Pitching is such a vital part of the game, as far as winning is concerned.

On most teams the set up man has become more valuable, on others not so valuable.

Something to keep in mind — it’s raining lightly. The infield could be very wet on ground balls.

What is a drop and drive pitcher? He is a guy who drops and drives. Very simple.

So by guessing right you might have guessed wrong.

Giambi walks too much. He’s always clogging up the bases with all that walking.

As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii.

If football is a game of inches then baseball is a game of inch.

If that ball had more elevation, it would have been a home run.

If the double play is a pitcher’s best friend, what is a fielder’s choice? An acquaintance?

It’s better to have a fast runner on base than a slow one.

One thing about ground balls. They don’t go out of the ball park.

The reason we call that pitch up and in is because the arms are attached to the shoulder.

He wears his hat like a left hander!

Any ball that goes down is much heavier than any ball that stays on the same plane.

The blood on his sock looks exactly like Oklahoma!

You don’t want to use too many statistics. The ones that apply to a July or August game won’t be relevant on Saturday.

American McCarver

The Impossible Dream [Link]

Perfect column by Jayson Stark, on the improbability of the Cardinals’ championship:

One strike away.

In the history of baseball, only one other team has ever done what these Cardinals have just done. Only one other team — the ‘86 Mets — ever tumbled into that one-strike-away abyss in a World Series and survived to pop the champagne bottles.

So think about that. In the first 106 World Series ever played, only those ‘86 Mets ever got down to their last strike and then won it all. Then this team found itself in that mess twice in two innings Thursday.

And consider this: with the way they got into the postseason — with not one win to spare — that means the Cardinals didn’t play a single game all year that didn’t count.

My congratulations to the second-most-successful franchise in baseball.

Baseball

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