Some Nights the Magic Disappears...

On August 18, I made what I thought would be my last trip to Busch Stadium this season to watch the Cardinals take on the Pirates. I got invited by my brother at the last minute (almost literally the last minute. He called at 11 a.m. that morning and game time was at 4:15) I quickly packed a bag, made the three hour trek solo and got there about 25 minutes before the first pitch. If you don’t know me, this is almost like getting to a game late. Typically I like to get to games when the gates open so I can watch batting practice and possibly get some autographs, although anymore, I feel like I’m too old to get a baseball signed by some guy who’s my age or younger.

Anyway, I went through the gate and straight to our seats with my sister-in-law Trisha, as my brother and his friend tried to get rid of some extra tickets (They didn’t have any luck). Normally an August game between the Cardinals and Pirates wouldn’t mean much, but this year was different. The Pirates had a game and a half lead for the final wild card spot. The Cards ended up winning the game, 5-4, and as you’re probably aware (despite dropping two of three in the series) they stormed past the Buckos for the final wild card spot. (Pittsburgh actually finished the season 12-30 after that game… pretty typical unfortunately)

But the one thing that stood out about that game was when I saw this. It’s entitled “Some Nights You Win the World Series." It’s a clip of home videos taken during Game 6 and 7 of the 2011 World Series, spliced together to the song “Some Nights” by Fun.  Between the first and second innings this video popped up on the big board at Busch Stadium. It almost instantly gave me chills, and to be completely honest, my eyes welled up a little bit. 

As you probably know if you’re reading this, I was at Game 6 of the World Series last year, which has been called by many experts as one of, if not, the greatest World Series game ever. That right there is enough to make it a special championship. I even bought the game on iTunes for $1.99 so I could always take it with me on my iPod.

But there’s more too it than that for me. Last season was an incredible ride, from beginning to end. That’s why I love this video too. It covers it all, from Wainwright’s season-ending injury in Spring Training, to the collapse of Ryan Franklin’s career, Tony LaRussa’s shingles issue, Daniel Descalso’s close-and-late clutch stats early in the year, Pujols’ broken wrist against the Royals. Add to that that I attended six games at Busch Stadium in 2011, while seeing each pitcher in the Cards rotation make a start. Also I went to two games at Chase Field in Arizona where I saw my first ever walk-off home run at an MLB game, hit by Justin Upton. I saw my second walk-off home run a month later when Pujols hit his second walk-off in as many days against the rival Cubs. I never fully connected the dots and realized I saw a third walk-off home run until about a month after the World Series ended. Yes, I was THAT caught up on the moment. It was just a very special season for me personally.

I knew something special was happening for the Cardinals on September 20, 2011. The Redbirds had just finished a big win over the Mets, so I immediately flipped to see how the Braves were doing, since that’s who the Cards were chasing. I had just tuned in when the Marlins’ Omar Infante hit a walk-off home run off Craig Kimbrel to deal the Braves another loss. (This is pretty much the only reason I’ll be rooting for the Tigers to win it all. Thank you, Omar.)

You know the rest.

This year the Cardinals snuck into the playoffs, and I have to admit my expectations were tame. I mean, I knew a World Series run was possible because I was less than impressed by the other NL playoff teams, but Lance Berkman, a hero from last season, was gone, a rookie that came out of nowhere was now starting at short, and as much as I like Descalso, I don’t really trust him starting every day.

I’m not going to rehash what happened in the wild card game with the Braves, because I could probably write an entire blog about it, but long story short the Cardinals got a questionable call that went their way and ended up winning the game. I was listening to the game on the radio while watching my brother coach at a high school football game. I’m not sure I’ve told anyone this until now, but as soon as Jason Motte recorded the final out of the game, the siren went off to signify the end of the the third quarter. Almost immediately from the PA speakers came the song, “Some Nights.” It truly seemed like a sign that something magical was happening again.

My feelings appeared to be reinforced one week later. The Cards fell down, 6-0, early against the Nationals and things seemed pretty bleak. I opted to go to a friend’s house and eventually headed out to bar to watch the conclusion of the game. As you the Redbirds rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth, as I yelled like a madman when Descalso and said rookie, Pete Kozma, got the game tying and eventual winning hits. That magic or luck, whatever you want to call it, from last season wasn’t going to end. It was definitely a memorable night, and a repeat trip to the World Series seemed inevitable.

Again, you know the rest. The Cardinals got a 3-1 series lead over the Giants before the pitching and hitting completely vanished for the final three games, and when we fell behind, the magic was no where to be found. It was definitely a disappointing end to the season, especially since I returned to Busch Stadium for Game 5 to see the Cards try and clinch the pennant.

So what’s next for the Cardinals? Well, it’s tough to count them out of contention next year. They’ll likely get a full season out of Chris Carpenter to go along with Adam Wainwright and likely Jake Westbrook. After that the rotation is a question mark, but it will probably be in good hands. Jamie Garcia should be back, but his late-season injury makes him a question mark. Kyle Lohse is gone, as it’s not likely the Cardinals will want to pay a 34-year-old pitcher the $12-15 million a year he’ll be asking. The holes in the rotation will be filled by bullpen studs Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly or top prospect Shelby Miller. That staff should equal or better the 2012 version.

