Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye

What better than having the opposing manager get thrown out during a playoff game; having an opposing player get tossed in the same game. And just what exactly did Jim Edmonds say to get tossed on a full count. Any lip readers out there catch what he said? It has been a very long time since I have seen someone get tossed in the middle of an at-bat. Also I sure hope I catch Tony LaRussa’s apology after catching the replay of Lance Berkman’s at-bat that got him tossed to see that each and every pitch was well out of the strike zone. Actually what I want to see more is LaRussa in the next installment of Dancing with the Stars because he did a nice two step with crew chief Tim McClelland during his tirade. But in the end, Phil Cuzzi might make us forget the call from the Sox-Angels game. (What was his name again?) The thing that bugged me was that during neither ejection did the PA announcer played the song (see title), isn’t that required by law to play whenever someone got ejected?

Then you have Phil Garner doing everything right in this series after some questionable moves in the 18-inning marathon (do you really think Garner had Chris Burke pinch run for Berkman in hopes he’d hit a walk off home run ten innings later?). But in this series you can look at the wins and great managing is the result of those wins. Obviously the best move is sticking Burke’s hot bat into the lineup. In three Burke starts in the postseason, three wins. He might have been silent last night, but he was instrumental it getting runs in the previous two wins. Although I thought the better choice would have been put Burke in for Lane who had been silent so far, but Lane’s run was what helped the Astros to the win last night, so Garner was right again.

So now the Houston Astros are one game away from their first World Series appearance ever. And with Pettitte, Oswalt, and Clemens starting the potential next three games and the Cardinals unraveling last night with multiple starters with one foot in the hospital, the odds are very good of that happening sooner than later. But it must be pointed out that the Cards beat the trio in three straight games coming out of the All-Star break so I’m not celebrating just yet.

The one thing that has worried me is Brad Lidge. After owning the Cards over the last two year with batters going 5-100 against him with no run, but the touched him up in game three and in all intents and purposes was saved from disaster by some bad base running by Albert Pujols and a great double play. This could be a Mariano Rivera against the Red Sox situation of the Cards seeing Lidge too much. Hopefully when the Astros are three-six outs away from the World Series, Lidge will shut the door.