Sigh...

What a great year. The Cardinals played a great season. Its too bad things didn't end on a high note. I want to say that I was plesntly surprised by the class of the Red Sox. I have always seen Pedro and Manny is pretty arrogant guys, but I was impressed.

I was deeply dissappointed with the Cardinal "faithful" in game 7. When a pitch hit Umpire Merryweather (SP?) in the shin and hopped in pain a very large cheer erupted from the crowd. I thought we had more class than that-- Dispite his bizzare strike zone.

Red Sox won't be back next year.

We will. But there will be several changes.

Not that our bats where any better 9at least after game 1, but it was a case where our pitching sure let us down in the long haul--Carpenter's injury aside. Man I hate being right.

"I want to be wrong. Please let me be wrong. But Cardinal pitching is overachieving and it seems to be only a matter of time before we all come crashing back to this planet we call "Earth." " -CJ July 10,2004

-CJ

In the 6 or the 7

Its all in the number. 1986 or 1987.

-CJ

Almost Pure Bliss!

Been a while, 1987. Here's to better than you. I was smiling like a 5 year old on Christmas morning.

-CJ

Tell No One

If anyone who reads this blog (all 4 of you) lets this get back to my wife that I put this up here, I will take you down. I will take you down to Chinatown. That said, here goes: True story, I couldn't make this up if I tried.

My wife was being her normal wonderful self during the post season and was watching all the games with me. Game 7 ALCS 8th inning. All of a sudden while looking at the TV screen, she says, "Ahhh! I get it." Wondering exactly what this epiphany was all about I asked her. Her quick short reply was, "Nothing." I pressed her about it--curiosity peaked. "No! " she answered, "You'll just laugh at me." Figuring this ought to be good, I quickly lied and reassured her I wouldn't laugh. Being quasi-convinced this was the case she said, "You know that swastika looking thing on the Yankees' hats? Its a 'N' and a 'Y!'"

We need to get to Clemens early. This Rocket is getting old. Haren should be ready to go if Suppan can't keep the ball down. Haren looked mighty impressive in relief of Suppan last time. If you have time stop by your local parish and light a couple for our Redbirds. And, "No!" Camels don't count.

Have you ever heard a louder positive cheer for an intentional walk as Beltran's in game 6?

"Baseball is dull only to dull minds." -Red Barber

-CJ

"I doubt the series will go past game 6."

I sure hope that I'm wrong. Holy monkey! A dual 1 hitter through 6! I'm glad I'm not a betting man. My only question is: With two strikes to Berkman...why walk him. Talking to my friend Peter White from , Mariner Musings, he simply replied, "It's Berkman." Point taken. But we walked him to get to Kent? Lose lose situation. And don't give me that Kent hits into a lot of double plays if the only time you have watched him play was in the division series. Wow did Lidge make Pujols look silly on that last at-bat! That doesn't happen too many times. From a man who doesn't have cable--I was pretty steamed with the Red Sox. In the time the Cardinals finished their game, it took the Red Sox and Yankees 14 innings. Why am I only mad at the Red Sox, you ask. Well I'll tell you. (Back ground singers) *He's going to tell! He's going to tell! etc.* "Stop that! Stop that! No singing!" Because David "fat man" Ortiz was stealing! What in tarnation!?!!? Sure you can argue that he was safe (though called out), sure you can argue that it caught everyone surprised, but the fact of the matter is its David Ortiz stealing!!!!!! Do the Red Sox want to go home early? But there was an even more inept play. Earlier Damon has a lead off broken bat single.....and what does he do? He steals while Cabreara is trying to bunt. WITH NO OUTS!!!!! It must have been a missed sign or something. This does not appear to be a normal Damon. Maybe he's the anti-Sampson! He SHOULD cut his hair and he'll be back to normal.

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer."-Ted Williams
-CJ

Bah!

To all those out there who have started putting up your Christmas decorations I say, "Bah Humbug!"

Only thing more annoying than a "two fingered Texan" is a "two-pitcher ball club." That is why I sincerely doubt this series will go past game 6. It still doesn't make me happy that the series is now tied up.

Will someone like the Mariners please sign Beltran? If the Cardinals can't have him, please let him sign with the equivalent of Siberia.

Was that not the ugliest homerun you have ever seen?

Would like to face the Schillingless Red Sox. That's why I'm keeping an eye on the impossible. Every team has their token jerk. Some have more than their fair share. The Red Sox have Manny and Pedro. The Yankees have Steinbrenner (by popular opinion). The Astros have Clemens. We have Tavarez and Kline. While these boys aren't the face of the team as the other said players/owner, they have been very productive this year. That being said I feel that LaRussa made the move to the bullpen too early yesterday. Marquis had plenty left in the tank, and I believe that LaRussa may be a tad overconfident in said jerks. As I heard a man talk about his Oklahoman senator, "Yeah he's an SOB but he's our SOB."

