For All The Error Talk...

Sure, it helped that the Tigers threw us some runs, but that didn't win this World Series.

It's as simple as the following:
If they can't score on you, they can't win, no matter how few errors they commit.

This is how championships are won. Hat tip Viva El Birdos.

Cardinals 2006 Post-Season Pitching
era- 2.68
avg- .219
obp- .291
slg- .355
k/9- 6.83
hr/9- 0.77

Give credit where credit is due. I've never been a big Tony LaRussa fan, or a Dave Duncan fan. But they both have now "officially" earned their genius labels in my book for their near perfect game plans.




When you are constantly in the shadow of Whitey Herzog, constantly surrounded by Musial, Ozzy, Brock, Gibson, (and Shannon!), I can see where the pressure might become unbearable at times. After 11 seasons in St. Louis, they have finally "earned their stripes." Welcome, gentlemen, to the "St. Louis Club Of Immortality".

Happy Halloween!

This woman has spectacular talent. The photo ain't bad, either.

Ladies and gentleman, the Yadi-O'Lantern. From Viva El Birdos.

NFL Picks Week 8

Last week I was an incredible 5-8, making me 66-34 on the year. Still good enough to beat these ESPN guys, except for Golic (who, I might add, picked the Cardinals in the World Series during his Mike And Mike morning radio show.)

Green Bay
Cincinnati
New Orleans
Tennessee
Philadelphia
Seattle
Chicago
Giants
San Diego
Denver
Jets
Pittsburgh
Carolina
Minnesota

It's A Beautiful Day

Hit it, Balki.



"Now we are so happy, let's do the Dance of Joy."

Click here for audio of the dance, which should be performed while viewing the following:
















Thank you, St. Louis Cardinals.

Stray Thought Alert

After almost two months, I just realized why HGTV's Design Star winner, David, won the contest. Ready?




He looks quite a bit like Mr. Spock.


Alice doesn't look like Spock. I'm not sure she's ever contemplated this misfortune since her loss a few weeks back.


I consider it a certitude of life that, all things being equal, someone who looks like Spock will always triumph over someone who doesn't. It's just the way the world works.

The World Series Of Politics

Even if tonight's game is postponed because of rain, starting pitcher Jeff Suppan will be on the air, along with some others.

NFL Week 7 Picks

Last week 8-5, meaning I am 61-26 on the year. Which means I am now above all the ESPN Experts.

Cincinnati
Jets
Miami
Jacksonville
New England
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Denver
Arizona
Seattle
Indianapolis
Dallas

Coming Full Circle

One of my earliest baseball memories is getting home one fall afternoon in 1968 in time to watch the Cardinals lose game 7 of the World Series. I was in kindergarten. I remember watching in disbelief as the last out of the game was made, a foul out down the first baseline. Bob Gibson lost the only game he would ever lose in the World Series that day. All the baseball I had ever known was wrapped up in the Cardinals being the best team, having won it all the year before. And now they were no longer the champions. I was almost 5 years old, and it made the world seem different to me. I don't remember crying about it, but it is possible that I did.

Now, it's the Cardinals turn to be underdogs. The time has come, after 38 years, to turn the tables on the Tigers.



Watch the World Series on Fox.



"It's your duty, Judy."

The Curse Is Over

Everyone remembers the curse of the Babe. Most know about the curse of the billy goat.

Not many knew about this curse.

I'm talking about the curse of Tim McCarver.

McCarver was the Cardinals' catcher for most of the 1960s, including the 1964 and 1967 World Champions and the 1968 NL Champions.



He was traded to Philadelphia. But then made his way back to the Cardinals. Only to be traded away again.

Ever since then, I have perceived a sense of bitterness from McCarver toward the Cardinals. Maybe I'm just sensitive, but whenever he would announce the Cardinals games, I always felt he slighted them.

Maybe it wasn't bitterness, but a desire to not appear to "favor" the Cardinals due to his past ties. But I have always sensed he treated St. Louis a little different, even to a very small extent. I could be wrong, but that's how it has seemed.

Even if that is not true, it is an undeniable fact that McCarver the announcer has always been bad luck to the Cardinals.

He was in the booth for the 2004 World Series. Which we lost.
He was in the booth for the 2002 NLCS. We lost.
He was in the booth for the 1987 World Series. Lost.
He was in the booth for the 1985 World Series. Yep.

The Cardinals, until last night, had never won a post-season series which he announced. In fact, when I heard his voice in game one, I thought all was lost. There were so many things going against St. Louis winning, I'm stunned.

Now I'm even more stunned, because I realize the curse of McCarver is over. Now, let's bury that sucker with Tiger carcass.

Smoke And Mirrors

"It has to rank up there. Talk about being nervous in the ninth inning. If you had stuck me up in a tree, I wouldn't have been able to stay in it -- I would have fallen out."
- Cardinals co-owner Fred Hanser.

If you'd have told me in May that the Cardinals...

1- Would be without the services of Mark Mulder for the last 3 1/2 months...

