Cardinals Win Game 1

Albert Pujols homers

As I wrote before, I am a big fan of the New York Yankees, but the St. Louis Cardinals is my second favorite team. It is therefore a joy to link to this article in the Washington Post about game one of this year’s World Series.

Apparently, some other physical phenomenon, besides the replenishing of energy and the healing of injured body parts, was taking place as the American League champion Detroit Tigers were kicking back this week waiting to learn the identity of their opponent in the World Series. Muscles and synapses, finely tuned by the inherent dailyness of baseball, saw their connections go staticky. The competitive fire, it seems, died down to a slow smolder for a lack of games to fuel it. The Tigers, the evidence suggested in Saturday night’s Game 1, had gone flat.

The young fireballer’s fastball lacked its typical zip. Their bats went uncharacteristically cold. Solid defenders threw the ball all over creation. Even their grizzled genius of a manager, in the game’s most critical moment, made an ill-fated choice on what should have been the easiest decision he faced all night

And as a result, it is the amazin’ St. Louis Cardinals — whose own bodies may be rundown and raggedy, but whose competitive blazes have never stopped roaring — who lead the World Series, after stealing Game 1 at Detroit’s Comerica Park, 7-2, behind a stunning pitching performance by rookie Anthony Reyes and a game-changing home run by first baseman Albert Pujols.

Quite ironically a friend and I were talking about this year’s World Series and I told him that I was not going to watch last night’s game. Both of us thought that it would prove a – relatively easy – victory for the Tigers.

Overall prediction: 4-0 or at best 4-1 for Tigers.

However, after last night’s game, things might be different. Suddenly, it seems, that the Cardinals do have a shot at making life extremely difficult – at least the very least – for the Tigers.

I will not miss game 2.