The bullpen is a question mark. It seems likely Motte, Mitchell Boggs, Fernando Salas and Marc Rzepczynski will return if I understand their contracts correctly, but the rest is up in the air. Cardinal fans probably aren’t excited about the return of the latter two, but bullpen pitching is such a volatile position. In 2011 Salas served as a part-time closer, part-time rally killer, and this year he was horrendous. I believe he and Rzepczynski can turn it around next year. Likewise, I never trusted Boggs in 2011 but he was pretty reliable this season. So, like always, the bullpen is up in the air.

The outfield seems pretty well set. I have a big concern about Carlos Beltran matching this year’s numbers, but assuming he’s close to the same, we should be pretty solid. Yadi Molina is a lock behind home plate, and David Freese and Allen Craig are good to go on the corners. Up the middle is where it gets tricky. Furcal is under contract for next year and is likely to get the nod at short assuming he’s healthy, but second base, as always, is a question mark. Descalso did an admirable job there, but it’s hard for me to imagine he’ll be the starter going into next season. Skip Schumaker is a possibility, but again I’m doubtful. I’d love to see the Cardinals spend money for this spot next year, but given the history, it’s  unlikely (and I’m not even sure there’s anyone worth a big contract available).

All in all, if everyone stays healthy, the Cardinals should be right in the mix next season. But I don’t think anything will ever compare to the 2011 championship.

That’s one of the reasons I got over Monday’s loss relatively quickly. Sure, I was upset, but it served as an important reminder... A reminder of how difficult winning a championship can be, and thus it made last year’s run that much more special. I'm not sure it will ever fully sink in. Not the championship, but the fact that I was actually there for it. Nothing will ever be able to take away the memories of that crazy ride away from me. And in just about four months that ride starts back up again.

Edgerrin James: Future Hall of Famer?

It was a normal Saturday morning, April 17, 1999.  Like most football fans I was sitting in front of the TV watching the NFL draft. I’d only been a fan of the NFL for several years, but I knew this was a very important draft for my team. See, the Indianapolis Colts were coming off a 3-13 season, the rookie campaign of the previous year’s No. 1 overall pick Peyton Manning. They had their franchise QB in place. Now they were looking for the running back to go along with him.

It’s not like they didn’t already have one though. I remember many being shocked when just a few days before the draft they decided to deal future Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk. It’s never been made entirely clear why the Colts made the move, but the general consensus is that Faulk wanted more money that the team wasn’t willing to pay him, and they were afraid his attitude could negatively affect the young nucleus. Plus with the fourth pick in the draft, the hole at running back could easily be filled

It was disappointing at first, but all hope wasn’t lost. Manning’s future running mate seemed likely to be on the board when Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced the Colts on the clock. It seemed a foregone conclusion that Indianapolis would draft Heisman winner and (at the time) NCAA career rushing leader Ricky Williams out of Texas.

Sure enough the top three picks fell into place. Cleveland took a quarterback, Philadelphia took a quarterback and Cincinnati took a quarterback. And there was Williams, ready to go from being a Longhorn to a Colt.

But it didn’t happen.

You all know what happened. Colts GM Bill Polian opted to take a running back from Miami named Edgerrin James instead of the proven commodity. I’ll never forget my brother, the biggest Colts fan I know, collapsing on the floor and laying face down with his face buried in his arms for at least 15 minutes. The only words he spoke during that time were when his phone rang. “Hello,” he muttered. “Yeah… I know.” And then he hung up.

Nearly 13 and half years later James will return to Indianapolis this Sunday to be inducted into the Colts’ Ring of Honor at Lucas Oil Stadium. James will be just the eighth name to join the Ring since it’s inception at the RCA Dome in 1996. This Colts fan couldn’t be prouder.

Sure, I could hold my brother’s reaction to the selection of Edge over his head, but the reality is that outside of the Colts brain trust, I doubt anyone thought they made the right move that day.  What they ended up accomplishing was avoiding a career-long headache in Ricky Williams while stumbling into a future Hall of Famer.

That’s right, I said Hall of Famer, and I’ll get to those credentials in a moment, but first I have to say how ironic it is that Edge will be going into the Ring this season. While many around the organization don’t want to say it, the Colts are in a bit of a rebuilding mode. Hell, one of the marketing phrases that have gone around this new era (meaning new GM Ryan Grigson and new head coach Chuck Pagano, not necessarily Andrew Luck, though it’s hard not to consider him the “face” of the new era) is “Build the Monster.” The irony of Edge’s induction to me is that he was one of many that helped build the previous “monster” that ruled in Indy. As a matter of fact,  Manning, Edge and Marvin Harrison were known by fans as the three-headed monster. I had trouble finding evidence of this, but I specifically remember posters being made of the three of them that said “three-headed monster.” (Though I did find this)

Regardless, no one can deny that, while Manning received most of the notoriety, Harrison and James were also pretty big part of creating a football juggernaut in Indianapolis. That makes it even more disappointing to me that Edge never fully got his due from the casual fan.

