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.

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.

100th Post! 100 Things I Like...

This is my 100th post on this blog! Little did I know all those years ago that I would be having this much fun sharing all my random thoughts with the world... or at least with my mom and the five other people who regularly read this blog.

I decided I would do a post about 100 random things I like... in no order, no rhyme or reason... These are not my top 100 things, or an exhaustive list of things I like. I just typed out everything as it came to me, and sometimes saying one thing I liked made me think of something else. Also I did some linking in case you like these things too.

Now on to the list!

1. Sleeping with lots of pillows
2. Baby name books
3. Libraries
4. Popcorn at the movie theater
5. Writing blogs
6. Shel Silverstein
7. Swimming
8. Artisan & Craft fairs
9. Leggings
10. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
11. Red airheads
12. Getting stupid-excited about the Twilight movie
13. Kristin Wiig on SNL
14. Driving
15. Chubby cheeks on babies
16. Scalding-hot showers
17. Really bright red fall trees
18. Taking pictures
19. Target
20. Shredding papers
21. Guinea pigs
22. The music of Leeland, especially "Sound of Melodies"
23. Watching figure skating
24. My graphic designers I work with
25. Cookies & Cream icecream from Braum's
26. Snow
27. The really snarky writing on Gossip Girl
28. Exclamation points
29. Writing and receiving real letters
30. When Heather calls at 9 pm and asks if I want to go to Sonic
31. The movie "Can't Hardly Wait"
32. Estee Lauder's Beautiful Sheer & Ralph Lauren Romance perfumes
33. Garth Brooks
34. Hugging my dad after I haven't seen him in a long time
35. Acoustic guitar driven music
36. Celebrity gossip
37. Scruffy and how cute he is
38. The St. Louis Zoo
39. LOST
40. Daydreaming of working for a really cool company like Google or Pixar
41. T-shirts with pockets
42. Fresh flowers
43. Calvin & Hobbes
44. Knowing all the words to Kanye West's "Golddigger"
45. Re-reading books I love
46. The words to hymns
47. Michaelangelo's Pieta
48. Holidays
49. Having parties at my house
50. 1 John 3:1
51. Horses
52. Going to art museums and remembering all the art history I learned
53. Apples with peanut butter
54. My momma
55. Traveling to new places
56. Being barefoot
57. Getting a haircut
58. Fuji Apple Chicken Salad from Panera
59. Baz Luhrmann movies
60. The city of Chicago
61. Cello
62. Being goofy with Ben
63. Scrapbooking
64. Shopping for scrapbooking stuff
65. Potatoes
66. Children's books
67. Going to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game in Busch Stadium
68. Headbands
69. Cute flat shoes
70. Quoting shows and movies I love
71. Steve Carell
72. Purple irises
73. My red purse
74. When kids say funny things
75. French fries from Kriegers with extra seasoning
76. Mountains
77. Doing laundry
78. Being "outdoorsy" through kayaking
79. When people have a funny laugh
80. Office supplies
81. My friend Rob & his family
82. Jason Mraz
83. Watching college football
84. Finding people on Facebook and looking at their pictures
85. When Jesus heals the little girl in Mark 5
86. The smell of outside in the spring
87. Milk
88. When my whole family is together at Christmas
89. Wearing jeans
90. Nicknames
91. Reading in the bathroom
92. Chips and cheese dip
93. Falling asleep to rain and thunder
94. Mark Rothko's color field paintings
95. Looking at beautiful wedding pictures
96. The X-Files
97. Getting a pedicure
98. Needtobreathe
99. Natural lighting
100. Taking naps

Other blog...

Hey, I have a few new blogs at my myspace page, here. One is my Emmy fashion wrap-up, and the other is one of those stupid survey things. I couldn't help it. I must tell people about my life and believe they will find it fascinating.

Also, please go immediately to my friend Heather's page and read her delightful blog about our favorite Cardinal, catcher Yadier Molina.

And don't worry, I'm not abandoning this blog. I'll be back!