Miss Kasi, you got your gift

Okay, before I begin, I should say this.

I don’t like guaranteeing things because I know how it always end for me or in this case, my favorite teams.

During last night’s Game 7, I was talking to Kasi (notice the recurring theme here) for most of the night about various things and keeping her up-to-date on what was happening in New York City.

For some reason, after talking to her about the brick-oven, thin-crusted pizza that my friend Tom had when I went over to his house and watched (no, I was focused more on the action in Game 6) 16 Blocks with the rest of the guys , I ended up saying that the Cardinals were going to win the pennant just for her.

That’s when I said to myself, “It’s all about to come crashing down now.”

That was right before Scott Rolen threw the ball into the seats and I explained to her that he was the third baseman and he doesn’t do that very often.

Instead of giving her the play-by-play, I just listened to her problems and was kinda praying that the Cardinals or Mets would score so I could interrupt her and give her the latest score.

Which didn’t happen.

Before the eighth inning was over, she told me that she was going to let her sister get on the computer.

My friend in Chattanooga, the one who had their fingers crossed, and I was talking at the same time when Yader Molina hit that homer off Rick Heilman in the ninth to give the Cardinals the lead and possibly the pennant.

In a behavior that is normally found in those sad Chicago Cub fans, I found myself counting the outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and praying with my friend in Chattanooga that the made-up curse that I came up with during the last weeks of the regular season was ready to show up again.

Jose Valentin and Endy Chavez both got hits to start the bottom of the ninth.

Cliff Floyd strikes out looking. Two outs to go.

Around that same time, I made calls to my therapist Dr. Chris, Tracy, and my big sister Krystal and gave them the score.

Jose Reyes lines out to Edmonds. One out to go.

Paul LoDuca draws a walk to load the bases and that’s when the ghost of this past summer made a visit (please committ me to a crazy house).

This coming during the time that Carlos (Expletive) Beltran came to the plate.

With my hands shaking because I was really nervous about the Cardinals’ chances in the bottom of the ninth, I kept sending my friend pitch-by-pitch accounts.

Ball one. Strike one.

Ball one. Strike two.

Wainwright delivers the pitch.

Strike three call.

And the magical season that it’s been so far this season continued for me and most importantly, the Cardinals.

Thirty minutes after I calmed down, I sent Kasi a message that read:

“hey boo i just wanted to let you know that ur gift has been delivered by the 2006 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS ST. LOUIS CARDINALS and if you get this message, just remember that i love you and GO CARDS!!!!!!!!“

Before I wrote this morning’s post, I talked to Kasi briefly and asked her did she get the message.

Her response?

“Yea.”

Game 7 play-by-play (Part 2)

Suppan’s looking good out on the mound for the Cardinals as the game goes into the fifth inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, a pitch by Suppan to Jose Valentin jumped up and hit him in the chin.

8:37 p.m.-Belliard hits a single to left-field. Jeff Suppan is at the plate. UPDATE-8:38 p.m. (Suppan moves Belliard to first on a sacrifice bunt).

That pennant is comin’ Miss Kasi.

Game 7 play-by-play

7:05 p.m.-Kasi just sent me a message. She’s had a long day.

7:12 p.m.-My friend Nichole just crossed her fingers in Chattanooga, so she’s doing pretty much the same thing that everybody in the Cardinal Nation is doing

First Inning
7:17 p.m.-Eckstein hits pop fly to right-center

7:19 p.m.-Spiezio strikes out looking.

7:20 p.m.-Delgado drops a routine fly ball that grants Pujols second base.

7:22 p.m.-Encarncion pops up to right field, leaving Pujols on second to end the inning for the Cardinals.

7:23 p.m.-Kasi just sent me a message about her sister.

7:26 p.m.-Jose Reyes hits grounder to short.

7:27 p.m.-LoDuca hit grounder to third.

7:28 p.m.-Kasi now is telling me that she realizes that she wants to live alone. Who doesn’t?

7:30 p.m.-Beltran hits a double to left-field.

7:34 p.m.-Delgado walks. David Wright (guy was on my Fantasy Baseball team) is at the plate.

7:35 p.m.-Wright hits a single scoring Beltran. Runners are at first and third.

7:36 p.m.-Green hits a smash to Rolen to get the Mets out of the inning.