See, while fans grow attached to teams, the players that stand out in their memories are typically the ones that were involved in a championship. Unfortunately for Edge, he wasn’t around by the time the Colts reached the Lombardi trophy.

The Colts got the ultimate prize at the end of the 2006 season, but it was the previous year that stands out the most to me. I still believe the ’05 Colts were the best team of the Peyton Manning era. It was the one season when our defense finally came close to catching up with our offense.  Sports Illustrated even did a feature on it.The team started 14-0 and coasted to the No. 1 seed before getting clobbered by a hungry Pittsburgh defense in the playoffs. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that loss to the Steelers was Edge’s last game in a Colts uniform.

That offseason came with Edge and No. 2 receiver Reggie Wayne hitting free agency. Every Colts fan knew we couldn’t afford to keep both of them. I hate to admit this now, because Reggie is one of my all-time favorites, but at the time I was hopeful that we’d keep Edge. It made sense to me only because we already had Marvin Harrison out wide, and I assumed that with Peyton, and receiver could come in and succeed. While that second assumption may have been true, ultimately the Colts chose to cut ties with Edge and keep the younger receiver.

The decision proved to be a wise one, especially now considering Wayne is a veteran and one of the Colts true leaders during this rebuilding process. Edge went on to have two quality seasons in Arizona before facing an injury-plagued third season and moving on for a one-year swan song in Seattle.

But the end of Edge’s career should have no bearing on Hall of Fame status. It started his rookie season when Edge took the league rushing title with 1,553 yards, the ninth rookie ever to accomplish that feat, a feat which hasn’t been done since then. The best season of Edge’s career came in year two when he ran for 1709 yards, winning a second rushing title.  He added 63 receptions and amassed a league leading 2303 yards from scrimmage, the ninth highest total in NFL history.

Edge battled injuries the next three seasons, but still reached the 1000 yard plateau five more times in his career, including resurgences in 2004 and 2005 when he rushed for 1548 and 1506 yards.

But all of these numbers mean little until you put them in context of other Hall of Fame running backs.

•  Edge is 11^th on the league rushing list with 12,246 yards, more than Hall of Famers Marcus Allen, Franco Harris, Thurman Thomas, John Riggins and O.J. Simpson. Jerome Bettis is sixth and is the only non-Hall of Famer ahead of James. 
• He is 13^th all-time in yards from scrimmage with 15,610, over 200 yards more the Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson.  Only three players in front of him on the list are NOT Hall of Famers: No. 5 LaDainian Tomlinson, No. 11 Terrell Owens and No. 12 Tiki Barber.   
• His 80 touchdowns rank 18^th in league history.
• Edge averaged 82.7 rushing yards per game, good for 13^th all-time and slightly better than Earl Campbell and Emmitt Smith.

It’s hard to say Edge is a lock for the Hall of Fame, but considering he played in an era where passing became more and more prevalent and he still was able to put up numbers in the top 15 in the history of the league is pretty impressive.

Three years ago, Edge made his first trip to Lucas Oil Stadium and his last trip to Indianapolis as a player, playing for the Seattle Seahawks. He didn’t play a lot during the game, but he had a few carries. At the third quarter came close to ending the PA announcer said something about staying tuned at the end of the quarter for a special presentation. At that, I had no idea what was about to happen.

When the quarter closed, a video montage popped up on the big screen showing highlights of Edge’s career. I’d be lying if I said a few tears didn’t well up in my eyes.

This Sunday, Edge comes back to Indy, and I’m glad to have a reason to pull out my No. 32 jersey at least one more time. More importantly, I’m glad Edge will be there to see the new “monster” of Indy its infancy. Thanks for the memories, Edge. And here’s hoping that there are more winning Colts memories to come in the not-so-distant future.

Colts Training Camp

This weekend I had the opportunity to see my two favorite professional sports teams in action. On Friday and Saturday I made the trip up to Anderson University to watch the Colts at training camp, and on Monday I went to see the Cardinals play for the first time this season at Busch Stadium. I planned on writing about both teams today, but my writing about the Colts went on longer than expected… and I’ve already written about the Cardinals on here (I may or may not get to them later). Anyway, here are my thoughts from Colts Training Camp.  

On Friday we arrived to camp a little late. Well, we were there right when the Colts were beginning their team practice, so from a standpoint of being able to see, we were definitely late. We stood in the corner of the endzone and got to watch a couple of passes come our way. Ultimately, with vision obstructed, we decided to check out Colts City and the Colts Pro Shop, and come back early the next day to get a good seast. For those who wish to experience Colts City, don’t get your hopes up. It’s almost identical to what the Colts bring with them on their tour throughout the state. The only difference is that, as a I mentioned, they have the pro shop set up and there are plenty of booths trying to get you to sign up for stuff. These booths are easy to avoid, but if you go around them, you’ll miss out on free chocolate milk and free ice cream (not at the same stand).

