ST. LOUIS—In Game One of the 2011 World Series, Tony La Russa’s wild La Genius postseason continued. In his team’s tense 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, the Cardinals’ manager made all of the right moves in another October sonata.

La Russa controlled the action to such an extent that you expected him to pick up the phone to successfully call in some warm weather on frigid Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

Texas Manager Ron Washington is very good, and he probably will have some star-turn moments in this World Series. But in Game One, Washington couldn’t keep up with La Russa’s diabolical, spinning mind.

La Russa teamed up with his new best friends, the boys in the bullpen, for another exceptional postseason thriller.

Washington tried to make countermoves but got tangled in La Russa’s trap. No matter how hard Washington tried, it was futile. Don Tony was unyielding. There was no escaping No. 10’s evil headwires.

It wasn’t just La Russa, of course. First baseman Albert Pujols saved a run with an extraordinary defensive play. Lance Berkman drove in the game’s first two runs by chopping a single over the first-base bag.

The Cardinals got a tenacious six innings from starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, who made only one real mistake: a plump fastball that was deposited into the right-field bleachers by catcher Mike Napoli for a two-run homer.

Carpenter improved his career postseason record for the Cardinals to 8-2, and the Cardinals have won 11 of Carpenter’s 13 postseason starts. In blustery conditions that made it difficult to grip the ball for certain pitches, the big man reaffirmed his status as a big-game pitcher.

“When he takes the mound, we feel like we’re going to win every time,” Berkman said.

Carpenter, seated near Berkman in the interview room, laughed and said, “I love you, Lance.”

And the Cardinals certainly are loving their manager.

TLR’s fingerprints and managerial DNA were all over Game One. Things began moving in a hurry in the bottom of the sixth, after David Freese doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Manager Washington moved his infield in. After a Yadier Molina strikeout and pitch-around walk to No. 8 hitter Nick Punto, La Russa went with his most substantial bat on the bench, using Allen Craig to pinch-hit for Carpenter.

Washington removed his starter, lefty C.J. Wilson. Washington obviously wanted to prevent the right-handed-hitting Craig from swinging against a left-hander, so right-handed power arm Alexi Ogando was contracted to    punch-out Craig.

La Russa was fine with that trade-off for a simple reason: in his career, Craig has a better batting average against right-handed pitchers (.300) than left-handed pitchers (.264.) Craig hits for more power against lefties, but all the Cardinals needed here was a base hit. They didn’t need a Bill Mazeroski, Joe Carter or Kirk Gibson moment.

“Cold-weather game, sitting on the bench, World Series, Ogando,” La Russa said. “It’s not a very good situation [for Craig]. But he’s got a history of taking great at-bats, especially with runners in scoring position. So he should have a really great career.”

On a 1-2 count, Ogando tried to blister Craig with a 98-mph fastball. Craig fought it off, going the other way, and dropped a single inside the right-field line. The Cardinals had a 3-2 lead. Craig had what turned out to be the game-winning run batted in. And La Russa had a reason to play another round of October Bullpen Madness.

Right-hander Fernando Salas entered at the top of the seventh, got an out, then put two runners on. La Russa brought in lefty Marc Rzepczynski to face the left-handed-hitting David Murphy, and Washington dispatched a right-handed batter (Craig Gentry) to replace Murphy. But “Scrabble” won the board game for La Russa by striking out Gentry—and then a second pinch-hitter, Esteban German.

After Rzepczynski did his deed, La Russa still needed six more outs and used three relievers to bag them: Octavio Dotel, Arthur Rhodes, and de facto closer Jason Motte. In case you’re keeping score at home, TLR deployed five relievers.

Motte won  a duel with the menacing Nelson Cruz for the final out  to notch his first World Series save.

Motte’s beard ought to be on fire, he’s so scorching right now. In his eight postseason games Motte has allowed one hit in nine innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts. He’s fastened down all five save opportunities. No wonder Sutter was hugging him.

La Russa has no room for error from the sixth inning on—if one maneuver had gone wrong and blown up, the Cardinals probably lose. The Cards’ hitters had a chance to open this game up but left eight runners on base and went two for nine with runners in scoring position. The missed chances made Game One a very dangerous spot for the Cardinals, and it was up to TLR to navigate his team through the treacherous course.

The Cardinals prevailed in a National League ballpark, in an NL-style game. This was a huge win for the Cardinals, who had to establish home-field advantage.

Now they must keep it secure.

“I feel like we have to win the National League-style of games if we’re going to win this thing,” Berkman said. “And tonight was a National League-style game, 3-2, good pitching, good defense, timely hitting. I don’t think we want to get into a gorilla-ball type series with these guys.”

Just carve out a lead for the relievers and La Russa. In the Cardinals’ last five postseason wins, La Russa has manipulated reliever-batter matchups to his side’s favor. In the five victories, over Milwaukee and Texas, the bullpen has worked 23 innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs, with 18 strikeouts. That’s sick.

At age 67, La Russa is having the postseason of his life. Now we’ll see what he has planned next as he plots a way to win three more games and the 11th World Series championship in St. Louis franchise history.