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Yesterday was another lesson in how St. Louis has the devil's luck. It's reached the point where you can't even say something like they have had such dark magic bestowed upon them. One has to wonder whether they have become a greater, fell power and have seized that evil luck for themselves. Either that or they put out some aura that makes everyone around them into a moron. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was certainly caught up in this, or else he's just so wedded to traditional thinking that it comes to the detriment of his team.
It's more likely the latter, and really, you deserve to lose when you replace Adrian Gonzalez with a pinch-runner in the eighth inning, for no particular reason, leading to Michael Young hitting into two double plays in the game's final innings from that spot in the batting order.
It's the ace of our time, Clayton Kershaw, against one of the young phenoms of the moment, Michael Wacha, in the National League game. Maybe these two fine pitchers can actually pitch a fast-moving game, although after last night, when I went three hours without seeing any offense, I'd like to see a slugfest, you know?
The NLCS Game 2 will air on TBS. ALCS Game 1 between the Tigers and the Red Sox gets FOX in on the postseason action. Perhaps Fox, for all its faults, will actually have some bare level of competence with its cameramen and whatever else as it airs the games in that series. Fox does bring the Joe Buck and Tim McCarver tandem, so you know.
To hell with Boston in all sports scenarios, especially baseball. The opener of that series has Anibal Sanchez, the AL ERA leader, pitching against Jon Lester. This is another one of those "ace-offs" that MLB likes to talk about. Maybe it will live up to its billing. Preferably with the Red Sox fans going home sad.