Ken Rosenthal And The Dugout Of Mysteries

What in Dumbledore's name is Ken Rosenthal talking about? I follow Ken on Twitter. He's useful when news is happening and seems like a nice guy (when he's not threatening interns). I have probably never clicked on a link to a story of his in my time following him, though. Until this morning for some reason. I didn't get past the first sentence. Accio block quotes!

It was as if the ghost of Tony La Russa visited the Cardinals' dugout, whispering, "Play a hard nine," in everyone's ears.

I mean...come on. Now, to be fair, it's entirely possible that he followed that sentence up with something like "Haha, just kidding loyal readers that look up to me as a valid source of information regarding the game of baseball, I was not talking about an ethereal representation (usually reserved for, you know, dead people) of a not-yet-dead former manager urging his former team on and then crediting the apparition for the team's success. That would be pretty stupid and pointless and only serve to further the silly notion that baseball is the most magical of sports. It would almost be like primordial man explaining away thunder as some punishment from a higher being. And that would be crazy."

He could have written something like that. But in the interest of making sure of things, I decided to read the rest of it to make sure of things. He did not. Instead, there was some marveling at starting pitcher Kyle Lohse pitching 3 2/3 more innings after he had already allowed six runs. We have a "seemingly miraculous" injury recovery and some kudos for a lead off, pinch-hit walk.

For these reasons the Cardinals are undaunted as they continue Tony LaRussa's magical mystery tour.

Do Cards have more magic in them? [FOX]