Blue Balls 1 Cardinals 0

Second Inning

7:40 p.m.-Edmonds hits a single to rightfield. Scott Rolen is at the plate.

7:41 p.m.-Rolen popped up to center-field.

7:44 p.m.-Molina hits a flare to left-field, moving Edmonds to third because of a misplay by Reyes.

7:45 p.m.-Belliard scores Edmonds with a safety squeeze. And Kasi is now wishing like many of those listeners in Cardinal Nation when Mike Shannon talks about the full moon in New York City that she was here in town to share the pizza I had with my friends out in Cordova.

7:47 p.m. Suppan strikes out to end the Cardinals’ half of the second inning.

7:50 p.m.-Kasi is not believing me when I tell her that the pizza I had on last night was as big as a rug. Valentin pops out to Encarncion, who snags it from Belliard.

7:52 p.m.-Chavez hits a grounder to first.

7:53-Perez hits a popup to left field. Mets go down in order.

Cardinals 1 Blue Balls 1

Third Inning

7:57 p.m.-Eckstein hits a double that got inside the foul line for the Cardinals’ first extra-base hit of the night.

7:59 p.m.-Wilson strikes out for the first out of the top of the third.

8:03-Perez walked Pujols like a sissy. Encarncion hits into an inning-ending double play.

Now it’s the Curse of the Aquarius Girl vs. Cardinals

You’ve been through this before, Cardinal fans.

Game 7.

One game.

Win or go home.

Step your game up or fold like a bad hand in poker.

Scott Rolen, please cut out the crybaby crap.

No one’s buying it these days in the Cardinal Nation.

We thought for certain that the Cardinals would clinch on Wednesday night when the NLCS moved back to Shea Stadium.

Chris Carpenter was on the mound.

Some scrub whose last name is the same as a state up North was on the mound for the Mets and even had a better ERA than Carpenter.

So you knew that there was going to be a wild celebration in St. Louis on Wednesday night.

Wrong.

I myself had figured that the Mets were not going to lay down easily and come out swinging.

Which they did on Wednesday.

Now Cardinal fans, it’s time to sit at the edge of the seat.

Big Apple vs. the Gateway City.

Suppan vs. Perez.

And a possibilty that the ghost of that Aquarius girl who put a curse on
the Cardinals back in 2005 could reappear again in front of Scott Rolen or David
Eckstein.

Hopefully that will stay away from the confines of Shea Stadium.

I’ll be liveblogging Game 7 tonight, so look for up-to-date scoring reports throughout the evening.

Go Cards!!!!!

She’s still waiting for them to choke

A few minutes ago, I had an interesting conversation with a friend who happens to be a Cubs fan and I proudly said that the Cardinals are one win away from the 18th pennant in franchise history.

Of course, I tried to explain that unlike her, I’ve seen the Cardinals win a pennant in my lifetime (heck, they’ve won three pennants in my lifetime) and the Cubs have done nothing but choke year in and year out.

The funny thing about it, is that she lives in southern Illinois, which is Cardinal country all the way and five hours away from Chicago and three hours away from St. Louis.

And oddly enough, the same city where I spent a few months going to school after graduating from high school in 2003.

When the Cubs were looking for their new manager, I said to her that she ought to apply for the job and maybe whip Kerry Wood into shape, something that Dusty Baker couldn’t do in his three years in Chicago.

Only one condition.

I would have to convert into a Cubs fan.

The last time I talked to her, it was right before Game 1 of the NLCS and I gave her the score when the game went into the seventh inning.

And she was about ecstatic as I was when Gary Bennett hit that grand slam against the Cubs on August 27th.

A few minutes ago, I said to her that the Cardinals are one game away from the pennant.

And I asked her was she still waiting on them to choke.

Her response?

“Yeap.”

Poor thing.

Can we say it now?

It was only a year ago when I started hyping up a possible World Series championship for the Cardinals and hanging out with my friend Kasi when I went to Nashville with my job and I started writing about it in my old blog.

Until both the Houston Astros and my own selfish interest in hanging out with Kasi screwed up everything in the two days prior to me leaving for Nashville.

A year later and almost one year to the day that Mr. Pujols hit that silencer in Houston, the Cardinals are one win away from…………….

