October 13, 200421 yr Author NLCS Game 1 Hotsheet 10 topics buzzing around the Cardinals and Astros By Mark Newman / MLB.com Jason Marquis was not thrilled that Tony La Russa pushed him back to a Game 4 start. (Tom Gannam/AP) ST. LOUIS -- The Astros and Cardinals open the National League Championship Series at 8 p.m. ET tonight at Busch Stadium. Here are 10 things people around the NLCS are talking about: 1. Runs, hits and showers There is a 50 percent chance of rain for the opener, and at mid-day it was 55 degrees and drizzling. If the game is postponed, it will be played Thursday. Game 2 would be pushed back to Friday, which is the scheduled day off for travel to Houston. 2. Rolen on the river One of the hottest songs in St. Louis lately has been a local radio station's rendition of "Rollin' on the River" with Scott Rolen's name substituted. But now everyone is waiting to see Rolen, bothered by a calf strain and achy knee, get on another roll after going 0-for-12 in the NL Division Series. "I'm going to assess, approach, focus," he said Tuesday. Then he paused and said, "Oh -- that sounded pretty corny. A La Russa-ism. He's getting in my head. That's what Tony would say." 3. Curse of No Bambino "Obscured series" a St. Louis Post-Dispatch headline called it. Fox has given prime-time priority to the ALCS when the Yanks and Red Sox play on the same day as the NLCS, and most people around this series just see it as a tabloid-less fact of life. "The Cardinals and Astros don't have this nasty feud like the Yankees and Red Sox," Cards reliever Steve Kline said. "But in terms of competing, we've been banging heads for a long time." 4. Marquis de sad After learning he had been pushed back to a Game 4 start behind Matt Morris for the Cardinals -- meaning only one outing following that bad loss to the Dodgers -- a surprised Jason Marquis said, "I'm not going to lie. I'm a little disappointed. But it's their decision." 5. The Texas candidate People in Houston and St. Louis have to choose between watching tonight's final Presidential debate or their teams on the field. Houston mayor Bill White, who will be watching his hometown team, told the Houston Chronicle: "If ever there was a night for the remote, [tonight] is that night." 6. The Dr. Phil Show Although the Commissioner's office requires that the Astros go through an offseason interview process to determine their 2005 manager, there is no question how much the players like interim skipper Phil Garner. The fun is back. Here is how Carlos Beltran describes Garner's arrival: "He told me, 'OK, Carlos, we want you to go out there, do what you are capable of doing, steal bases if you want to, if you get the opportunity to do it.'" 7. Inspector Gadget How did Woody Williams find out the Cardinals had clinched the NL Division Series in Los Angeles? "The first thing I did when I got off the plane was turn my cell phone on, got on the Web and saw the score. When I first turned it on, it was 2-1 [Cards]. Then it was 2-2. They tied it up." The club had sent Williams back to start resting for this Game 1 start. No word on whether the right-hander downloaded a Cardinals logo for his mobile phone wallpaper. 8. Fourth and longing The Cardinals were 3-0 in LCS appearances throughout the 1980s, but they are 0-for-3 in LCS appearances since then under La Russa: 1996 (lost to Atlanta, 4-3), 2000 (lost to New York, 4-1) and 2002 (lost to San Francisco, 4-1). How La Russa rates this opportunity: "I think the other chances that we had here in St. Louis, we had more issues and more problems that we had to overcome." 9. Where have the switch-hitters gone? Some call it a fading art. The Cardinals have none, but the Astros keep switch-hitting alive with Carlos Beltran, Lance Berkman and Jose Vizcaino. -- Correction the Cardinals have Roger Cedeno moron who wrote this. 10. Backe for more Houston rookie Brandon Backe, a converted outfielder, has never thrown on three days' rest. He'll have to do that in Game 1 under the bright lights. "I think adrenaline's going to take away any soreness or whatever I have," he said. "The big thing for me is just to calm my emotions down."