While I’m here I should mention that this is the first time I’ve been to Anderson since the Colts held camp there in the mid to late 90s. Since Terre Haute is a much closer drive for me, I was prepared to say that Rose-Hulman was a much better host than Anderson. But truthfully, I have to say that as a host the two sites are almost identical. Which brings me to my main point: Why can’t the Colts work out a deal with both schools to alternate sites every year? Doesn’t this make too much sense?  Why would anyone want to drive more than three hours to get to camp? This way fans from all over the state get to attend Colts training camp every other year without having to give up an entire day to do so. (So, technically this kind of disregards northwestern Indiana and Southeastern Indiana, but aren’t most people in those places Bears or Bengals fans anyway?)

Two things really stood out at the pro shop. One was the new Nike jerseys. They look fake and too slender for a big guy like me. I’m not a fan. Fortunately the three jerseys I’ve worn to games over the past two seasons (Wayne, Mathis and Bethea) are all back with the team, so I won’t have to worry about buying a new jersey for a while.

The second thing that stood out was all the jerseys and memorabilia that were on sale. Joseph Addai jerseys, Dallas Clark jerseys and even an Adam Vinatieri jersey (he’s still on the team! Do they know something I don’t?) were on sale for a measly $20. And of course, anything with Peyton Manning on it was at least 20 percent off and probably more than that. Look, I understand why Peyton left and I really don’t blame either side for the way it happened, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

What does make it a little easier is what I saw on Saturday. We arrived much earlier on Saturday, and after getting our seats near the 50-yard line, waited only about 30 minutes before the special teams took the field. This may sound boring, but I was highly entertained. What excited me most was that the first person out on the field stretching was T.Y. Hilton. In case you don’t know Hilton was the Colts third round pick out of Florida International as a wide receiver. It’s unclear right now whether or not he’ll be returning kicks, punts, both or neither once the season starts, but the fact that he was the first one out there at least tells me he knows he’s got a chance. I later checked out his highlight video on youtube and was amazed with his speed. I also enjoyed seeing him make plays against Florida, Kansas and Louisville. Obviously those last two aren’t great football programs, but they’re in BCS conferences, so at least it’s some sort of competition. And who knows, maybe he’ll be a bust, but right now he’s got me excited. The Colts have never had a returner that opponents needed to fear, and I think we finally may have one.

And of course, how can I talk about Colts training camp without talking about Andrew Luck. Several people said to me, before going to camp, “Hey, let me know how Luck looks.” I never really knew how to answer that. While I know a lot about football, I’m far from being an expert on the quarterback position, especially analyzing it. Especially when you consider that the only NFL QB I’ve ever really watched was Peyton Manning. All I can really say is this: From watching Andrew Luck, Drew Stanton and Chandler Harnish, it was clearly evident who the starting quarterback is. Harnish and Stanton each made several bad throws, and, in going against live defenses, held the ball far too long. From warm-ups to scrimmage, to goal line plays, I probably saw Luck throw 40 to 50 passes. I can only remember him throwing one bad ball (on a goal line play, linebacker Kavell Connor undercut a receiver on what was either a slant or a crossing route—hard to tell from our angle—and picked off the pass. Optimistically, I choose to look at this as Connor, who  will start at inside linebacker along with Pat Angerer, making a great play).

I also (illegally) took some video of Luck hitting three different receivers in stride on a deep ball. I’d love to post them, but I really don’t want to face the NFL’s wrath. I’m sure Luck will face some growing pains, but I’m truly excited about what he’ll bring to the team. I was also pleasantly surprised with the offensive line. Only two players return from last year’s abysmal line, and one of them (Anthony Castonzo) was a rookie and will be vastly improved. The running game will be a question mark, but at some point, you’d think Donald Brown would feel the need to live up to his first round selection. My biggest concern/disappointment is Coby Fleener. This is mainly due to my high expectations, but still. The dude is really tall, but he’s also much skinnier than I thought he’d be. That alone wouldn’t be a concern, except that he doesn’t appear to be able to block that well, which is at least in part contributed to his skinny frame. On the bright side, everyone I talked to around camp seemed to be high on the other tight end we drafted, Dwayne Allen. As long as one of these guys can make an impact this year, I’ll be happy. And who knows, maybe Fleener can run some plays out of the slot.

The defense will be very interesting. I’m excited to see what the 3-4 defense can bring, especially with Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeny playing new positions. They’ll still line up on the defensive line in nickel and dime formations, but when the Colts run the base 3-4, they’ll be standing, and with that will occasionally drop off in pass coverage. The defensive line will be much improved, and Angerer and Conner should be solid up the middle. I really like the addition of Tom Zbikowski to play safety alongside pro bowler Antoine Bethea, but the corner position is a great concern. Jerraud Powers is OK, but there’s a big drop off after him. On the bright side ESPN’s John Clayton pointed out that, with new head coach Chuck Pagano’s familiarity with Baltimore’s personnel and GM Ryan Grigson’s with Philadelphia, the Colts will likely add their No. 2 corner when those two teams make cuts.  Now, it’s hard to get too excited because obviously whoever we add wasn’t good enough to make the Ravens or Eagles. But on the other hand, they’ll be better than what we have now.

