Ugly, Cold And Wet: The Beauty Of Game 3

Last night's Cardinals 5-0 victory over the Tigers to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series was, we will confess, not exactly the type of game you'll remember 10 years from now. It was basically Chris Carpenter being completely filthy and a bunch of Tigers players being hit in the testicles and falling over themselves.

This was put most aptly by commenter FromKirbyToKG, who wrote a fictional accounting of this game 50 years from now:

"I remember Game 3 of the Aught-Six Series. It was the eighth inning and the Cardinals loaded the bases for Albert Pujols..." "Did he hit a grad slam, grandpa?" "No, he hit a foulball off Ivan Rodriguez's thigh. Then Rodriguez let a ball at Albert's feet get by him and So Taguchi scored. Then Zach Miner hit Albert in the thigh with a pitch." "Whatever, grandpa." (goes back to playing PS25)"

So yeah, it wasn't pretty. It's Game 3 of the World Series, and it doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to be won. (And they can't just blame this on the National League being the "quadruple A" league either ... not that we haven't gotten tired of that yet.) But however we got here, the Cardinals are two games away from winning the World Series. Even if they're batting Ronnie Belliard fifth. Fifth! Ronnie Belliard!

If you're Detroit, it's hardly time to panic. Last night was the one game of the series — save a possible rematch in Game 7 — that the Cardinals had the definitive pitching advantage, and eventually Granderson, Polanco and the testicle-less Ivan Rodriguez are going to get a hit. Though it might, perhaps, behoove them to be prompt. Because it's getting late.

Carp Channels Gibby, Saws Off Tigers' bats [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]