Last night Albert Pujols came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied as St. Louis batted against the Washington Nationals. It had been an excellent game with the newest Cardinal, the latest in a long line of older players who find new life and happiness in the baseball nirvana that is St. Louis, John Smoltz pitching for St. Louis and John Lannan, working quickly and efficiently for the Nats.
Albert had looked terrible against Lannan in three at bats and would now face Jason Bergmann, who throws harder and faster than Lannan. I don’t think there was anyone in the ballpark who thought Pujols wasn’t going to hit a home run. Certainly the Nats announcers, Bob Carpenter and the ever annoying Ray Knight, said so. Heck even I, half asleep in Virginia, knew it. And, of course, the great thing about Albert is that he did it.
It’s interesting that even though the Cardinals have been leading the NL Central all season, they are rarely featured on national TV. When ESPN and Fox deviate from their Yankees, Mets, Red Sox formula, it tends to be last year’s World Series winner. So we see the Phillies and the Braves, the Phillies and the Mets, etc. Guess we will see more of the Cardinals next season, after they win something.
No comments:
Post a Comment