Ultimately I loved what I saw from the Colts' practice. It would be very overzealous of me to expect this team to go to the playoffs this season, but I will say that crazier things have happened. What really works out in the Colts favor is that (Clayton pointed this out in the above link), while the road schedule is difficult, home games include possible matchups against Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert, Brandon Weeden, Jake Locker and Ryan Tannehill. I think it's entirely possible for the Colts to win nine or even 10 games, but EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE TO GO PERFECT for that to happen. People around the organization are trying to avoid the word "rebuilding," but the truth is, that's what the Colts are doing. And typically things don't go perfect for teams in rebuilding mold. This weekend someone asked me what the Colts would finish, and without really thinking I said 6-10. Four or five wins would be a safer bet, but regardless, this will be a playoff team sooner rather than later

All-Star "Controversy"

Should fans vote for the starters? Should every team be represented? Should the game even "count?" We go through this same song and dance every year at this time once the MLB All-Start starters and rosters are revealed. And this year, there's even a new question that's been brought up: Is Tony La Russa holding a grudge against the Reds?

I'm tired of all of it. None of this really matters that much. To me this is all just a product of the 24-hour news cycle that we live in, plus the fact that it's the dead of summer and there's very little actual news to fill that TV time. There's no more basketball or hockey. Football is still a couple months away. I've personally been entertaining myself by watching the Euro Cup and Wimbledon, and on those rare occasions like yesterday when Tiger is in contention, I'll tune into golf.

But I guess these stories (well, aside from Tiger) aren't important enough for the mainstream media to talk about. Let's run the same old arguments about baseball's All-Star game into the ground. It really drives me insane. 

On the bright side, it has given me something to write about today. So, I'll be giving my responses to all of those questions I posed at the start... And then I never want to hear about them again.

SHOULD FANS VOTE FOR STARTERS?

Yes! Of course they should. The game is for the fans! I love the idea that I get to vote for my favorite players every year. I'll never forget going to Cardinals' games when I was a kid and being handed the ballots from the ushers. I'd usually keep one (or five) as a souvenir, but I'd always borrow a pen or pencil from my mom so I could punch out the chads for the players I wanted to see. The MLB All-Star game has always been one of my favorite parts of the summer, and I'd like to think that there are kids today that enjoy the same experiences of punching the ballots that I did.

Here's the other thing. There's a fail safe entrenched with the All-Star selection process, which is that players, and of course the manager, get to select the rest of the roster. So, in theory, the guys who deserve to be All-Stars are still on the team. Even if fans "get it wrong" and the best players don't start the game, why should that matter? If the game is going to count for something, don't you want the best players in the game at the end? As an NL fan, if the game is on the line in the eighth or ninth inning, I'd much rather have David Wright batting in a key spot than Pablo Sandoval.

SHOULD EACH TEAM BE REPRESENTED?

It stands to reason that if the game is going to count for something, each team should have its league's best players, and thus each team shouldn't be represented. But I actually love the fact that each team is represented, and it's for pretty similar reasons that I answered "yes" to the last question.

I specifically remember watching the All-Star game in 1993, and swelling with pride when they announced the Cardinals' representative, Greg Jeffries (OK, I have to admit this. I just looked this up, and it turns out closer Lee Smith also represented the Cardinals. Still, I distinctly remember Jeffries, so I'm going with it). Again, I'd like to think that there are Royals fans out there that will tune into the game just to see them announce Billy Butler, and hopefully they'll stay tuned in to see Butler get the opportunity to bat. 

Does it hurt the game that Butler's inclusion (.297 avg., 16 HR, 48 RBI, .877 OPS, 1.0 WAR) leaves out Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion (.291 avg., 22 HR, 55 RBI, .945 OPS, 2.8 WAR)? Maybe a little, but this is easily remedied. Why not add some more spots? I know expanding the rosters to 40 seems extreme. But what if the majority of those new additions were pitchers, and a fair portion of the roster went into the game knowing that they might not play? This actually leads me into my next question....

SHOULD THE GAME "COUNT?"

One week from now is the 10 year anniversary of the game that changed the game. OK, that's a little overstated, but all that is to say, 10 years ago was when the All-Star game that ended in a tie, and thus Bud Selig decided that the game had to "mean something" so it would never end in a tie again. Since then, the league that won the All-Star game has had home-field advantage in the World Series. I still maintain that the 2004 Cardinals would not have been swept had they had their rightful home-field advantage by having the better record (There's no way Curt Schilling starts Game 1 or 2 in St. Louis, because he couldn't bat! Remember, the bloody sock? That Cardinals team was too good to lose in four games. But I'm not bitter. You could probably argue that the Cards don't win the series last year without home-field, so it all worked itself out.)

