Another baseball thread

[I'll be the first to admit that if no one reads this, it hardly qualifies as a "thread."]

Baseball season's climax (ooh) is almost upon us, with the Fall Classic. Today's entry will be brief, just trying to keep to my blog once every Tuesday schedule, for reasons known only to me and the llamas. Soon I will have to move to other topics, like college basketball, politics, and sex.

Last night, for Cardinal fans, was just about as sweet as it gets. That game is sufficient to show why baseball is as fabulous as it is, and why those (call 'em "Dodger fans") will never see excitement when they insist on leaving at the part of the game where the greatest excitement occurs.

Enough ink and pixels have been spilled over Pujols' home run, and even Eckstein's gritty at bat, and Edmonds checking his ego at the door and walking (on a pitch virtually identical to that which was called a strike the game before, and which generated his exit). Fewer folks have said much about how Isringhausen came in and took care of bidness in the 9th; sure, the Astros were deflated, but they were only down a run, had Bagwell available, and Izzy took charge.

This was also both a fabulous game and a torturous one, in that so many plays were close; Sanders came very close to hitting a double, Lamb came close to having his foot on the bag, etc., etc.. I would almost need to see it again to mark down how many different things turned on a matter of inches (hence the cliché).

Second guessing, as one does: Carpenter looked tired to me at the beginning of the 8th, and the Astros were starting to hit him. I would have brought in King--Rotund Ray--to face Berkman, but, hey: we got the win, everything was joyous outside of Houston, and we get to see what happens Wednesday night.

As far as Houston, I don't feel too bad, even though I think it is an okay franchise. I was in Houston in '86, and while they were in the NLCS, the local sports segment of the news led off with a football story (the Oilers, back in the day). That isn't something that is conceivable in St. Louis.

I've made my predictions, and I'll stick with them (Sox in 6 (oops, it was 5) and Cards in 7 (?)). As far as Wednesday night's game, the toughest thing to determine is whether I should skip the first night of my Principles of Macroeconomics course to watch it. (I'm tending toward yes.) Mulder is better at night, the Cards have whatever one might refer to with the word "momentum," the fans will be going absolutely nuts, especially at the beginning of the game. The only thing is this: if Oswalt shuts down the offense, the Cards are in trouble. He's done it before, and as I predicted awhile ago (see below), if the Astros get a couple of absolutely stellar starts, the Cards may well lose. I just didn't think it could be two starts from the same pitcher; but Oswalt is a total bad-ass. I think the Cards can (and will) get to him, but I won't be shocked if they don't. If they can figure him out, Morris is better at home, and for some reason Clemens doesn't scare me as much as Oswalt. I think we win a game seven, by hitting Clemens, along with the psychological trauma the Astros will be suffering.

And, if they get by Oswalt, I'll be there for game 7. Clemens' last game? Busch's last game? Or on to the Series and the Sox? Stay tuned, llama fans.