2 out of 3 is pretty good to Tony LaRussa, I'm sure. I can't help remembering that the first series at Busch stadium last year also had the Cardinals winning 2 of 3, and the season series went down hill from there. It's hard to feel comfortable yet, but then it's always hard to feel comfortable in April anyway. The Cardinals still have the best record in the NL (tied with the Dodgers), and that's different from last year, that's for sure.
So, even without the sweep, I have one question for Cub fans:
You can wish that Derrek Lee was half the ballplayer Albert is. Two plays this weekend typified what I'm saying: (1) Bottom of the 8th Friday night: Albert gets on with a hit, then steals Marmol blind to put himself into scoring position, then scores from second on Ludwick's single. Albert is no speed demon, but he's been making plays like that for the Cardinals for some time now. Can you honestly say Derrek Lee has ever manufactured a run like that? I don't think so, and (2) Bottom of the 3rd Saturday. Barden singles, Boggs bunts him to second, Brendan Ryan strikes out, and Rasmus lines a single to Fukodome in RF. Oquendo stops Barden at 3rd, and Rasmus rounds first base way too aggressively. In fact he slips when he jams on the breaks. Geovany Soto has the ball in his glove, but guess what? No Cub player is within the area code of first base, so Rasmus can crawl back safely to first if he wants to. As it happens, Pujols made the 3rd out, stranding both runners, but the fact remains that if this were a Cub rally brewing and young Hoffpaur was a 3rd of the way to 2nd when Molina received the throw from Ludwick, you better believe Albert would be standing on first, and Micah would be a dead duck for the 3rd out.
Albert is one of a kind. I say the MVP award is his to lose, and so far he is showing no signs of doing any such thing.
I rediscovered an old parking option that a buddy and I used to use in the 80's: St. Louis Centre. We used to get off I-70 at Broadway or perhaps one exit sooner, drive a few blocks, park in the parking garage, go to the food court for dinner, have them validate our parking ticket, then walk to the game. Very economical. Today, the mall is empty, but the parking garage is still there, and it's only 5 bucks. I rediscovered it on Saturday. Friday, I went back to the Kiel parking garage where I'd paid 5 bucks on Opening Day, and found that it was 15 bucks now. Apparently Opening Day was special. Maybe it was because Opening Day was a day game. Nevertheless, I parked there, rather than look elsewhere. On Saturday I made up my mind to try for the outdoor parking lot one block closer than ScotTrade Center, but I was still familiar only with going I-70 to downtown. I got on the express lanes, and then I thought I would try to get off sooner and maybe avoid some of the delays around the Memorial Drive exit, so I got off at Broadway. Of course, there were huge delays there too. As I headed toward Market Street, there it was on the right.
At this point, I should say that I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to get extra exercise, so the fact that this was even further away from Busch Stadium than the Kiel garage was actually a plus.
I used to want to sit at field level to be close to the action, but I've gotten over that need lately. For this series my seat on Friday was in the highest row of the highest level, right behind first base. It was a veritable wind tunnel up there that night. I also could not hear "God Bless America" because of the swirling wind and the sirens going off just south of the stadium. The Cubs were still taking batting practice when I got there. They looked like ants down there. On Saturday, I was on the 3rd base side, which only goes up to the 300 level. In fact, I had my own little 3 seat section, half way between 3rd base and lf foul pole. An entrance was beneath me, and a walkway immediately behind me. I did not have to move for anybody the entire game. Today, I was back on the first base side, 400 level, maybe a few rows down from the top.
So many Cub fan/Card fan couples. I bet there isn't a single Red Sox fan/Yankee fan couple in existence. I prefer to think that makes the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry better, not worse. But that's just me. I did see one sight that made me want to puke, though. I tried to get a picture of it, but it wasn't good enough to show so I deleted it. A guy with a Mark Buehrle jersey had his arm around a gal wearing a Zambrano jersey. That's just plain wrong.
On Friday, at first I felt all alone. The top row did not really start filling up until about the 5th inning. I also felt alone because the row in front of me was thick with Cub fans. Then the "the only thing I hate more the cubbies are those cryin' cubbie fans" team took their seats in the row in front of me and I didn't feel quite so alone anymore.
Things I hate at the ballpark: walking from one end of a row to the other without sitting down anywhere in that row. Actually, that's the extreme case that happened Friday night when about four morons, seeing I was the only one sitting in the row, decided they'd interrupt my dinner instead of going back down the stairs and coming up on the other side of the section like polite people do. Their seats were 4 rows down or so, but they couldn't be bothered to correct their mistake without annoying me. What I normally see is some guy sitting in seat 4 deciding he needs to head down the row toward seat 24 to get to the opposite aisle. Why inconvenience only 3 people when you can annoy the crap out of 20?