In hindsight, and even at the time, this seemed like a ridiculous solution. Yes, they decided to call the game because it didn't technically mean anything, but the main reason it ended is because the teams were out of pitching! So (back to my original tangent), why not just expand the rosters and add some more pitching? You could even add one or two rookie or second-year pitchers to each team with them knowing in advance that they're only going to be used if the game goes into extra innings. Or, if teams run out of pitching, let's just call everyone off the field and have a Home Run Derby to determine the winner? Really, that's not any more flawed than ending hockey or soccer matches with penalty shoot outs/kicks. (Those last two ideas were actually stolen from ESPN's Bill Simmons, but I felt the need to pass them along).

All that being said, I've actually gotten used to home-field being determined by the All-Star game. Like Bud Selig has said, it's not like the way they did it before was very scientific (The AL and NL alternated every year who got home-field in the World Series). Based on that logic, I'm not entirely against the game "counting" like I was nine years ago. At leas, it doesn't bother me.

Still, the most obvious way to determine home-field advantage in the World Series would just be to give it to the team with the best record. All the "experts" on Outside the Lines today said that people involved with Major League Baseball say it doesn't work logistically. Which is ironic, because I don't think it's logical to determine home-field any other way.

IS LA RUSSA HOLDING GRUDGES?

Yes, and I love it!

No, seriously, I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the surface, it definitely seems like he's still holding some animosity towards Brandon Phillips and Johnny Cueto (who, by the way, ended Jason LaRue's career. Who was Jason LaRue, you ask? Yeah, I see your point, but still) for the bench clearing altercation between St. Louis and Cincinnati several years ago. 

Phillips and Arizona's Aaron Hill have been the best to second basemen in the National League this year, and it's possible neither make the team (Hill is a part of the final fan vote). Dan Uggla got the nod from the fans at the position, and Jose Altuve was picked as the back up, and is the sole representative from Houston. Oddly enough my biggest problem with all of this is that Jed Lowrie wasn't picked Houston's representative, since he's probably been one of the best offensive shortstops in all of baseball. However, I don't see these snubs by La Russa as being that egregious.

Cueto (9-4, 2.26 ERA) being left off the team, on the other hand, must a bitter pill for Red's fans to swallow. It's also hard to believe that Zack Grienke (9-2, 2.82 ERA)of Milwaukee, another former division rival of La Russa, was left off the team.

The reality is it's a difficult job to pick these teams. I sat down for an hour last week and tried just pick the hitters and I couldn't narrow the list down. There are literally nine AL players that play 1B or DH and have an argument to be on the team. And after looking at the pitchers that actually made the team for the NL, it's difficult to decide who should be left in place of Cueto or Grienke. 

And of course, like my friend Drew Hutchison (NOT the rookie pitcher for the Blue Jays) said on facebook, paraphrasing of course, "if Dusty Baker wants to decide who makes the All-Star team, maybe his team should win the pennant."

Ultimately, it's difficult for me to think the former Cardinal's manager is holding any grudges when the Cardinal's biggest rival, the Cubs, has TWO players on the team despite having the worst record in baseball.

If that's not a controversy, I don't know what is.

One Night in Miami...

For well over a week now I've been waiting and hoping for a momentum swing to happen for my favorite team in Miami. It never happened for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it may have happened for the St. Louis Cardinals last night.

The Redbirds got off to a hot start this season, carrying over the momentum from one of the most improbably World Series runs in MLB history (I'll probably write about that in full detail at a later date). Many experts counted out the Cardinals after losing Albert Pujols, but I knew better. I knew David Freese took the leap last postseason, and that health was the only thing standing in the way of him putting up All-Star numbers. I knew Carlos Beltran, again if healthy, would help fill the void left by the departing Pujols.

What I didn't expect was how great the starting pitching would be for the first month of the season. Unfortunately the pitching faded, the lineup succumbed to a multitude of injuries (Skip Schumaker, Jon Jay, Lance Berkman, Matt Carpenter, Allen Craig, etc.) the Cardinals surrendered possession of first place in the NL Central on May 23rd after dropping eight of 10 games earlier in the month. Another five game skid to start the month of June set the Cards 3.5 games out of first, and at .500 for the first time all season. The Cards treaded water, but fell as much as 5 games behind the red hot Reds as recently as June 17.

The Cardinals still haven't found their way back into first place (2 games out), but they are starting to show signs of the team that gave us a roller coaster ride last October.

Things started to turn on Friday when Jay can Carpenter were activated off the DL. Jay was hitting .343 before heading to the DL on May 14. He started Friday and Saturday and got three hits, while helping the Cardinals sweep the lowly Royals, 11-4, 8-2 and 11-8. While Jay hasn't entirely held up his end individually on the offensive end, he's added a pretty sure glove back to center field, and having his bat in the No. 2 spot allows everyone else to fall in line, including a World Series MVP batting in the No. 7 spot!

Of course, a sweep over the Royals isn't exactly something to get that excited about, but what happened in Miami last night was pretty great.

