Hey Hardcore, noticed your new tag line. My dad used to record Cardinal playoff games in the 80's on VHS, and he still has alot of them as far as I know. I know he had Games 3, 6, and 7 from the 1982 World Series, and at one time he had Game 3 from the 82 NLCS in Atlanta. He had Games 1,2,4,and 7 from 1985 World series, and he had games from the 87 NLCS against San Francisco and from the 87 World Series also. He would usually tape every game, but he also usually taped over the games the Cards lost. :-)  Not sure if you were wanting originals or to maybe make copies of them...I doubt he'd mind too much, since I've never seen him watch any of them. Let me know...

On a sad note, my father's dumbass son accidentally taped over Willie's awesome Game 3 over the rail catch of Gorman Thomas' deep drive to center field...  Idiot...  :-)

'Bout damn time if you ask me...

I thought they were going to have to upgrade the press box before they could get the All-Star game...

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070115&content_id=1779665& ;vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

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I don't know if many of you have already seen this or not. I just found it, but I could be behind the curve I guess. I saw an ad for it during the All-Star game. Naturally, they showed the Big Papi segment, but they have one for Albert too. It's something of a big ad for AT&T products, but you get to see Albert's home and family. It's pretty interesting.

http://www.seehowtheylive.com/baseball.php

It's hosted by Deion Sanders. I was never a fan of Neon Deion, but he won me over somewhat when he doused Tim McCarver with ice water after the 1992 NLCS. Now that was good TV... ;-)

Here is something I made over at another Cards board (couldn't get it to work here). The idea is stolen from a post I saw at BCB, but I thought it would apply quite well to our current pitching woes. It might make you smile...something the Cards haven't been able to do in the last seven games.                                                                                                  

I just read this on the Post Dispatch sports page. In it Ozzie states that he won't do any on-field work with the Cardinals as long as the "current management" is in place.

In 1996 I was still in college, and anything that didn't involve my studies, alcohol, girls, or alcohol usually escaped my attention...and that sadly included baseball. So I don't know the whole story behind the Ozzie / LaRussa feud.

What do you guys think about it? Legitimate beef with a discourteous new manager, or an aging, spoiled superstar who can't let go of his wounded pride?

If you are expecting a rant, you'll be disappointed (or pleased). ;) I did my ranting last night during the game. Actually, it was more than a rant...it was fist-clenching, vein-popping, impotent rage which I expressed by shouting all sorts of vulgarities at my computer. This continued until I went into the next room and found my 2 year old son sitting with his hands clamped over his ears, after which, ashamed, I managed to stifle myself for the remainder of the game.

Now that my anger has subsided, I just find myself puzzled. It seems to me that we just keep getting victimized by MMP, while the Astros take advantage of it. Both in the LCS last year and in this series J-Rod has hit bombs to center that would most likely have been home runs in another park (Albert was similarly robbed shortly after J-Rod was). The Astros, however, don't seem to have any trouble taking advantage. Berkman's HR against Carp in Game 5 last year is a good example (I'm not sure about the HR last night).

An Astros fan once suggested to me that the Houston pitchers have adjusted their pitching in order to keep opposing batters from taking advantage of the park's unusual dimensions. I'm not sure what to make of that statement. I know the Astros play better at home, but so do most teams...even teams that play in gimmick-less parks with normal dimensions. I am fairly ignorant of the finer arts of pitching, so I don't know how they would accomplish this. Aren't most home runs hit on mistake pitches? And if so, shouldn't we be able to get the cheap home runs as easily as they do?

I've thought about this quite a bit, and I remain perplexed. Are we just having bad luck when we play in Houston, or do the 'Stros really know how to maximize their home-field advantage?

What do you guys think?

I'd heard of this before, but never knew the whole story in detail, and I didn't know there was video footage of it. (Be sure to watch the video if you can...the part with Lasorda was classic...I'd like to hear the audio of that one.)

Thirty years later, it's still a great play. Nice job Rick Monday.

Did anyone else notice Joke Jones with the cocky little bat flip after hitting the HR off of Marquis in the 4th? A guy who stepped to the plate hitting .189 with a .244 OBP? As I recall, he did the same thing when he homered off of Ponson at Wrigley. At that time he was 0-13 on the season.

Both bat flips looked the same, so it leads me to wonder if it might be a signature HR thing for him (I've never watched him play before this season, so I don't know). Regardless, I thought it was pretty ridiculous for a guy gazing upwards at the Mendoza line.

I don't know, maybe I'm making too much of it. But perhaps a little more humility would be in order for someone now tied with Bronson Arroyo in the HR column...