have underlined what is remarkable about this organization, this ballclub and these fans; what is genuine and profound. There is no road map to follow from this place, no itinerary that indicates how to proceed. No baseball team has ever been so devastated in midseason. But there is character in that clubhouse, we've seen it in these players the past few days, we've seen it in this manager and this organization. There is reason to be certain Flynn Kile and her kids will be held close.

There is reason to hope the Cardinals can lean on each other, find some semblance of peace and find a way "there." Perhaps it started on this field. Perhaps when the testimonials were over and the tears stopped flowing, the healing began. Perhaps this old concrete stadium will lift spirits once more, and there will be more living, more joy. I n't show in mine, whatsoever." Veres, who had known Kile for 11 years from their' days in Houston, Colorado and here, read from Psalms during the service and later said Kile "was truly an angel and now he is probably being crowned with the glory and honor he deserved all along." Veres probably was as close to Kile as any other player, having played with him at three different stops and having moved his family from the Houston area to the Denver area when Kile moved his. The Kiles and Vereses were almost inseparable in the offseason, including the offseason of 1997 when the Kiles were about to have twins.

"Darryl calls me and says, 'I need a camera. I forgot Veres said. "So I stopped by Circuit City and picked up the camera and tripod and went to the hospital," Veres said. Robin Veres, who was also pregnant, must have See Memorial, D8 noon before a crowd of about 5,000 at Busch Stadium, several talked about his love for golf and his love of a practical joke. "If you put down a brand-new ball," said former pitcher Doug Drabek, "especially if it was a water holehe would say, 'Is this a brand-new Titleist? If you said, he would promptly dump it in the water for you.

And laugh. And there was nothing else we could do but laugh with him," said Drabek, a teammate of Kile's in Houston in the mid-1990s. "DK," said Drabek, "I hope they have wide fairways up there because we all know you need it." Pete Harnisch, a righthander who formerly was with Houston, said, "Nobody could hit a golf LAURIE SKRIVAN POST-DISPATCH Cardinals players Steve Kline (left), Fernando Vina and Luther Hackman listen to the eulogies for teammate Darryl Kile on Wednesday at Busch Stadium. jl A i ball farther than Darryl. We'd smash drivers down the middle and Darryl would fly one 30 yards past our best.

He then would pretend he had a camera and click the shutter. "His big joke was that his ball was taking aerial photos of ours as it flew over. Darryl, I know you're taking aerial photos of us now. Look at those pictures. They are those of your family.

We love you and we miss you." Cardinals reliever Dave Veres said, "Before we had kids, we used to play golf four or five times a week. It showed in his game; it did CHRIS LEE POST-DISPATCH Kannon Kile, Darryl Kile's 5-year-old son, throws out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday night. Lottery picks 1. Houston, Yao Ming Rockets take 7-5 Yao with first pick 2. Chicago, Jay Williams 3.

Golden State, Mike Dunleavy i 4. Memphis, Drew Gooden 5. Denver, NikolozTskitishvili jift if 6. Cleveland, Dajuan Wagner 1. a-New Yotto, Maybyner "Nene" Hilario 8.

Clippers (from Atlanta), Chris Wilcox Inside MU's Kareem Rush says he looks forward to his role in the NBA. D6 lllini coach Bill Self says Frank Williams is going to play in "the greatest arena in the world." Williams' former teammate, Robert Archibald, (Lafayette High) says he was surprised to be drafted so high. D6 9. Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire 10. Miami, Caron Butler 11.

Washington, Jared Jeffries ets on Wednesday night. It marked the first time a foreign player who did not play college ball in the United States went No. 1 in the draft. The Knicks and Nuggets pulled off the night's biggest trade, with McDyess and the 25th pick, Frank Williams of Illinois, going to New York in exchange for Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the rights to the seventh overall pick, Maybyner "Nene" Hilario of Brazil. The were a few other deals, too, most of them minor.

The three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers acquired the rights to Missouri guard Kareem Rush, along Ex-HIini Williams is involved in biggest trade The Associated Press NEW YORK Yao Ming went from China to Houston on a night when the NBA draft had a bigger foreign influence than ever before, and Antonio McDyess was dealt to the New York Knicks in the major trade of the day. The 7-foot-5 Yao, who gained clearance from the Chinese national federation to play in the NBA only hours earlier, was selected first overall by the Rock 12. Clippers, Melvin Ely 13. Milwaukee, Marcus Haislip 20. Toronto (from Seattle through New York), Kareem Rush.

Toronto then traded Rush to the Lakers. 25. a-Denver (from Dallas), Frank Williams 32. Memphis, Robert Archibald a-New York and Denver traded selections THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Kareem Rush of Mizzou is congratulated by NBA Commissioner David Stern. with Tracy Murray, from Toronto for Lindsey Hunter and the rights to the 27th pick, Chris Jefferies.

See Draft, D6 COUfCE FOOTBALL The NCAA puts California on probation for five years. DRAG RACING: Kenny Bernstein (right) will be at Gateway this weekend on his farewell tour. Cooper resigns as coach of WNBA's Mercury Cynthia Cooper resigned as coach of the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday. Cooper was 19-23 less than VA years into her first head coaching job. "I decided that the best thing for my family and the organization as a whole was for me to step down," Cooper said in a statement Before going into coaching, Cooper, 39, led the Houston Comets to four straight titles and was named championship series MVP all four years.

She also won the league's regular-season MVP award twice. Upsets rule the day at Wimbledon Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and No. 2 seed Marat Safin (left) suffered losses to little-known opponents Wednesday at Wimbledon. In case you're wondering, the victors were: George Bastl (over Sampras), Paradorn Srichaphan (Agassi) and Olivier Rochus (Safin). Women's play went as expected.

Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati were among the winners. D3 BASEBALL Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent of the Giants aren't talking about their latest tiff. RAMS: Linebacker Kole Ayi, released last season, is back with the team in a trade. Bernie Miklasz is on vacation. His -jcolumn will resume July 4.

AGANCE FRANCE-PRESSE.