(The next five paragraphs are a review of last night's game, so feel free to skip down if you know how it happened)

The Cardinals trailed the Marlins, 6-2, going into the bottom of the 9th inning, and things looked bleak, especially considering the Cards got their first two runs on a wild pitch and an error. On the bright side, the Cardinals did have the top of the order up, and were facing Heath Bell who, despite getting a three year, $27 million contract in the offeseason, has struggled mightily in a Miami uniform.

Rafael Furcal led off with a walk. Shane Robinson (who replaced Jay on a double switch earlier) struck out, but Matt Holliday kept hope alive with a double that placed Furcal at third (it should be noted that after a slow start, Holliday is batting .364. His power numbers aren't quite where they should be, but I'm confident he'll get there eventually). Beltran followed with a  run-scoring single, and Craig hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Holliday. That set the stage for the Cardinals best clutch hitter (in my opinion), Yadier Molina. Yadi came through once again and crushed one over the left field fence to tie the game.

The bottom of the 9th saw some confusion as, after retiring the first batter of the inning, skipper Mike Matheny went to make a double switch to bring in pitcher Victory Marte. Unfortunately when Matheny said Marte was entering for the fifth position (Freese at third base), the umpire interpreted this as the fifth spot in the order. Long story short, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen pointed this out to said umpire, and, not only did the Cards lose Freese in the order, but Craig (in the fifth spot) also had to come out. If this sounds confusing, don't worry, because it literally took the umpires 10 minutes to figure all this out.

After the Marlins threatened, St. Louis was fortunate enough to get an inning ending double play. Daniel Descalso led off the top of the 10th with an out, but Tyler Greene (who entered on the original double switch) followed with a single. Furcal gave the Cardinals the lead with a double to the left field corner that scored the speedy Greene from first. After Robinson grounded out, Holliday was hit by a pitch, and in order to bring up Marte's spot in the order due to the flubbed switch, Beltran was intentionally walked.

The Cardinals countered with all they had left on the bench, No. 5 starter Joe Kelly. After taking two hacks and missing, Kelly dribbled one to short and Jose Reyes was unable to make the play, allowing another run to score. Kelly's RBI ended up being the difference as Jason Motte tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the 10th.

So, have the Cardinals turned the corner? It's hard to say at this point, but it was nice to see some signs of life from a team that's been scuffling as recently as a week ago. The best wins are the ones where everyone contributed, and by my count, Molina, Beltran, Greene, and Kelly all came up with big hits in big situations, not to mention the solid bullpen work from youngsters Sam Freeman and Marte.

To me it's starting to look a lot like the team that overcame a 10 game deficit with two months to play last season. The biggest problem the Cardinals are facing right now in my opinion is inconsistency out of the bullpen. The starters have not been near as great as they were to start the season, but they're hanging in there, and Adam Wainwright is close to regaining his old form. If the Cardinals can get Lance Berkman and Chris Carpenter back at any point this season, things will really be looking up. Although right now, neither of those things seem too likely.

While things could certainly still head south for the Cardinals, and the injury bug is always lurking, I'd like to believe that, like it did with LeBron a few weeks ago, something clicked in Miami on Monday night, only this time, the good guys will come out on top.

Welcome!

A WARM WELCOME, AND NBA FINALS THOUGHTS

Hello everyone and welcome to my sports blog! For those who don't know me, I'm a former sports writer and an avid sports fan. People have been telling me for a long time that I should start blogging, and today... well, I was finally bored enough to start doing it.

A quick aside: Full disclosure, I'm kind of a pro wrestling nerd, so from time to time I may choose to write about that. I can't help it. I grew up watching the WWF, now WWE, and in a way it connects to my childhood. Wouldn't you watch episodes of Saved by the Bell if they still made them? Anyway, even though the outcomes are predetermined, I don't usually know what they are, so it also appeals to the sports fan in me. This probably won't happen often, but I feel my readers (if I actually have any) should be warned

I should start by saying that my favorite sports teams are the Indianapolis Colts, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Indiana University athletics (mainly basketball and football, but since I'm an alum, I cheer for any sport). I'd have to say the Cardinals were my first love. I've been a fan as long as I can remember. Living in southern Indiana, St. Louis is just a three hour drive across Illinois, so we took many family trips there during the summer when I was a kid. IU basketball was something else I grew up watching as a kid, and truth be told, it was probably about 60 to 70 percent of the reason that I opted to attend school there. My family has been Colts' season ticket holders since 2003, but I'd have to say I truly became a fan the first time I went to game in 1997. At the time it just astonished me at how much support there was by some of the diehard fans in the upper level for a team that really wasn't any good. From then on I was hooked, and I guess you could say I was lucky they stumbled into Peyton Manning the following spring, but more on that at another time. Finally, my love for the Thunder began just as organically.

I always watched the NBA when I was a kid, but I never really had a favorite team. I mostly just enjoyed rooting for players, like Larry Johnson, Shaq with the Magic and of course Michael Jordan, just to name a few. I fell out of love with the league shortly after MJ's second retirement (the lockout probably had just as much to do with it), but sometime around the 2004-2005 season I started watching again, namely because my favorite sports columnist, Bill Simmons, spent so much time writing about the NBA. When I tuned in, I really enjoyed what I saw, especially Steve Nash running the show in Phoenix. Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure the Suns/Lakers first round series in 2006 was what got hooked on the NBA again. Anyway, I was back in, but I still didn't have a team to root for.

