How sweet is that?  I totally feel redeemed for the horrific performance by the Cards.  Torre and A.Rod will be wearing new jersies next year.  Hopefully they’ll be red and white, and not in Ohio

Awww man.  I picked a great year to start a blog about St. Louis sports.  I had such high hopes.  The Cards were mediocre, but there was no reason why they shouldn’t have made the playoffs, and the Rams were looking good on paper.  The Blues got Kariya and re-signed Legace.  Things were looking so good.

Well, here we are.  The Cubs beat out the Cards to win the division because the Cards went like 5 and 15 the last 20 games of the year.  The Cubs then lost 3 straight and got bumped out of the playoffs.  Call me silly, but I don’t think the Cards would have fallen so easy. 

The Rams have now lost 4 miserable, terrible, disgusting games in a row.  They’re looking pathetic.  It’s possible they played better yesterday without Jackson and Bulger , but they still lost.  Check the all-time NFL stats… how many teams have made the playoffs that started off 0-4?  I think San Diego did it in 92′, and that’s it.  No one else has.  Needless to say, no one has been 0-5 and made the playoffs.

The Blues…  well, the jury is still out on the Blues.  Who would have thought, after 2 terrible years in a row, that they would be in the running to be St Louis’ savior.  They started off 1-1.  The first game was a close one that they lost 2 to 3.  They’re not looking too bad at this point, but also not very impressive.  They’re letting in goals left and right.  Again though, the jury is still out.  So, for now… GO BLUES!

–Edit
Ok, Boston Brat… let’s hear about your “terrible” season

It wasnt’ too long ago that the whole sports world was talking about Rick Ankiel’s re-entry into the MLB as a position player.  There were some who thought he wouldn’t make it, that he’d never be a solid player.  Well, so far, he’s “making” it, and he’s making it big! 

Today, he went 3 out of 4 with a double and 2 homeruns for a total of 7 RBI’s and 4 runs.  Outstanding!  The Cards won again today with a whopping 16 runs.  They moved to within’ one point of the first-place Cubbies and Brewers.

Ankiel is now batting .358 with 9 homers and 29 RBIs in 23 games!  That’s not even mentioning the emotional and mental additives that he’s brought to the team.  The cards have been playing about .700 baseball since he’s been back.  He started in center field tonight too, being a “promotion” from right field. 

Good Job Rick.  Keep up the good work.

What a game!  Here’s the Goods:

1. La Russa tied Red Schoendienst as the winning-est Cardinal’s Manager
2. Cards won 7-0 against ex-Cardinal Woody Williams (like the guy, but still)
3. We finally made it to .500
4. We’ve won 13 of the last 18
5. We passed the Brewers in the standings (still have the pesky Cubs to pass)
6. Duncan FINALLY hit another HR (20)
7. Ankiel had another 3-hit game
8. We sent the Astros down to dead last place

Once again, Big Al makes us all shake our heads in amazement.  He his 6th home run in 7 days, which made it 5 games in a row that he has hit one.  That seems pretty trivial though considering the record is 8 I think.  The big news is that he is that he is the first player every to hit 30+ home runs in his first 7 seasons.  Of course last year, he was the first to do it in his first 6 years.  I’m going to guess that somewhere around this time next year, we’ll be bringing this up again.

Watch him tonight.  We’ll see if he gets to 6 games in a row so he can make a bid at that record too.

Good Luck Al.

Ok, I’m a day late on this one, but who cares.  It’s still to early for anyone to be reading this blog anyway

I’m so happy for Rick Ankiel to be able to make the comeback that he has.  It was amazing to see him hit a HR in his first game as a position player.  Then to see him have a multi-homer game Saturday and a double on Sunday.  Outstanding!

It seems like this whole drama story has given the Cards a MUCH needed spark.  Seems like they’ve been playing much better since he’s been back.  Still 5½ games out, but now it is actually starting to seem possible.

Go Cards.  Go Ankiel!