WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!

Man, it has been a beautiful October to be a St. Louis Cardinals' fan! It has been the most amazing ride, and if you haven't been following the story, here it is in a nutshell: every time we weren't supposed to win, we did. One game after the other, one series at a time, we just kept right on beating teams that were supposed to be beating us.

Then there was Game 6 of the World Series, two nights ago, which was THE most exciting baseball game I have ever seen - maybe the most exciting sporting event I've ever seen, period. And finally, last night, a Game 7 winner-takes-all showdown in St. Louis. Before the game, all the sportscasters picked the Rangers to win.

But it was the boys in red who were celebrating mid-field in the end, with Cardinal Nation roaring its ecstatic approval from the stands, the streets, and from our little couch here in Nashville.

And the unlikely hero of the Cardinals post-season was David Freese, who just so happened to be my high school classmate. It was so exciting to see him have such a huge part in the team victory and be handed the World Series MVP trophy at the end. I'm pretty sure he just became St. Louis's most eligible bachelor.

Such a wonderful few weeks following the sport I love the most. Thank you, Cardinals, for playing every game like it was your last, until you were standing alone on top of the world.

This is literally the happiest face Tony LaRussa has ever made.

We're going to the post-season!!! The Cards beat the Rockies on Saturday to win the NL Central, as predicted at the beginning of the season by... nobody.

In that same game, this guy might have pitched his way to a Cy Young award.


If not, don't worry, we have the other front-runner on our team too.


Two aces in the hole, big bats in the lineup, smart (if generally stoic) Tony at the helm, and the adoration of the whole Cardinal Nation... Here's to October, my dear Redbirds!

Yadi Love

Seems ESPN finally realized what Cardinals fans have known for a few years now... that Yadier Molina is delightful and so much fun to watch and his adorable mug will sell this magazine to women!


And, also, in a related story, he is THE best catcher in baseball.

Sweeeeeep

Tonight starts interleague baseball play, which I think is good fun. I like the randomness of the match-ups and how it gives territorial rivals a chance besides the world series to duke it out. Like tonight the Cards will be playing the cross-state Kansas City Royals, who are actually a good team for the first time in recent memory.

But, before we move on to this weekend, we just need to celebrate one thing from this week first.

Tuesday May 19:

Cardinals 3, Cubs 0

Wednesday May 20:

Cardinals 2, Cubs 1

Thursday May 21:

Cardinals 3, Cubs 1

And that, my friends and fellow Americans, is how you sweep the Cubbies right outta town.

Play Like a Cardinal

When I went to the Cards/Cubs game a couple weekends ago, I was introduced to their 2009 marketing campaign on billboards throughout the city, on signage in the stadium, and even on our tickets. The message is one simple phrase "Play Like a Cardinal" coupled with images of team greats, past and present.

I loved it, of course, but not just because I'm a fan but also because I'm interested in marketing. It's a clever phrase, especially when matched with visuals of franchise legends and phenoms and champions. It celebrates the best of the team, which is a positive message, but with a competitive undercurrent implying that playing like a Cardinal means playing better than all the other teams out there.

It's a great fit in particular for us Cardinals fans, who as a collective pride ourselves on being intelligent about and respectful of the game as a whole, and also fiercely proud of the history and legacy of our particular team and players. We are quite convinced - probably because we've heard it from so many Cardinals over the years - that players across the major league all know that St. Louis is one of the great places to play baseball, and that here they will play for the best fans in the game. We pretty much agree that any player wearing the birds on bats and Cardinal red understands exactly how privileged they are to play for our team. To fans, there could be perhaps no more fitting rally cry than that members of our team would "Play Like a Cardinal."

The centerpiece, which plays on the jumbotron in the stadium, is moving and inspiring and sooooo baseball-y. I love it, and want you to watch it now:




Anyway, all this to say that I was googling the phrase hoping for some good images to use in this blog when lo and behold I discovered that the ad agency responsible for the campaign also created a whole slew of commercials for the team! Apparently, digging a little further in my research, these "Play Like a Cardinal" mini-spots actually started during the 2008 season. One of the perils of being a fan transplanted to another city is that I never even knew about them until now. The spots are short, mostly quirky and sometimes funny, bordering on weird. A lot of people felt like they were too odd. But I kinda love them. You can click here to watch all the 2009 spots.