I went to a game on my birthday in Oklahoma City in 2008, the team's first year there, and it was the same experience as I had with the Colts. As a birthday gift, my brother was able to scalp tickets two row behind the visiting Timberwolves bench. We ended up sitting about 20 feet away from then T-Wolves president (or GM, or some higher up, can't remember) Kevin McHale. I loved being able to see the game up close like that, and I loved how the fans rallied around a floundering, albeit young and growing, team. Now they're three wins from a championship. Unfortunately, they're also one loss away from the season ending....

Ah, the NBA Finals. It's been a while since I've had this much of a vested interest in the Finals. Actually, it's been 14 years to be exact. The Heat are one win away from eliminating the Thunder and winning the first of "not one, not two, not three..." You get the idea. The thing is, it's hard for me to be too upset about the idea of the Thunder losing. For starters, I'm not sure a lot of people thought they'd get this far. Yes, a lot of people did pick them, but along they way they had to take out the defending champion Mavericks, Kobe Bryant's Lakers and the Spurs, who won 20 games in a row. Eliminating all those teams is quite an accomplishment, especially when (assuming James Harden comes back) there is a young nucleus here that is likely to be together for years to come. Durant's shot a title will come. And I'm not counting out my team. Hell, his time could come in five days.

But the main reason I'm not that upset is because of LeBron James. Something else I should have mentioned from the start is that along with loving sports, I love watching greatness. And this guy is playing out of his mind! He's doing exactly what we knew he could do, and exactly what we'd hoped he'd do since he joined the league in 2003. Had you told me before the series that he'd be playing this well, I'd have probably said the Thunder have little to no chance of winning. Yes, an argument could be made that the main reason the Heat are up 3-1 is because their role players are stepping up (seriously, 25 points from Mario Chalmers???!!!), but to me LeBron is the difference maker. The reason guys like Chalmers, Shane Battier and James Jones are getting those open looks is because of LeBron.

On the one hand, this shouldn't be that surprising, because he's been doing this during the regular season for the last, well, pretty much his entire career. At the same time, when his team's have been eliminated from the playoffs  the last few years, LeBron was nowhere to be found. He was standing in the corner while others took the big shots or made the big plays.

It's almost as if something clicked during the Pacers series. The Heat fell down, 2-1, and all of a sudden LeBron realized he had to put the team on his back. Again, they fell behind to the Celtics, and LeBron had one of the all-time great playoff performances. I noted at the time that if the Heat didn't end up winning the title, LeBron's haters will still call him a choke artist, despite glaring evidence to the contrary.

It's still funny to me how much everyone hates LeBron. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't really like The Decision. It bothered me the way LeBron strung the city of Cleveland along and then ripped their hearts out on national television without even a hint of sadness towards leaving the city he called home. To be clear, I had no problem with him leaving. He didn't really owe the city anything... except a courtesy call to let them know he wasn't staying so they could head towards plan B, even though I'm not sure the Cavs had one (you know, besides the owner writing an angry letter in comic sans font). But he had a right to go wherever he chose, it's just the murdering a franchise on national TV was in very poor taste. The other thing that bothered me was that the fans of Miami, it seemed, were getting a free ride to a title, and likely multiple titles (and these ungrateful fans can't even get to the game on time!!!). Needless to say, I was very much rooting for the Mavs last season, and I enjoyed seeing the Heat crumble.

Still, the backlash that LeBron took from The Decision stunned me a little. It's amazing to think how much everyone loved LeBron three years ago, and now he's probably the most hated superstar in sports. It'll be interesting to see if that changes if he wins the title.

This year has been different. Now that LeBron has showed he can take it to that next level when he has to, the sports fan in me loves to watch, although the Thunder fan in me hurls curse words, throws hats, kicks tables and begs for fouls that we just don't seem to get.

I guess that's actually the main reason I'll get over it quicker than expected if the Thunder can't win the next three games. The LeBron haters will finally shut up. It's astonishing how much this guy gets picked apart, and maybe even more astonishing the way he's (for the most part) kept his mouth shut and let his game do the talking these past few months.

Having said all that, when you look at the way LeBron vanished against the Mavs last year and the Celtics in 2010, wouldn't it be about right if his team became the first team ever to blow a 3-1 lead in the Finals. I guess Jeff Van Gundy said today that if the Thunder win tonight, they're back in control of the series, and there's probably some truth in that. If nothing else, shouldn't every basketball fan be rooting for the Thunder tonight just to see  how LeBron reacts if the series heads back to OKC?

Regardless, these playoffs have been fun, and this series has been great. We can only hope that it goes seven games.

I guess that's all for now. Once I get used to this format, maybe I'll start adding pictures, links and whatnot. Hope you enjoyed, and please feel free to pass along!