Really, this 1996 Cardinals team could hit
because I’d seen it happen every inning before this
And Dmitri Young and Brian Jordan made it 3-1 to start
so it didn’t really matter
if they won or lost
because they would win one of the next three and win the pennant
of course!
(I remembered that Atlanta used to sweep St. Louis with some regularity – not just three games – but sweep the entire season series.)
But to say it would be disloyal
and it was the Cards who swept San Diego to advance to the NLCS
and now St. Louis was a win from the World Series
which they hadn’t won for 14 years:
only 14 years! Not 108, but 14! And two appearances, besides!
(When you are 10 and relieved for the strike on August 12, 1994, because it’s the only strike associated with the Cards’ bullpen, you have suffered enough from dashed hopes, because some fans stop dreaming at your age. You have not.)
But this team! This time!
At this time it’s 14-0, but it’s only one game, Game 5,
and Alan Benes, the rookie, only earns a moral victory when they lose 3-1 in Game 6.
Now this:
Ozzie pops up along the first base line
and tips his cap
in his final game
a game St. Louis would lose 15-0
and lose the pennant.
Atlanta fans cheered for the shortstop. I sobbed for him.
Now I see their best starter was Andy Benes, then Donovan Osborne, and there wasn’t much else
(the Benes brothers were not the Deans, exactly).
And John Mabry hit pretty well, nearly .300, without batting gloves.
He’s 46 years old today.
And I am not, but it doesn’t feel so far away.
I have not aged because watching the Jays tap the ball off the end of the bat, run, head down, in front of fans who blink away tears as they watch their team –
because this is not their team –
World! This is is not their team.
But it is
in October.
Another holds his neck in his hands
Screaming for just a hit
just a run –
a hit –
it’s hit!
and then it’s caught.
Oh, it’s caught.
But don’t give up just yet.
by 