2- Would be without the services of "Good Jason" Isringhausen, figuratively all year but literally for the last 1 1/2 months...

3- That David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols would miss significant portions of the season...

4- That Chris Carpenter would not win a game in the NLCS...

5- That Albert Pujols would have 1 RBI in the NLCS...

6- That Yadier Molina would be the Cardinals hottest hitter...

And then tried to tell me that St. Louis would be in the World Series...

I'da thunk ye mad.


"And yet it happened."

What Is Today?

If you are rooting for the Cardinals, then I'll leave it to the Brady Bunch to give the answer.

WOW!

YAY YADI!


This is one of those nights where sleep will be hard to come by. My heart's been beating like a blender all night long. There's no way to drain the adrenaline quickly. Which is fine. I can savor nights like these. They don't come that often.

I've lived to see some great series in my lifetime, but this one is second banana to none. Thrilling.

Looks Like This Is It

Insert favorite cliche HERE.

It's almost game time.

And look who's stopped in to give the Cardinals some final inspiration.

No, not THAT guy.

It's none other than Dr. Rumack from the movie Airplane!.


"...we're all counting on you."

Gee, thanks, doctor. That should calm some Game 7 jitters.

Just Some Brief Notes

I've been tired the last week due to the playoff games going late. So I'm grumpy and behind on my blogging. So, quickly...

Even if the Cardinals lose tonight and tomorrow, I'm still a happy camper. I never expected this bewildering team to get this far, one win from the World Series. 2004 was fun but ended badly. 2005 the same. 2006 wasn't so fun but has had a great ending. With the exception of Sunday night's game, every game has been a good one. What more could you ask for?

After Monday night's performance, I hope I'll never have to sit through another comparison between this year's Bears team and 1985's version. To me there is no comparison.

I'm watching you, Oakland Raiders. You have a pretty clean shot at a perfect season. No one has ever gone 0-16 in the NFL. Don't blow it. It can be done.

I saw a fascinating movie a couple of weeks ago on a DISH Network Preview Channel. The movie was set in 200 BC China. It is a Chinese film with English subtitles called The Emperor and the Assassin. If you ever get a chance to see it, invest the time. It's worth it.

I can't help but chuckle at that ridiculous Angus Burger commercial from Burger King. "I'm full of sit! You're full of sit! We're all full of sit!"

I was 13-1 last week. 53-21 on the year. Still tied for first with Schlereth in the ESPN Experts Picks.

Detroit
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Dallas
Atlanta
New Orleans
St. Louis
Washington
Pittsburgh
Jets
San Diego
Denver
Chicago

Thanks, Cleveland, Part 2

Why?

We've already had Ronnie Belliard shine this postseason. But that's not why I'm thankful.

The Indians traded Guillermo Mota to the Mets on 8/20. Who was on the mound for the turning point of game 2, a seventh inning two-out two-run double by Scott Spiezio last night?

Mr. Mota.

Thank you, Indians.

Lot's of work to do. There's a flurry of baseball scheduled this weekend. It's all going to happen very fast. I hope we come out on top. If not, so be it. It's already been a memorable post-season.

As Tommy Lasorda says, "Watch the post-season on Fox." And, in closing, I love Tommy's reaction in this clip when the "fan" in the tree is discovered to be a Cubs fan.

Don't You Remember?

Everyone acts surprised by the wintery weather. Not me.

Just remember, you read it here first. I was the first to report the wintery activity.

Stay tuned here for all your news needs. Action news from an action ape.

Something For The Quipper's Group To Ponder

(Since he is a House Of Blues Brother).

Here's an hilarious clip of The Mike Douglas Show from the early '70s. John Lennon and Yoko Ono are co-hosts, and Chuck Berry is a guest. They all start playing together.

I love the bewildered look on Chuck's face when Yoko starts to spasmodically scream like a monkey at about the 2:00 mark. If you haven't seen this, it's a heckuva funny reaction.

How John, an intelligent guy in a worldly sense, hooked up with her, was around her 24 hours a day, and yet couldn't see how bizarrely devoid of talent she was, is beyond me.

But it does make for some entertaining video.

Lennon is so off-key it almost makes you want to turn it down...but you would not want to miss the second coming of the monkey scream at around 3:20.

The second video is not quite as bizarre but is completely pointless. Yoko broke a china cup on purpose, and they used segments of the show that week to glue the pieces back to together. High art.

That's right, go ahead and say, "Huh?" Guess we're all cultureless hicks for not getting this. There are 3 other clips just like this. I'll spare you those, but go to You Tube to see them.

Quipper? Any of this good enough for a House Of Blues trial?

Not This Year

No, I'm not going to go to my room this year for the NLCS. That was more than I could take, and this year it is completely unnecessary. I'm as calm as a cucumber. Or something like that.

Go Cards!

By the way, this years playoffs produced a new Shannonism. Here it is courtesy of the great stlbaseball.johnsebben:
"People all around know about Mike Piazza's inability to throw a base-stealer out. Folks in Okinawa, Bangladesh, North Hollywood and Peoria."

