five card studs & tigers fold...

the cardinals completed their unlikely run by winning the '06 world series in five games. the tigers, a great team all year apparently suffered the same desease that st. louis had in '04, when the redsox swept them in 4 games. talented as they are, the tigers simply failed to execute, made too many dumb errors, and plain didn't show up for the series. the cards outplayed them, plain and simple in nearly every facet of the game. credit detroit manager jim leyland for not making excuses and taking all the blame for the lackluster play of his team. it's obvious that the lessoned learned is, no matter how you play throughout the regular season, you have to have play well when it counts, in october, to win it all. congrats 2006 cards!

in control...

the cards are one win away from a world series championship, a feat they have not accomplished since i was 14 and living in missouri. lest i feel too confident in a world series crown, i am reminded of a similar occasion, 1968 in fact, (the year i as born) when the cards were up 3 games to 1, as they are now, only to fall to the detroit tigers in 7. let's hope that history does not repeat itself here. i would like to see the cards finish it off tonight at home, because if they don't they will be forced back to detroit where the tigers have one 2 in a row, dozens of times thoughout the year. anyway, one more time in st. louis, tonight, barring another rain storm - bring it!

Cat + Celling Fan = Comedy

a buddy of mine is helping me install a ceiling fan tonight...couldn't pass up this video

back on track...

chis carpenter throws gem, blanks tigers 5-0, cardinals back to playing like cardinals, up two games to one, jeff suppan waiting in wings.

ipod turns five...

and now for a non-baseball related post...
apple's ipod turns 5 today. you don't need me to tell you that the ipod has completely revolutionized the entire music listening public, much like, but more so than sony's walkman did in the 80's. my 3rd gen 40 gb ipod converted my rack of nearly 1,000 cd's to something as small as a deck of cards (minus the slick "iskin" i purchased for it). the ipod has also evolved a lot in the last 5 years, from a mac-only, music only device, to a mac-windows crossplatform, music, video, photo, nearly all-in-one entertainment system. i have resisted for now the urge to upgrade from my original ipod as it still performs the task of kicking out the jams like a trooper, and i have never felt the need for video and photos' on an ipod, but that will probably change at some point down the road. i dare say i probably use it's little brother, the 512 mb ipod shuffle, even more than than the full-size pod. read more from ipodlounge...

The original iPod, which cost $399, had a cutting-edge 1.8” 5GB hard drive that could be filled with high-speed FireWire connectivity, and used a brightly backlit 2-inch monochrome screen and innovative Scroll Wheel for control. It was about the size of a deck of cards, weighed 6.5 ounces, and worked only with Mac computers. “With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again,” Jobs said at the time. Almost no one believed the man, or understood why the iPod’s design was importantly different from previously released MP3 players, but his words turned out to be spot on.

Five years later, the iPod is now a true cultural icon, and has in fact changed the way the world listens to music—more than 69 million iPods are now in the hands of music fans around the globe. The iPod accounts for over 75% of all portable music players sold in the U.S, and is the leading such device in several other major countries. Over 3,000 iPod accessories are said to be available for purchase, while approximately 70% of the 2007 model year cars sold in the U.S. will offer direct iPod integration as an option. Apple’s iTunes Store continues to ring up sale after sale of music, movies and TV shows, with iTunes accounting for 85% of digital media purchased and downloaded in the U.S, and leading each of the markets in which it sells music worldwide. And neither the iPod or iTunes show any sign of slowing down.

now i still believe that apple has some hurdles to cross, particulary with respect to their embedded DRM technology on all tunes purchased from the itunes music store, but the ipod remains without question the digital music player standard to which all others are compared.

anything is possible...