From……………

The uh………………

Wu-uh…………

Seer….

Ies…

Pause for a collective breath and say this with me.

The Cardinals are one win away from putting an end to the Curse of the Aquarius Girl.

And the World Series.

Have you exhaled after saying that in a collective voice with me?

Of course, at the same time, there’s a possibilty that I could be hanging out with my friend Kasi when I head to Nashville next weekend with the Memphis Church.

And the Cardinals could be World Champions by the time that happens.

At the same time, I keep waiting for the egg to hit me square in the face and end in the same way that it always does.

When I talked to her last night, I made no mention of me coming to Nashville with my church, because I didn’t want to make her the main objective of my trip there with the Memphis Church.

Which was the same thing that I explained to a friend on Sunday when we had dinner over at another friend’s house in East Memphis.

I said to them, “I don’t want to make that [Kasi] the focal point of my trip. If we do hang out, fine, if not, that’s fine as well.”

Which was not the attitude that I had last year because it seemed that everything was going well in my friendship with Kasi.

Which it wasn’t.

What was, in my hindsight, a two-way friendship, was a selfish interest in my own resume in life.

And for three months, I became humbled by the fact that I was not a good friend to Kasi and in late March we began talking again over instant messaging.

And this time, it was more of a real friendship than a well, self-absorbed promotion of all things Doc Hancock.

And well, things have never been better.

Before the Cardinals began the NLCS, I said to Kasi that our friendship is more important than a silly Cardinals pennant.

And well, two things that I wanted to happen last year could happen next week.

The Cardinals head to the World Series.

And I hang out with Kasi.

You can cross your fingers now.

You gotta love Kasifest

Right now, I’m on messenger talking to Kasi and the Cardinals have a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

9:14 p.m.-Jim Edmonds hit grounder to Delgado threw out the runner at the plate.

Anyway, I just came in from a Bible study so I’ll have a lot to say after the game is over.

Probably.

Rainouts, drama and rotations, oh my

When we look back on the 2006 NLCS, the one thing that will be on the minds of people in the Cardinal Nation is that twice during the series, there were postponements due to the account of rain in both St. Louis and New York City.

For the Cardinals, it meant that Jeff Weaver got an extra day off because of the rainout and a possible chance of pitching the Cardinals to a victory and one game away from the World Series.

All this coming on three days’ rest.

Early this morning, I read on Derrick Goode’s Post-Dispatch blog that there was even talk of pitching Chris Carpenter in place of Weaver for game 6, mainly because Carpenter has a very strong home E.R.A. and has been the Cardinals’ workhorse for the last two years and is well on his way to pitching 250-plus innings for the second straight year.

Which would have resulted in Carpenter pitching on four days’ rest and Weaver would get the ball for Game 6 and a possible close to the series.

Not only that, the soap opera antics of Scott Rolen, who was moved down in the batting order on Sunday night, has pretty much been the storyline of the series for the Cardinals.

Not to mention Pujols’ hamstring, which was reported in this morning’s Post-Dispatch (http://www.stltoday.com/sports/cards
Of course, here’s one stat.

Since 1996, according to the good people at Viva El Birdos, pitchers that got short rest during the postseason have started 34 games.

And have finished with a combined record of 5-15 with a 5.54 E.R.A.

Tom Glavine did it against San Francisco in 2002 while with the Braves and got shelled for seven runs in three and a half innings of work.

That should give you some solace, Cardinal fans.

I love Scott Spiezio

The Emperor once again got a 2-run triple for the Cardinals in the bottom of the first inning to put the Cardinals on the board and Jeff Suppan hit a homer that barely got over the left-field wall to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

David Eckstein scored on a wild pitch thrown by Steve Traschel and Preston Wilson scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Jim Edmonds to make the score 5-0, which is where the score stands now.

The Mets now have Darren Oliver pitching for the Mets after Traschel left the game because of a line drive that was hit off his foot into left field by Preston Wilson.

And so far, Oliver’s looking goo but he’s overshadowed by Suppan’s outstanding performance.

Who wrote this script?

Say it now, the Detroit Tigers are American League champions for the first time since the year of my birth (1984) on a walk-off homer by Maggilo Ordonez that went well into the Detroit night and set off a celebration that will definitely be one to remember.

Go Tigers!!!!!!