I can read his mind

Everybody knows about the  Vince Lombardi trophy  in football, given to the team that wins the Super Bowl each year. I remember the sad spectacle of how the trophy was groped and fondled as it was being carried to the NFL’s commissioner after the most recent Super Bowl. And the Stanley Cup, well, that goes

The name was a clue

The story of Roberto Hernandez, who for more than a decade was known as “Fausto Carmona,” is more interesting to me this evening than the Ryan Braun story. Today’s ruling has declawed the testing procedure, and means that the juice will probably be coming back to baseball. Is somebody now going to hit 60 home

The LuPu Line

There’s a lot of talk about Pujols right now. The big contract, the move from St. Louis to the American League, all of it. And I’ve even written about Albert Pujols here and here. But perhaps there’s another Pujols-related discussion that can be had at this moment in time. And a fundamental wrong that can

Disrespecting Albert no more

When it comes to Albert Pujols and his willingness to leave St. Louis, it turns out I was right. I’m not always right, but on this one I was dead on. There really wasn’t any chance that Albert was going to sign with the Cardinals again, World Series or no World Series. After all those

I can hear their sighs of relief

The St. Louis economy received a significant jolt tonight. The Rangers’ win in Game four means that there will be a Game six next week, and so parking revenue, concession sales, sales tax from ticket prices, hotel bookings, bar receipts, and a whole bunch of other monies will be changing hands in St. Louis next

Get ready for a huge number

At the start of this season, when it became clear that Albert Pujols and the Cardinals were not going to agree on a contract before the season, the thought of number 5 in a contract year was absolutely horrifying. The best player of his generation–and maybe of any generation–trying to put up numbers to show what

The pendulum swings toward Texas

When the FOX announcers began talking about how the Cardinals had never been involved in a 1-0 game in their previous 100+ games of World Series play, I knew the final score wouldn’t be 1-0. I’m going to suggest that jinxes do exist, and talking about a 1-0 game is the quickest way to make

And the Theo watch continues

As the World Series gets going, the big story in the rest of baseball is what’s going to happen with Theo Epstein and the Cubs. The Red Sox apparently want some things, and the Cubs are going to have to cough some prospects up. Maybe they’re close to getting it done, any maybe they’re not.

I’m rooting for the NL team, even if it is the Cardinals

At the beginning of every baseball season, whenever somebody is making their predictions about how everything will turn out six months later, you can reliably hear two things: The American League East is a “strong division,” while the National League Central is a “weak division.” Any division with both the Yankees and the Red Sox

Changing the rules, because I can

When I was a kid first getting into baseball and the Cubs, my favorite player was Bruce Sutter. Yes, he did leave for the Cardinals and then the Atlanta Braves, but he’ll always be a Cub in my mind. That hat he’s wearing on his Cooperstown plaque is just some sort of engraver’s error, I

So it’s the small market to the north against the small market to the south

The Cardinals and the Brewers both play in the National League Central, and next week they’ll be playing each other for a spot in the World Series. I’ll watch the games, of course, but they will only remind me–and any other baseball fan who cares to notice–how dismally the Cubs have failed as a franchise.

Process of elimination

On the last night of the regular season, which seems like much longer than eight days ago, we were treated to a sensational night of memorable moments. Perhaps I’m being greedy, but the next thirty-six hours could give us even more moments like this, because three teams will see their seasons end, one way or

Whatever it takes

I read an article online today about an interesting possibility that I had not considered. The article is here, but basically the idea is that if the Cubs hired Walt Jocketty, the former General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, he would in turn hire Tony LaRussa, who would convince Albert Pujols to sign as