WORLD SERIOUS: CARDS GET 'ER DONE

Jeff Weaver, the man the L.A. Angels waived earlier this season so they could his roster spot to his brother, was lights-out for eight innings. Another Detroit Tigers pitcher made a Little League overthrow (with all apologies to the Little Leaguers everywhere) to bring in the runs that ultimately decided the game and the St. Louis Cardinals won 4-2 last night to wrap up the World Series in five games.

Oh, and the MVP, Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein, started the series 0-for-11. The Cardinals starting left-fielder, Preston Wilson, was released in mid-season.

It's a little like that scene in a Family Guy episode where Chris, Peter Griffin's porcine teenaged son, says, "I haven't been this confused since the ending of No Way Out." Quick cut to a distressed Chris leaving a movie theatre: "How does Kevin Costner keep getting work?"

That's the only postscript emotion this a.m., three hours Cardinals closer Adam Wainwright struck out Series goat Brandon Inge (who made three errors and also pulled a rock on the basepaths, getting thrown out going second-to-third on a ball hit in front of him) to nail down St. Louis' first World Series title since 1982. The more one tries to analyze it, the less one has a screw's clue about why things happened the way the did.

Five throwing errors by Detroit pitchers, leading to eight unearned runs? You can watch your favourite major-league team day in, day out all season and probably not see its pitchers make five throwing errors. Good grief. From Miracle Team to giving away a miracle, it took only seven days.

An 83-win team winning the World Series runs counter to what baseball's traditionally supposed to be about. Like a greater mind once said, this is a game that measures a gift for dailyness; it almost has some organizing principle that dictates things will even out over time, and that flukes or anomalies don't just happen. Being mediocre and still having a chance at the big prize is all well and good in other team sports, or in politics, pop music or acting (Julia Roberts won an Oscar one year, after all), but never in baseball, except every 20 years or so when a team such as the '06 Cardinals, 1987 Minnesota Twins or 1973 New York Mets somehow bucks the trend.

That said, I'm not even sure it really counts as an upset. The Tigers were favoured since they had the better regular-season record, had blown through the league playoffs and were coming over from the American League, which has dominated the World Series, All-Star Game and interleague play over the past few years. Few people played up the discrepancy in plate discipline, and seemed to ignore that Tony La Russa's Cardinals had been to the post-season the previous two years, so they had more experience.

Between Eckstein, Scott Rolen (who hit .421 and could have been the MVP) and versatile role players such as So Taguchi, they proved better suited to a short series. Albert Pujols didn't do much with the bat, but have you ever seen a first baseman throw out a runner from his back? Me neither.

What worked for the Tigers across 162 games just didn't work here. Credit St. Louis' advance scouts, by the way, with coming up with a plan to frustrate Tigers hitters, who hit just .199 in the Series.

All in all, with apologies to Cardinals fans, it wasn't much of a World Series, but at least there's the fun part in trying to figure out why it went the way it did.

(Not sure is this made it onto the broadcast, but apparently the Busch Stadium field is going to be re-sodded for next season. You don't say.)

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.