Cards pitcher Jeff Suppan could have won game 3 of the NLCS all by himself tonight. He pitched 8 shutout innings, and in his first at-bat, hit a dinger off Steve Trachsel, his second homerun off Trachsel in two years. I'd like to see some stats about whether that's been accomplished before. At times like these, I love the National League. The AL's DH rule can go...crawl in a hole somewhere.
I felt quiet and sure the entire game. We were sharp. We did everything right. Suppan was brilliant. Pujols was precise and productive. Jimmy Ballgame executed the sacrifice bunt and made an amazing game-ending catch, adding a little flair to the Cards' 5-0 victoire.
I like the Birds this year because we haven't been dominant. In fact, our season was downright awful, and we won just enough games to make an appearance in the playoffs. The past couple years, we enjoyed undisputed status as the #1 team in the National League, owning the best record and all that. Yet neither year did we play like ourselves in the playoffs, and though we had minor success, our play rarely mirrored our regular season success. This year is different. We are not ourselves, and that's a good thing. We're playing like we should have been the past couple Octobers. We're playing like we got nothin' to lose, cuz we don't. Could it be that La Russa actually wants to win? Unbelievable!
Now we're up 2-1 on the Mets/Muts/Pondscum. I'm seeing the end-of-the-tunnel light. I could be eating my words in a few days, but it doesn't really matter, because I'm happy with what I've seen in the last 7 games of the postseason - Pujols' resilience at the plate, Spiezio's uninhibited swing, Taguchi's miracle homerun, the bullpen rats (Brat) coming through in the clutch, Rolen proving he can play through an injury. I suppose I just want to remember this feeling I have right now, a feeling of complete sastisfaction. What more can a tortured Cardinals fan ask for?
P.S. Heidi pointed out that a lot of baseball managers are Italian - La Russa, Francona, LaSorda (retired), Torre - and yet very few players are any more. Hmmm.
I still think I'm the good luck charm by leaving the country right before the playoffs started. I think I'm the true "tortured Cardinals fan" since I don't even get to watch them play when they're playing well.
Not to get too ahead of ourselves, but the Tigers are looking pretty dominant right now, and I don't even know a thing about their team. "It's never easy."
i do know that former cardinal placido polanco was the alcs mvp for the tigers, AND he's puj's son's godfather.