At the beginning of this baseball season, with some St. Louis Cardinal fans concerned about the loss of Albert Pujols to the Los Angeles Angels, I said the Cardinals had a better chance of reaching post-season play than the Angels did. (See my April 4 tweet above.) Today, I’m vindicated.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Cardinals eked into the post-season when the San Francisco Giants beat the Dodgers last night, long after most of St. Louis had gone to bed. Living in Phoenix, I was able to see the last inning of the game on the MLB Network, so I went to bed knowing that my hometown team had made it back to post-season play.
Now, it’s on to a one-game, winner-moves-on contest against the Atlanta Braves, who helped the Cardinals make it to the post-season last year with a collapse of colossal proportions. The Cardinals have named Kyle Lohse, this season’s work horse, as their pitcher. The Braves are going with Kris Medlen, who has given up two runs or more only five times this season. One of those games was against the Cardinals.
I’m not thrilled about a one-and-done showdown, but I have to admit it’s high stakes and high drama. And while I don’t feel the animosity about Pujols that some Cardinal fans do, I have to admit feeling good that, like me, he’ll be watching post-season play from the sidelines. I think he’s classy enough to be rooting for his old team.
The big game is scheduled for Friday. You know I’ll be watching. I hope you’ll join me.