Now it is my solemn duty as a card-carrying member of the Yadier Molina fan club (not sure if such a thing really exists but if so SIGN ME UP) to share his two commercials. He's pretty much exactly this awesome.



...and the first half of this video (the second half is another one of the spots featuring FredBird).


This concludes your daily dose of hearing about what a rabid baseball fan I am. Thank for tolerating me.

Blogging Fail

Sorry it has been far too long since I have blogged about anything, and a really long time since I blogged about baking. Just, you know, life happened. More specifically GMA Music Week and the Dove Awards, our two biggest events at work, happened and I was there from beginning to end! I want to blog about that, I have two baking blogs to post (including my experience with my new/old breadmachine), I have pictures from home and scrapbooking stuff and I joined a gym - all sorts of good blogging material and just no time to post!

Actually, that's not entirely true. I've had a little time to post. But every time I sit down I only want to post about one thing: baseball.

Call it my own version of spring fever, but I've got baseball on the brain. You probably thought my last post got it out of my system, but no! My team keeps winning, my favorite players keep being awesome, and ESPN keeps running Baseball Tonight. I even went on Comcast's website to figure out if there was any way I could order just Fox Sports Midwest (answer: no) so I could watch all the Cardinals games.

"I love baseball this much!"

In fact, I have another baseball blog in the works right now. For those of you who could give a rat's fanny about baseball and my drooling over it, don't worry. I'm throwing you a bone with an entry on Banana Nut Bread. Just have to add the recipe and I will try and post tonight!

Baseball I Love You

Baseball, I love you.

You are springtime, with the excitement of opening day and warm sunshine and sweet green grass. You are summer, with long shadows over the hot field and fireworks and hotdogs and sweat. You are fall, with the chase for October and cool nights and extra innings under the brilliant lights.

You are the swing of the bat illuminated by ten-thousand anticipatory camera flashes.

You are the rare delight of stealing home under the helpless gaze of a stunned pitcher.

You are the smug satisfaction of the catcher throwing behind the batter to pick off the runner at first base.

You are the acrobatic and unapologetic leap of the left-fielder, laid out and stretching the impossible distance to snag the pop fly.

You are the double play turned by the infielder from his knees, the line drive miraculously caught by the pitcher as much in self-defense as on-purpose, the slide into second, the fielder's choice, the long throw home, the wicked curve.

I hear you, baseball, like the rumbling of applause that grows from the last few measures of the national anthem, like the wheezing strains of the organ, like the crackle of AM radio, like the solid thwack of a fastball entering the catcher's mitt, like the old guy yelling "ice cold beer."

We give you our Saturday afternoons, our weeknights, our rally caps, our foam fingers, our scorecards, the shouts and cheers for our beloved teammates, the raucous boos for our opponents and moderately more polite ones for defected former favorites.

You give us sunburnt knees and close calls with foul tips, rookies with heart and veterans with grit, exhilirating walk-off homeruns and heartbreaking September losses. You call us to our feet in hushed hopes for will-they-or-won't-they, get up get up get up long drifters back to the wall, in joined outrage for are-you-blind-you-crazy-ump calls at the plate, in deafening cheers for the comeback win.

You are the Green Monster, the hill at Minute Maid, the ivy at Wrigley, the thin air at Mile High, the nosebleed seats in every third and fourth tier, the hot metal of the bleacher seats, standing room only, and you are every old stadium breathing with history and every new stadium with all its bells and whistles.

You are Cubs versus Cardinals and Sox versus Yanks. You are subway series and crosstown rivalries, old-standing grudges and pitchers beaning batters by no accident and bench-clearing brawls and ejected red-faced managers.

You are stories and scorecards, statistics and superstitions, sheer luck and smart thinking. You are history and legend. You are my favorite sport and my favorite team, a roaring sea of fans in red and the legacy of the birds on the bats, Pujols and Molina and the constant promise of a great season. You are baseball.

Baseball, I love you.