Cardinals win National League
posted in Post-season, St. Louis Cardinals, World Series |1934. 1968. And now 2006. The St. Louis Cardinals took a 3-1 lead on a two-run, ninth-inning home run by catcher Yadier Molina. New York made it interesting — very interesting. Two batters at the bottom of the lineup singled, Paul Lo Duca worked a two-out walk to load the bases, but Carlos Beltran watched rookie closer Adam Wainwright’s strike three throw go by. They’ll now meet the Tigers in the World Series for the third time in the history of the organizations. (An interesting historical note, the cities met a fourth time when the Detroit Wolverines played the St. Louis Browns in 1887.)
Both teams’ starters pitched phenemenol games — Jeff Suppan allowed two hits in the first inning and not another in seven innings of work — but it came down to relief. St. Louis had the better relief and pulled out the 4-3 series victory at Shea Stadium.
Game 1 of the World Series is Saturday night in Detroit. The Tigers will be seen (rightfully so) as the heavy favorites. Being favorites doesn’t necessarily mean anything, though. Just ask the Mets. And the Padres. And the Yankees. (And depending who you asked, the A’s). I’ll try to break down as much as I can tomorrow.
In the meantime, prepare to hear about Jim Leyland’s love of Tony La Russa and the Cardinals organization, Leyland and La Russa’s friendship, Jeff Weaver’s former time in Detroit, Detroit’s sweep of St. Louis earlier this year, the battle of two underdogs, and probably that the teams have met before. (Likely the media will say something silly as if ‘68 has anything to do with ‘06.) Freep’s John Lowe points out no matter who wins, something historic occurs: Either Leyland or La Russa will join Sparky Anderson as the only other manager to win World Series titles in both leagues. In other words, plenty of storylines. Stale ones regionally, but storylines none-the-less. This matchup is good for Midwest baseball, bad for ratings.
Sphere It
I was aware of Leyland’s imminent success with joining Sparky Anderson, but for whatever reason I didn’t project LaRussa out in the same way.
FOX must loathe this matchup. I’m surprised they didn’t find a witch doctor in order to place a curse on St. Louis because this might be as disastrous as last year. But both teams have hugely loyal followings, so perhaps they’ll be better than expected. I don’t think the casual fans are clamoring for this matchup though.
Man, I am really dreading the ratings talk. For some reason they always talk about it (as if we care about Ad Revenue?) and it always makes me feel slightly guilty, like I’m to blame for being a fan of a medium-size market team. I guess I’ll call a million of my closest friends and tell them to watch baseball this week.