Keep the Faith

Baseball is America's favorite past time and just like March Madness, anything can happen in October. You saw it the past two years when Boston and Chicago won the 2004 and 2005 World Series, respectively.

Look at ESPN's so-called expert, no one thought the Cardinals would be in the World Series. This is a team that only won 83 games when they were expected to win 100 games this season. There were many times that the Cincinnati Reds were trailing us by one or two games in the standings. When we had that bad stretch against the American League in interleague play, fans thought that the Cincinnati Reds would take first place but the National League did terrible in the American League this summer. At the end of the season, the Cincinnati Reds started fading and the Houston Astros were starting to make a comeback at the end of the season. The Cardinals did not clinch the division until the final day of the regular season when the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros.

No one thought Gary Bennett would be MVP of the series against the Cubs of all teams when Yadier Molina was injured with a sore throwing elbow.

No one thought that the Cardinals would get to the World Series with not one, not two, but THREE seven-game losing streaks that had us at the edge of our seats each time that we watched, listened to, or followed a Cardinals game. Sure, I'm an optimist but I had no idea that we'd actually beat the New York Mets. After the year we had, I thought it would have been a 4-0 sweep. Oy, was I sure wrong.

Who would have thought that Jeff Weaver would play a big role in getting the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series? Certainly not me. No one thought that Ronnie Belliard or Preston Wilson would be on the Cardinals when they won the NL pennant this past Thursday.

Nobody expected Mark Mulder and Jason Isringhausen would be lost for the season.

Nobody thought that the Cardinals would go without Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols, David Eckstein, Mark Mulder, Scott Rolen, Jason Isringhausen, Chris Carpenter, etc. for weeks at a time due to them being placed on the DL for injuries....and still win the NL Pennant.

Nobody expected that Tony La Russa would trust a rookie pitcher, Adam Wainwright, to close games in September and October after Jason Isringhausen was shut down.

I have faith in my Cardinals. I hope you do, too, because we're going all the way!!