October 14, 200421 yr Author Sanders lauds Game 1 victory Cardinals outfielder pleased with team effort Reggie Sanders went 1-for-4 with a run scored in the Cardinals' victory. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) Reggie Sanders is playing in his fifth postseason, but his first as a St. Louis Cardinal. The well-traveled outfielder has bounced around quite a bit in recent years, but one constant has been winning. In 2001 (Diamondbacks) and 2002 (Giants) he played on National League pennant winners before spending a year with the Pirates in 2003. One of the best-liked players in the game, Sanders had another solid season in 2004, batting .260 with a .482 slugging percentage, 22 homers and 21 steals in 26 attempts. He'll be checking in with MLB.com after each Cardinals playoff game for as long as the Redbirds survive. It is a big deal to win Game 1. I don't really look at the history of what was going on, about how the team hasn't won a home NLCS game in however many years. That's fine. For us, it's all about now, and continuing to do what got us here -- playing good fundamental baseball. This team has been very strong in those conditions. Everybody got in on it in this game, and that's big. That's key. It lets you know that the heart is there. The dedication is there. Watching the game and being involved from the first inning all the way to the ninth inning really shows a lot of character when everybody contributes like that. Woody Williams left a couple of balls over in the middle of the plate, but the way he battled back from those home runs showed his heart, too. With that lineup, if you miss a pitch, they're going to capitalize on it. That's just the nature of Houston. The outing he had against them last time was horrible. And then he knew he had to step it up a little bit. He could have gotten rattled really easily, but he stayed strong and knew what he was trying to do. He didn't let it bother him. Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds got back on track on Wednesday. You can't keep good hitters down. Everybody goes through their little slumps, but for the most part, you can't keep good hitters down for a long period of time. There aren't enough words to describe the atmosphere that the fans bring here every night at Busch Stadium. One thing I do know is that it's important. This city has just been tremendous. Words can't describe how we feel about the support that we feel from the city every night. (That was also a fun game to be at.. I'd share my thoughts from Busch but dont wanna take the time out except I wanna say.. THUNDERSTICKS ARE ANNOYING )
October 14, 200421 yr Thundersticks kick ass! 591780[/snapback] thunderstix are for idiots who can't make noise with their own hands.
October 15, 200421 yr Author http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20041015/capt.sts12410150417.nlcs_astros_cardinals_sts124.jpg :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy
October 15, 200421 yr The Cardinals offense continues to amaze me. Well...pretty soon I'll actually get used to it. But noone has found a way to stop their offense. Whenever the Cardinals get a good pitching performance out of their starting pitchers the game is over because you know the Cardinals are going to put runs up on the board and the only way to beat them is to just simply put more runs up. You have to get your offense on when you play the Cardinals. Anyways the Cards are up 1-0 and I think its going to be 2-0 after their next game.
October 17, 200421 yr Author New York (AP) - Major League Baseball and FOX has confirmed there isnt a game 4 in the National League Championship Series aka the "Other" series. People will be watching the Yankees and Red Sox in primetime anticipating a Yankees celebration. We're sorry for our inconvienance. :lol :lol :lol
October 17, 200421 yr you know the Cardinals are going to put runs up on the board and the only way to beat them is to just simply put more runs up. 592720[/snapback] No kidding?
October 17, 200421 yr you know the Cardinals are going to put runs up on the board and the only way to beat them is to just simply put more runs up. 592720[/snapback] No kidding? 593931[/snapback] o please just shutup there was a very point in my post and hopefully you got it the point was that you cant stop the Card's offense so just work on your offense so maybe you can score more runs because your not going to beat them with pitching
October 18, 200421 yr Author I'm still sticking to Cardinals in 6 but it's not lookin good. Keys to winning the series IMO 1) Dont pitch to Beltran, let Bagwell bet ya. 2) Where's the Cards bullpen that we had through the year? 3) Mr. Renteria needs to show up
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