Things I really hate: people returning to their seats during an at-bat.
Things that just look silly: people standing up in their seats talking on their cell phone waving at someone in another section. Dude, give it up. They can't see you. If you're in my line of sight and someone is in the batter's box, see "Things I really hate" as well.
One thing about Cub fans at Busch stadium -- Since the new ballpark opened up, the ones I have encountered have mostly been more mature than the Cardinal fans I've noticed at Cub-Cardinal games. You read that right, I said "more". I realize that Cardinal fans have many valid reasons to gloat (10 World Series titles to 2 is a great beginning), but there is an art to "taunting" that Cub fans visiting St. Louis seem to be better steeped in than Cardinal fans. It's one thing to wear a "Got rings?" T-shirt or "Completely Useless By September". It's another thing to go out of your way to make an absolute ass of yourself just to demean a Cub fan. In the past 3 years (mostly in 2006, really) I have seen Cardinal fans crossing that line too many times, while Cub fans have mostly laughed along with their counterparts. When riding the Metro-Link after the game in which the Cubs had won that series 2 games to 1, we'd tell Cub fans in our car, "Hope you enjoyed your World Series!" and they'd laugh knowingly. Meanwhile, I wore my Cubs "Cry" T-shirt to one game in 2006 and 3 Cardinal fans mistook me for a Cub fan because they were too stupid to read the T-shirt carefully.
Friday night, the Cub fan right in front of me was wearing Samardzija jersey. I told him I graduated from the same high school as Jeff. He immediately identified my home town and told me that at Wrigley, fans were generally clueless that he was called up the other day. From that remark I discern that my feelings would be opposite if I mostly experienced this rivalry in Chicago rather than in St. Louis. I'll tell you one thing: I'll NEVER sit in the outfield bleachers at Wrigley. Never. When I sit in the outfield bleachers at Busch and the visiting team hits a HR near my section, invariably I am embarrassed to hear idiot Cardinal fans imploring the person who caught the ball to "Throw it back!" I yell at the top of my lungs, "Do NOT THROW IT BACK!" Unbelievable, that this pitiful Wrigley custom should ever be emulated at other ballparks. It is, in fact, against ballpark rules everywhere to throw anything onto the field of play. It is also a crime to throw it away when you could hand it to a kid if you don't want it. It's incredibly juvenile and it should be beneath Cardinal fans. Fortunately, the denizens of the Left Field bleachers at Busch have a rule (they even sell T-shirts with all their rules printed on the back) that says, "If you get a ball, keep it or GIVE IT TO A KID. This is not Wrigley Field!!!" Amen, brother.
Back to that Cub fan Friday night: After Schumaker made that outstanding catch near the right field foul line, he reached back and gave me a high five. In the 5th inning, an outstanding play by Albert with runners at second and third, and my new Cub fan friend is now hanging out a few rows lower and high fiving Cardinal fans. See what I mean?
Funniest moment: Friday night, Dempster bunted a ball about 5 feet. Yadi obviously tagged him out, but he still ran to first base and then acted like he should have been safe.
A new feature at Busch stadium this year: According to fans at Busch stadium, the most popular celebrity in Chicago is Michael Jordan, not Oprah Winfrey, the best former Cub/former Cardinal closer is Bruce Sutter, not Lee Smith, and the exact distance between Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium is 302 miles.
That "1" guy who does between inning entertainment made a bet with his cub fan friend. The one whose team is lower in the standings has to get his head shaved -- by Fredbird.
Gone, so far anyway, is the custom of playing that video of Jack Buck singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame at Wrigley during the 7th inning stretch. I'm guessing they felt it was time to retire it rather than over do it.
Leaving Friday night, I saw a Cub fan wearing a tshirt that says "Another 08". An interesting shirt. Certainly a laudable wish: to repeat as Central Division champs (in fact to make it a 3-peat). And yet, I could not help thinking, "Another 08" - you mean another LDS division sweep. Frankly, I'm already tired of the Cubs winning the division and then getting swept out of the postseason in 3 straight games. Way to represent, Cubbies. If you're just going to choke in October, could you do us a favor and leave the division title to someone else?
On Saturday, a little boy in a Cubs uniform threw out the first pitch to honor autism day, and for a little guy it was an outstanding pitch. Joe Thurston didn't have to budge from his crouch to catch it.
Yadi got his gold glove on Saturday. That thing looked awesome on the video screen.
Clarkson EyeCare clues on Sunday: TV & radio invented, Haley's comet -- twice, and 5 states added to U.S. Answer? Things that happened in the last 100 years.
A separate entry will discuss a certain bit of controversy that happened on Sunday.
All in all, a successful series. The Cardinals are still in first place and lead the Cubs by 3 games. They gained a game on them this weekend, and they're still doing a lot better than I thought they would.
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