Up late last night watching one of the greater games you’ll ever see in the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals made an improbable comeback not once, but twice, both times down to their last strike to end the game. The game stretched into extra innings and ended after a towering walk-off home run from David Freese of the Cards sent the St. Louis crowd into a frenzy and the Texas Rangers slouching to their clubhouse. There, the plastic that had been draped over their lockers to protect them from the champagne that was supposed to be popping in celebration had been rolled up and hovered above the downcast players like a symbolic Sword of Damocles.
Even though my team is not here, I am loving this Series and these Cardinals. I grew up a Cards fan, worshipping Bob Gibson and his teammates, but have strayed away over the years. So I can’t say they’re my team. But this team has such a gritty guttiness that I can’t help but root for them. In the regular season, they staged one of the great comebacks of all time, coming from 10 1/2 games back just to squeak into the playoffs where they upset the heavily favored Phillies. They have been big underdogs here in the Series but somehow keep fighting back against the stacked Rangers. I keep expecting Nolan Ryan’s head to literally explode at some point during these tense games.
The beauty of the Cards is that they are doing it with players who are not big names, outside of the legendary status of Albert Pujols. For example, John Jay is an outfielder who has looked so out of his class through much of this series but somehow comes up with two bigs hits in the tightest situations, when the enthusiasm of the Cardinal fans was beginning to wane. The same for Daniel Descalso, a utility player who will not be showing up on any fantasy baseball rosters anytime soon. I can’t help but root for guys who don’t realize and don’t care that nobody is expecting them to win. They are dong something all the big names who didn’t make it this far couldn’t do— playing in the moment.
So, I guess I’ll be watching the Cards tonight and even if they don’t complete what appears to an appointment with destiny by winning, I will watch to the last out. You never know what these Cardiac Cards are capable of.
Redtree Times 