Christine's Grandma, whom we all call Nana, lives in Springfield, IL and
has been a Cardinals fan for over a quarter century. She used to be a
member of the Stadium Club at the old Busch Stadium. The new park does
not have a Stadium Club, so for this inaugural season, she decided to get
season tickets: 4 seats! It's the first time she's ever done this. She
gave us our choice of games early in the season. As a result, I looked at
the schedule and casually followed the team even in April. The 2006
Cardinals got
out of the gate fast, with 17 wins in April, tying a franchise record.
Albert Pujols was a huge part of this, with a home run barrage that
continued through May and caused much
speculation that he could surpass Barry Bonds' record of 73. But I
was watching the June 3rd game against the Cubs on TV when Albert strained
a muscle in his side and had to go on the DL for the first time in his
career. This ended any thought of Albert approaching that record.
While the injury certainly wasn't good news, I thought that it could be a
blessing in disguise, because it would remove the media circus that
accompanies such a chase. Remember, the Cards never made the playoffs
when McGwire approached home run records.
I got to see just two regular season games, both in June. I saw the Cards
lose to the Reds at home and lose to the White Sox in Chicago.
Watching the Cards on the South Side with friends Jing &
Roi
The thing about being an adult instead of a kid is that you have all these
other darn things to do, even in the summer! In the Summer of '06, I was
our church's interim youth
minister, and I wrote the first draft of my PhD
dissertation. Plus I ran road
races and track meets,
and had to prepare for my new teaching assignment as Linear
Algebra lecturer, which started at the end of August.
So I was just able to keep an eye on the Cards all summer. There were a
lot of injuries (in fact I was there when Jim Edmonds got the concussion against
the White Sox ), but the team stayed in first place in the (weak) Central
division basically the entire time. When I finished my rough draft the
day after Labor Day, I was able to track the team more closely. Of
course, I had a little extra incentive this year. Nana's season ticket
status gave her the automatic chance to buy playoff tickets. I asked her
about it in mid-September, and she said she already had them ordered, and
that I'd get first dibs, since I didn't get to go to many regular season
games. Sweet!
The Cards held a comfy 5 to 8 game lead until Sept. 20th, when "tracking
the team" felt like "watching a train wreck." I actually told people
half-jokingly that the Cards are trying a different strategy this year.
"The last two years, the team has had a huge lead at the end of the
season, clinched early, cruised, and then fallen short in the playoffs.
So this time, the Cards have decided to keep things closer all the way
through the end of the season, to have some momentum for the
playoffs."
[Note: Here is where hindsight and synopsis ends, and full
moment-by-moment description begins. Thus we change to present
tense.]
Thursday, Sept. 28th While I’m making my lecture slides
for Linear Algebra, I think of the Cardinals and their late season
struggles. Up 7 1/2 games just 8 days ago, the lead is now down to a half
a game after tonight’s loss! Each lecture slide in TeX starts with the
command “\begin{slide}” and concludes with “\end{slide}.” Every time, I
try to emphasize to myself: end slide.
Friday, Sept. 29th Things start looking better. Not
only do the Cards win against the Brewers, but the seemingly more
important news is that the Astros finally lost! After an 8-game winning
streak, the Braves got 'em. So the Cards magic number went from 4 down to
2, meaning it dropped more today than it did in the previous 8 days
combined! So the Cards can clinch it without help by winning the last two
games.
Saturday, Sept. 30th This is a nationally televised
game, so I can watch the whole thing. Boy, the Brewers aren't making it
easy. Ben Sheets is dynamite; we can't get anything off him. The game is
scoreless through 6. Tony pulls a great move by intentionally walking the
#8 hitter in the top of the seventh to load the bases with two outs.
This basically forces a pinch-hitter for Sheets. The strategy appears at
first to backfire, as the pinch hitter Jeff Cirillo hits a 2-run single.
However, this leaves 3 innings with no Ben Sheets and instead the shaky
Brewers bullpen. Sure enough, in the bottom of the 8th, Scott Spiezio
delivers a two-out, two-strike, bases-loaded triple, and the Cards win
3-2.
I have taken note of Spiezio's red "soul patch" before. With the magic
number down to 1, it looks like I might be getting to attend some
postseason games. So today I decide to stop shaving so I can grow
something out to dye red for the playoffs.
Sunday, October 1st: Cards Clinch My friend Jing from
UIC plans to come over today to watch sports. I’ve got my Cards gear on,
hoping they can clinch one way or the other today. And even if both the
Cards lose and the Astros win, the magic number would still be 1, and then
the Cards would make up that game against the Giants at home tomorrow.
So our odds are pretty good. I follow both the Cards game and the
Atlanta-Houston game online. The Cards get down big early, but
fortunately, the Braves take care of the Astros in the middle of the Cards
game. So it’s clinched: Central Division Champions! And that’s
definitely big this year in particular, because Nana has playoff tickets!
Jing arrives, and I change from Cards clothes to ‘Skins clothes and we
head over to a neighborhood sports bar to see the ‘Skins, who start at
3:15. The ‘Skins-Jaguars are locked into a great game, and Nana calls my
phone from Busch Stadium while I’m watching the 'Skins game. We make
preliminary playoff plans. Christine walks over to join us, and the three
of us watch a fantastic finish: Brunell throws a 68-yard game-ending
touchdown to Santana Moss in Overtime! Awesome. What a great day!
The baseball playoff schedule is announced, and the Cards will play
Tuesday and Thursday in San Diego, and Saturday and Sunday (if necessary)
in St. Louis.
How perfect can this be:
I teach Monday, Wednesday,
Friday!! Next to
