Once again, things are looking down for some former Cardinals out there in the world.
Jimmy Baseball and the Cubbies were eliminated in a three-game sweep by the Dodgers. I gotta say, if the Dodgers can go into Wrigley and win two straight, the rest of the road is downhill for them. (Not that the Cubs brought their A game--more like AAA--but still, it's Wrigley, right?)
Jeff "word of the day" Suppan (and by the way, I still miss that) gave up the final nail in the Brewers' coffin in game four and halted the Brew Crew's attempt at defying history (by winning a division series after being down 0-2). He looked pretty dejected out there on the mound. I'm just grateful the untucking was stopped where it was. I'm not sure if I could have tolerated much more of that.
David Eckstein and his new club (old news alert) were shut down by ours truly and left the door wide open for Torre and Manny to claim the West. (I guess there's one former Redbird who's had some success after leaving the team, anyway.)
Anthony Reyes did his best to turn Cleveland's luck around, but the same sore shoulder that gave him some trouble in STL was acting up and ended his season with the Indians after only six starts. His record was pretty good for those six, but nothing doing for the team.
Scott Rolen... well, what more can I say about Scott. He faced injury after injury, couldn't get his bat going, and really just stunk up Canada. His defense was pretty spot-on, though. I guess that was to be expected. As I've said before, nobody misses him. (Nobody who matters, anyway.)
So we'll see The Phillies and Dodgers play best of seven for the League Championship, and I expect nothing short of fireworks. Here are two pretty solid teams, neither with big gaps in their lineup or rotation, and good management behind the scenes. They also have two of the biggest bats in the NL in Howard and Ramirez, so if nothing else, that should provide some entertainment.
You know what would really be interesting? A Boston-LA match-up in the World Series. How fun would it be to see Manny back at Fenway?
And it might just happen. I was sure at the beginning of the playoffs that the Angels were just going to cruise through the DS and LS, but that's not what has happened so far. The Red Sox have been about as tough as anybody, and the Angels have apparently fallen asleep. I guess the old adage is true: That's why they play the game.