in one of the best game 7 battles i've ever witnessed the cards upended the heavily favored new york mets to advance to the world series. the game was close thoughout and despite jeff suppan's outstanding pitching performance, (7 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 0.60 era) the game remained tied 1-1 going into the ninth. there were several momentum swingers, including endy chavez's miracle catch robbing scott rolen of a 2 run homer, but unlikely hero yadia molina launched a 2 run homerun in the 9th to give the cards the edge. cards rookie closer, adam wainright, made it much too interesting in the bottom of the ninth loading the bases before getting carlos beltran looking on a sweet 12-6 curve to end it. most say that the cards are still overmatched against detroit and on paper, it's hard to disagree, however, it's been proven that at times, especially in the post season, you can get by with momentum and grit. there is no real reason that the cardinals should win the world series which is precisly why they might. win or lose, i look for it to be a close series, closer than in 2004 when the redsox swept the cards in 4, and it's nice to know that tony larussa will be calling the shots. in my opinion, he gives them the best reason of any of knocking off the tigers.

one win away...

ahh, my favorite time of year. i'm happiest the week(s) when forced to stay up late watching october baseball, especially when one of my 3 teams is in the hunt for the world series. my second team, the st. louis cardinals, are one win away from advancing on to meet the tigers in the fall classic. it's been fun watching them upstage (so far) the mighty bats of the new york mets. up until now they have over-achieved given their undeniable role as underdogs. this is not the same cardinal team of past years, admittingly backing into the central division title on the last day (due to a houston loss), but alas, it has been said that october spawns unsung heroes and unlikely role players (i.e, scott speizio, chris duncan, so taguchi) often step up and make the difference. tonight the series moves back to shea and with it the mission to beat the new york once, in a possible two games. win or lose, the redbirds have played well enough to make me a proud member of cardinal nation.

unlucky?

friday the 13th has long been known as a day of bad luck in english and portuguese speaking cultures around the globe. some say that evidence suggests that friday the 13th actually is unlucky and that people are more likely to have accidents or feel ill on this day. i guess it seems appropriate that friday the 13th falls a couple weeks before halloween, undoubtedly the king of all spooky days.
i may have dodged my unlucky bullet this morning when i was backing out of the driveway. i was having problems with the automatic garage door opener and was not paying attention to where the car was headed. i swerved at the last second to avoid taking out our mail box. i will be extra cautious the remainder of the day.

8 mile...

the girls and i successfully completed the bike marathon today. it was a spectacular indian summer day, windy & warm as predicted. the route had changed from years past, staying on the minneapolis side of the river rather than across the bridge to the st.paul side. it was four miles down and four back, winding along the parkway with several scenic views of the fall foliage & river below. we biked through the flying leaves and bright sunshine til about the 7 mile mark when unfortunately noelle's back tire blew out. noelle and i pushed our bikes the rest of the way but we would have finished in record time otherwise. the batteries in my camera were dead so no pics this year. all in all, a great day & lots of money was raised for their school.

pedal on for miles...

i am anxiously awaiting the weekend once again. lots going on but the main event will no doubt be my kids bike marathon to benefit non-public education at minnehaha falls park in minneapolis. it's a nine mile trek that we have participated in before but never completed the full distance. we skipped out last year due to a fall soccer game but this is the first year that all three of us will all a., be on bikes, and b., not using training wheels. one year i walked, while the kids biked but this was not an ideal scenario as you might imagine. the weather is supposed to be warm an windy, a perfect fall day! our plan is to finish the nine miles and short of any unforseen pulled muscles, sore butts, are complaining riders, i think we'll be ok. we will collect the full pledge amounts either way :-) wish us luck and i will report back soon.

twincredible!

yesterday was an absolutely thrilling day for twins enthusiasts such as myelf. the twins completed a remarkable comeback to their season by winning the a.l. central - with a lot of help from the kansas city royals.
there's nothing i could write that hasn't already been said here - but suffice it to say it was un unlikely ending, considering how the twins started their season. they have a ton of momentum rolling into the alds. i'll be sitting in section 230, row 17 tomorrow afternoon to watch johann santana & the twins take on the oakland athletics in game one. bring on the a's!