How fast, long, and important were the St. Louis Cardinals NLCS Game 2 home runs?

During the 2014 regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals hit 105 home runs in 6,086 plate appearances for a rate of one homer every 57.96 PAs.

In October 2014, the Cardinals have clubbed 11 home runs in 205 PAs, good for a HR rate of one every 18.63 PAs.

In NLCS Game 2, the Cards whacked four home runs in 34 PAs—or, a dinger every 8.5 PAs. These are those roundtrippers, in order of their appearance on the October stage with exit speed and true distance via the ESPN Home Run Tracker and Win Probability Added (WPA) courtesy of Fangraphs.

1) Matt Carpenter's Lead-Taking Home Run

Inning: 3rd

Exit Speed: 101.3 mph

True Distance: 390 feet
WPA: .132

2) Oscar Taveras's Game-Tying Home Run

Inning: Seventh
Exit Speed: 100.9 mph
True Distance: 364 feet
WPA: .256

After the homer, Adam Wainwright pointed at manager Mike Matheny.

@Cardinals pic.twitter.com/E8MnWdMjaW

— Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) October 13, 2014

Whether he was giving him props for his genius is having Taveras pinch-hit or giving him grief for not giving Taveras more opportunities to hit laser beams into the misty October air that curve around the foul pole, I can't say. Perhaps Waino knew that we had all just witnessed a historical first for the Cardinals franchise.

Oscar Taveras' is the first-ever tying or go-ahead pinch-hit HR for Cards in the postseason #NLCS

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 13, 2014

3) Matt Adams's Lead-Taking Home Run

Inning: Eighth
Exit Speed: 104.3 mph
True Distance: 394 feet
WPA: .311

4) Kolten Wong's Game-Winning Home Run

Inning: Ninth
Exit Speed: 107.6 mph
True Distance: 370 feet
WPA: .375

The MLB.com Stattrack video comes complete with Mike Shannon's home run call:

Swing and a long one! Get up, baby! Get up! Get up! Get up! Good night!

Not too shabby for a short guy.

Kolten Wong is 5-foot-9. According to Elias, he and Kirby Puckett are unofficially the shortest players to ever hit a postseason walk-off HR

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 13, 2014

The Cardinals being Punto-less didn't mean they were Shredder-less. Upon Wong touching the last base of them all, the Redbirds shredded his jersey.

pic.twitter.com/lvjpQLul3S

— Brad Straubinger (@bradstraubinger) October 13, 2014

One can only presume that the various bits and pieces of Wong's jersey will be placed on display in the Cardinals Hall of Fame for years to come. And with good reason.

Ozzie. Jimmy. Freese. Wong. The only postseason walk-off home runs in @Cardinals history.

— Tom Ackerman (@Ackerman1120) October 13, 2014

Correction:This post originally had the incorrect HR/PA rate for NLCS Game 2. It has been corrected.