Sure, Mike. Bangladesh has a large number of catching scouts!

Whew!

"And here's to you, Ronnie Belliard,
for your key hits and great defensive play...hey hey hey...
What's that you say, Mr. Belliard?
There's plenty more of that stuff on its way...hey hey hey...hey hey hey."
- The little known, and seldom played, 'missing' verse of 'Mrs. Robinson'.

Special thanks to the Indians for trading us Ronnie. He had 2 key RBIs last night and several key defensive stops in the series. Overall he was 6-13 in the series with a whopping 1.071 OPS.

Glad that one is over. Now everything is all even again. That's the weird thing with the playoffs. The season's records, stats, anything that was done previously, mean nothing. It's all a clean slate with each series.

On to the NLCS. We'll see how it plays out. The WS Championship looks wide open for the taking right now.




Go Cards. Wear red. Be loud. Go crazy.

A Must-Read New Blog Finding

It's Angus G. Van Halen. Not to be confused with regular Angus Van Halen.

Check it out here. It should be an interesting read. There's something quite familiar about his style. But I'm on the case, and I'll figure it out sooner or later.

NFL Week 5 Picks

After an 11-3 week last week, for the year I am 40-20. This is good enough for a first place tie with Schlereth of the ESPN Experts.

Chicago
Carolina
Minnesota
New England
St. Louis
New Orleans
Indianapolis
Giants
Arizona
Jacksonville
San Francisco
Philadelphia
San Diego
Denver

IT'S TIME...

To kick it up a notch!


BAM!

3 p.m. Cardinals/Padres.

Go Carp! Go crazy Albert! Be there, and wear your red!

Weekend Observatories

- It continues to be unusually and inexplicably warm. For winter.

- The Cardinals FINALLY are in. Whew. Doesn't matter how they got there, they are there. Now anything can happen, although I'm realistic enough to know anything probably won't. On the other hand, the Cardinals ARE overdue for a hot streak. Now's as good o' time as any, fellas.

- Watching the clubhouse celebration yesterday I felt a twinge of pity for Ronnie Belliard. There was the usual chaos, laughing, and spraying of beverages among comrades. Then, out of the corner of one camera's vantage point, I caught a glimpse of Belliard. He was just kind of standing there, no one around him but Juan Encarnacion. Kind of like he felt out of place or like he didn't really fit in. Like that awkward kid on a playground, or the new kid on the block. Or, maybe the celebration was winding down anyway and he just was finished.

- What is the deal with the little black bugs that get on your skin this time of year and pinch you hard? What are they? They're less than 1/2 mm in size, but man those little suckers can cause PAIN! It was such a nice weekend weatherwise (for winter, especially), and those little critters spoiled it somewhat.

- Man, Da Bears look good. Too bad it's not January.

- Nice tackling, vaunted San Diego Chargers defense. There's nothing like aggressive defensive players bringing guys down inside the 5 yard line when protecting a lead in the final minute. They should try it some time.

- The Jets-Colts game was the most exciting game of many this weekend. That last play, inspired by Cal-Stanford, is something I expect more often but rarely see.

- The AFC is hard to get a handle on this year. Just when you think the Pats might be done, and the Bengals are the heir apparent, New England puts a beat down on them. Go figure. Maybe this is the Colts year?

- Congratulations go out to the Cleveland Browns for their victory! And they scored 24 points, Quipper!

- I'm going to give out an idiot of the week award, in honor of the Quipper. This is a no brainer. It's Tennessee DT Albert Haynesworth. Who was ejected from Sunday's game with Dallas. First he stomped, without provocation, on Dallas C Andre Gurode's helmetless melon. And then proceded to argue with the official and throw his helmet. And the runnerup idiot award goes to the officials in that game, who apparently didn't eject Haynesworth until after he threw his helmet following the incident. I mean, kicking a guy's bulb so if filets open might get you a flag, but if you throw the helmet, you're in real trouble, man.

- The Cardinals last week staggering towards an epic meltdown reminds me of the climactic scene from For A Few Dollars More, one of my favorites. Here's a clip. The part of the Cardinals, who seem to be dead-men walking, is played by Lee Van Cleef (Col. Mortimer). The part of the Astros, who seem to have the Cardinals by the bag, is being played by Gian Maria Volante (El Indio). And Clint...well he's Pujols, Spiezio, and the Atlanta Braves, who all acted together to rescue the Cardinals.

And in the words of the great Clint..."NOW we start!" The playoffs, that is. And going in to battle with Pujols and Carpenter is not a bad position to be in. "BRAVO!" indeed.

NFL Picks Week 4

Last week I was 9-5, leaving me with a record of 29-17 for the season. This is good enough for second place, behind the great Hoge, among the NFL Experts at ESPN.

Atlanta
Dallas
Indianapolis
Miami
Buffalo
Carolina
Baltimore
Kansas City
St. Louis
Cleveland
Jacksonville
Cincinnati
Chicago
Philadelphia