Thinking…thinking…thinking…. So many thoughts right now going through my brain. I’m trying to organize all of my thoughts as my fingers rapidly go over the keys here. Last night? Started off good, better than it has been, but things took a turn for the worse. I was at the game. Twelve rows off first base with my beloved Dad on his-ahem…I won’t tell you his number-birthday. Cheering on the Cards against the Royals, enjoying my Diet Pepsi and baseball park nachos. And then, Yadi got “thrown out” at second.
You ever been to Kauffman Stadium? They have a pretty spectacular HD screen there. One they show the replays on, when a replay is required. I don’t care what New York said, Yadi looked safe. All 15 times I saw it. All of a sudden, things took a down turn for the Cardinal faithful.
If you read any of my blogs, I hope you have gotten the gist of how much I love the Cardinal/Royal rivalry. All the talk is what it is, but living here, I live it. All the Facebook messages and texts, man, people were hating on me last night. It was a rough night for me. I mean, not only was I disappointed about the outcome of my one game a year I get with just my dad and me, but I almost did the unthinkable….gasp!.. and thought about cheering for the Yankees (that’s who’s coming into Kauffman next)… Don’t you feel sorry for me? Sort of?
I’ve read a lot of thoughts today about the Cardinals and where they’ve been, where they’re going. It’s interesting how angry people get about it. Don’t get me wrong, I think I used the word “furious” a minimum of 15 times last night. You can call me a “spoiled Cardinals fan” all you want, but today, today I’m just sad, and let me tell you why.
You may not be a huge Jason Motte fan, and I understand that. I could hit up the ol’ Googler right now and try to prove you wrong, spitting out some data/number stuff that I could look up, but what good would it do? You want to know why I like Motte as much as I do? Because that man, he has passion. Passion for the game of baseball. The kind of fired-up passion that doesn’t go away just because teams are doing poorly, the kind that if you were ahead by 10 at the end of the game, he’s still backing up a throw to Yadi, and freaking out in celebration when the runner gets tagged out at the plate.
Chris Carpenter, he had that passion. That passion where he may have let a few bombs fly out of his mouth while on the field at inopportune times, yes, but he had that fiery, “there is no way you are going to beat me” passion. I miss that.
What am I getting at? This team right now, it’s lacking that passion. Because Matheny is the manager? No. I saw LaRussa get fired up one time, you may have seen it more, but the only time I can really recall is the last out of game 7 in 2011. I was there, saw it for myself. Let me tell you this, watching, and by watching I mean paying attention to EVERY pitch, EVERY player, EVERY game in (specifically) the postseasons of 2006 and 2011, those guys, they had passion. They weren’t losing the games that really mattered, at any cost.
This team, it needs to come together. I just read a post from my fellow blogger on Arch City, and he made a comment about needing Carpenter to come down to the locker room and turn some tables over. I couldn’t agree more.
Honestly, I don’t know what it’s going to take, but I’m hoping that they will find their passion, and when they do, Major League Baseball will be in trouble.
I love the Cardinals, and I love baseball. I’m just ready for that upswing to start already….
As always….Go Cards!
Photo: bleacherreport.com
