Bob's Blog

Friday night, I attended a 50th-birthday bash for my friend, Brent Kemnitz, at Yia Yias. It was a great party, put together by Brent’s great wife, Kelli. It was a who’s who of Shocker baseball. So many former players were there, a list too long to go through. Charlie O’Brien and Mike Lansing were among the group.

Anyway, going to that party meant missing some of the Cardinals’ Game 5 World Series win over Detroit. Which is something I didn’t want to do.

So, at the beginning, I told people at the party not to let me know how the game was going, even though many of them were checking the progress throughout the evening. I was taping the game to watch when I got home.

But, as you might predict, I broke down. As the game got into the later innings, I asked for score updates. And I went to the bar to watch the ninth inning, when Adam Wainwright got the save and the Cardinals won the World Series.

When I got home, I watched the entire game. And I watched it again Saturday morning. Then I watched selected highlights Saturday afternoon.

It’s awesome. I am ecstatic. That this team, which was so beaten up during the final six weeks of the regular season, won a championship is a great story. Can’t wait for spring training.

They’ll talk about how dull this game was tonight. That’s what great pitching does; it makes games dull. Unless you love great pitching.

Chris Carpenter was great. Jeff Suppan goes tonight for the Cardinals. This thing might not get back to Detroit.

Good night, I’m beat.

I have seen Chris Carpenter pitch like this numerous times over the past three seasons. When he’s this strong and has made it to the middle innings, he usually doesn’t falter late.

How about the Tigers’ Joel Zumaya? He must not feel well tonight; he only reached 99 miles per hour with his fastball. I’m just glad he’s in the game with his team behind because you don’t rally against a guy like Zumaya.

OK, last three innings. I can do this.

Sorry, there’s been a technical glitch on the Typepad site. So I was unable to correspond, which I’m sure upset you greatly. But we’re trying to work things out.

Fortunately, not much happened. Until the bottom of the fourth, that is, when Preston Wilson led off with a single and Sir Albert Pujols (he’s been knighted in my world) slapped a ground-rule double down the right-field line.

At this point, I found myself feeling sorry for Nate Robertson, who is from Wichita and one of the best guys you’ll ever know. I got over it, though. Now Scott Rolen has walked to load the bases. At this point, I’m a wreck. Bases loaded, no outs. But no runs yet. And until you score, it doesn’t matter. That’s been my mantra since I was 12 years old.

My buddy Ronnie Belliard grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Wilson being thrown out at home. Belliard got ahead in the count 1-0 and then swung at what looked like ball 2. Great, Ronnie.

Now it’s Jim Edmonds, bases still loaded. Now one out. Still no runs. Remember my mantra.

We scored. Twice. Jim Edmonds is so handsome. Whoa, where did that come from?

But let’s score some more. Still runners at second and third, one out. Molina intentionally walked.

So Taguchi, that’s a bad at-bat. Popped out, bases still loaded. Carpenter pops out.

Only two runs. Could have been much more. Should have been much more. But remember this: two is better than one and and twice as good as none. Or something like that. I’m a wreck. See you soon.

Against my better judgment, I will be posting on my blog after every inning of tonight’s game. Warning: This content may not be suitable for all ages. Enjoy.