Not The Cardinals, Not Again

When Scott Feldman walked Yadier Molina with the bases loaded in the fifth inning I switched the TV off.

At that point St. Louis led 4-2 and a gut feeling told me this wasn’t the Rangers night. They wouldn’t come back, not even with four innings left to play, and despite all the hysterics from the night before. 

It was a similar feeling of doubt I felt Thursday night with Texas leading by three runs late in Game 6. Too close, not over, I thought. 

Unable to bare watching the final innings unfold I turned that one off too, instead opting to listen to the conclusion of Game 6 game on the radio.

Nestled in my office I cranked up the space heater and waited for Texas to celebrate. But that never came, of course, leaving me cold, in the dark, and wondering just how on earth the Rangers had let the series slip to a decisive Game 7.

Through five innings Friday night my nerves were spent. If Texas came back to win, shame on me for not paying attention. But all I kept thinking was, Not the Cardinals, Not again.

Only once before had I ever tuned out a World Series game. Not surprisingly, that came in Game 5 of the 2006 series when St. Louis was busy beating the daylights out of Detroit. I simply couldn’t bare watching that one either.

There are three teams I always gain pleasure from watching lose as a Cubs, Colts and Blackhawks fan: The Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Vancouver Canucks.

If Texas could win the World Series I’d have the three-peat in place with Green Bay defeating Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl and Boston having won against Vancouver in the Cup Finals. Not to be, I suppose.

But with baseball as my first love, this one hurts the most. LaRussa, Theriot, Pujols, Berkman…baseball’s champions.

Not the Cardinals, not again.