"To me momentum is nothing more than tomorrow's starting pitcher."
-Brian at RedBird Nation

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." -Dave Barry

-CJ

Keep Rolen Rolen

After an 0-14 start to the post season it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Rolen was due. Once again the Cardinals eventually broke through againt the Astros' suspect pitching. 4 Homeruns, 2 from Scotty. So here it is, before the World Series starts--my prediction: Cardianls in 5 over the Yankees. Look for Mussina to bring them a win, but the Redbird lineup is too dangerous. "Wait!!" you yell, "What about Clemens and Oswalt?" Look, the fact of the matter is the Cardinals will get through on at least one of them if not both. This would leave the Astros 4-0 or 3-1.

"Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel." -Red Smith

-CJ

Just a Matter of Time

At the risk of sounding really over-confident: Its just a matter of time. All a matter of the Hot team vs. The Good team. After witnessing the Astros take a 4-2 lead I quickly thought to myself, "They're going to need more than a 2 run lead to stave off this offense." The real question is just a matter of how many games. Clemens and Oswalt might slow down the 'Stros' bleeding, but they have encountered a fatal disease in the Redbirds. The potent poison of choice last night was not the long-ball as the Cardinals often use (Pujols' being the exception). This just demonstrates that the Cardinals' weapon of choice is more a weapon of "Okay, we had a bad night and we still posted 10 runs." All in all most would like to see a better productive start from their number 1. ( I use that title carefully). Hopefully Woody is getting the chinks out now. We'll need his "A" game come Brooklyn time. Yes, that's right the Red Sox will get lucky to force a game 5. For our sake I will be cheering for the Red Sox to wear out Yankee pitching as much as possible. I would love for Mussina to have to make a game 5 start to clinch it. Then again, he'd still have enough time to rest up--probably. If a true miracle would occur I would love to face the Schillingless Sox. There is something creepy about the Yankee's post-season mystique. If you have time stop by the Basilica and throw up a novena for Carpenter. Jesus was a carpenter so there should be some bias there. HA!
-CJ

Was it just me?

Was it just me or

• were the Fox anchors miserable as usual? Especially after the handshakes between the two clubs when they commented, "the Dodgers came out to acknowledge the fans and probably got caught up in shaking the Cardinals' hands." Is it so hard to believe that this was done out of charity and goodness of heart? In just about EVERY sport except Baseball, on the professional level, there are congratulations between opposing teams. Why shouldn't this be the case here?
  
• were the Dodger fans horrible? I wasn't at the game so I might not have a perfect idea of all that went on, but 1) they seemed to boo every pitch that was called a ball...even those that seemed a foot or more off the plate (at least through the first 4 innings) what do they want from the ump?! 2) several fans were cheering and applauding the moment Edgar got beaned between the shoulder blades! This was not applause for him shaking it off. These were cheers for the beaning. While I did hear distinct cheers in favor of it, it wasn't as loud as other cheers so I know that their were plenty of LA fans who are not like this. But I was still shocked at the amount of fans that would cheer for something like this. Its not like we are Yanks in Boston.
  
• was Pujols' homerun a mistake? I'll take it. But it sure looks like he hit pitch out of the strikezone. It looked a lot like a long fly ball. I know of the theory that Homeruns are mistakes. Blah Blah Blah But this was a mistake. Tip your hat to Pujols because it was hit pure strength that put the ball out of reach.
  
• was the Cardinal defense amazing?
  
• was Jeff Suppan a class act?
  

-CJ

Game 2

Wow I hate blogger! I have lost so many posts.

• Fox was pretty annoying with their "Dodge Dakota Pre-Game Show" with that constant "Hit It!" (Insert annoying jingle here).
• Haren looked great! Glad to know that their is hope despite the free-agency of ... errr...let's talk about happier things.
• U-G-L-Y turns out we got an alibi! We UGLY hey hey We UGLY! Doesn't matter though we won. Was that not the closest 8-3 match you have ever seen? I was pulling my hair out in the 4th.
• Will the real best bullpen in the majors please stand up? Its way overdue for the Redbirds' Relievers to get some serious props. "No Cal, you can stay seated."
• Marquis gave up some monster-mashes! (What was up with that really lame monster-movie teaser?) Hopefully he's just getting that out of his system. The league has officially run out of tape measure!
• WOW am I looking forward to Staurday. It is HEAVEN REALIZED through sports for one day! At least for me. "This will be a day long remembered. It will see the end of the Longhorns and will soon see the end of the Dodgers."

-CV (Cardinal Vader)