the amazing Cards

so remember this post?

http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2011/10/it-aint-over.html

about the Cardinals winning the World Series? well you would have thought this was THE most amazing thing you would ever see in Cardinals World Series play- and you might be right but then again you might not be- because here is what happened last night to bring the Cards into the lead 2-1 in the World Series with the Red Sox of Boston (good thing Ellie is in China and didn't have to watch it- LOL)

"The lollapalooza commenced when Jon Jay hit a sizzling ground ball, snatched by Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who threw a dart home to cut down Molina. The opportunistic but physically limited Craig took off for third base on Pedroia’s throw — and let’s just say Usain Bolt has nothing to worry about in a foot race with Craig.I don't know if Allen Craig could win a race against Torty Craig, his pet tortoise. Close call. 

Boston catcher Jared ltalamacchia shouldn't have done it but he fired the ball to third to nab the sliding Craig and snuff the Cardinals’ threat. But an overthrow zoomed beyond third, into foul ground near left field.

Craig tried to get up, but was tangled with Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who was face down on the infield dirt. Craig dislodged himself, but Middlebrooks raised his legs, and Craig tripped. 

Finally a free man, Craig made a desperate bid to score, not knowing that Joyce had already made the obstruction call that had brought Game 3 to a chaotic close.

Craig kept running, anyway. 

Kept running on that gimpy foot.

Kept running for his team.

Running like Torty. 

Running despite the pain, the discomfort, and perhaps the fear of another injury. 

“I felt like I was running in slow motion,” Craig said.

He kept running because this was a pivotal game, and it was the only thing to do. 

Craig kept running as if the World Series depended on it … which it may have.

“I was just trying to get home,” Craig said. “I didn’t have much in the tank.”

so- congratulations Cards!
you gotta love a team with this much heart! Good luck, hope you get the third and fourth wins in short order so you can put my husband out of the misery of being on pins and needles each time you play.....

it ain't over

until it's over--- Cards win the world series!!!!

Series standings: Cardinals 4 - 3 Rangers

Oct 28 @Cardinals		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Rangers	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Cardinals	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	0

R	H	E
2	6	0
6	7	1

amazing series - Rangers played their hearts out too-a shame they are from Texas - did we forget to say we sent the Cub's goat down there????

it might help the Cubs next year--- and thank god there is ALWAYS a next year for the Cubs...

in the cards

my husband lives and dies with his hometown team - the St Louis Cardinals... and of course he has many friends who don't understand how baseball can be THAT alluring but last night his team brought more than one grown man to tears as they battled their way to a win that will keep the world series going one more game. 

I appreciate baseball- would even say that among sports it would be my favorite but I am not a FAN- I am good for five solid innings and then I get antsy- AND if I have a team in the game I get anxious about them so I generally stay away

but this was an historic game and to give a flavor I will excerpt from this mornings WSJ:

ST. LOUIS—Yes, it's corny, but it really was one of those games that grandparents will be telling their grandchildren about decades from now, a game that had people who had been watching baseball for three-quarters of a century saying they couldn't believe what they had just seen.

In short, the St. Louis Cardinals would not die. Two runs down and one strike from the end in both the ninth and 10th innings, the Cardinals staged two of the most stunning comebacks in baseball history and set up David Freese's dramatic, game-winning, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to defeat the Texas Rangers 10-9.

it's hard to believe that anything that will take place Friday will top the series of wild, game-saving hits and clutch home runs that unfolded over four hours and 33 minutes of baseball Thursday night at Busch Stadium beneath the city's iconic arch.  "I have been watching baseball for 70 years and I can't remember ever seeing a game like this," said a nearly speechless Commissioner Bud Selig when it was over. "Only baseball could deliver something like this."

It's true. There was no clock that was running down, nothing that could stand in the way of this freakishly gritty Cardinals team but a final 27th out, and then a 30th one.  "This is better than the three home runs I hit the other day," said Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols whose double began the ninth-inning rally. "This is what baseball is all about."

It was a wild game filled with errors, misplays, clutch home runs, and emptying bullpens even before the real madness began in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Rangers could practically taste their first World Series championship, and they had their lights-out closer Neftali Feliz on the mound. But then Freese's two-out, two-strike triple blasted off the right field fence to score Pujols and Lance Berkman to tie the game. Freese somehow caught up with Feliz's 98-mile per hour fastball, sent it over the head of Nelson Cruz and gave the Cardinals life.

With the score tied at four in the seventh, the Rangers appeared to pull away, Adrian Beltre and Cruz crushed back-to-back home runs to start the seventh inning to give the Rangers a 6-4 lead. Beltre blasted a 1-0 fastball over the fence in right-center field. Then Cruz stepped in and crushed a hanging breaking ball into the third deck down the left-field line. With two outs and Derek Holland on second, Kinsler drove a single to center to give the Rangers a three-run cushion that almost looked safe.

Not even close. Allen Craig cut the lead to two in the eighth. Then the Cardinals loaded the bases, a warning shot of sorts. They weren't going to go quietly, even with Feliz, one of the game's elite closers, set to come on.  "This team just never gives up," owner Bill DeWitt said. "I never counted them out. It's the greatest baseball game I've ever seen."

Sitting in his suite, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, said he was stoic, even as the end was a strike away. "No matter what, until we get our last strike, we do not quit."

No, they don't. They were 10-and-a-half-games out of the playoffs in August but stormed back and qualified on the last night of the season. Then they faced down Roy Halladay, the game's best pitcher, on the road in Game 5 of the Division Series.

Now this.

And yet, there is still one more game to play. Everyone has to come back here Friday afternoon, start all the routines all over, and give glory a shot one last time.

So again tonight my husband will be on the edge of his seat- willing HIS Cards to one more win this year... along with all his brothers - who spent the evening together despite being separated by thousands of miles -  by texting each other as the game progressed.

GOOD LUCK NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!! ST LOUIS CARDINALS!!!! GO CARDS!!!