Between the Twins, Angels and A's, there are so many "feel-good" stories in the playoffs this year already. And now along come the Cards, clinching the NL Central but beating the Astros last night.

After the death of Darryl Kile and Jack Buck, Tony LaRussa did another great job holding this team together. Don't know if they've got what it takes to make it to the World Series, but I know who I'll be rooting for!

Congrats to the Cards. They overcame massive adversity this year with the death of Kile.

Now the D-Backs get to bouce StL out in 4 games, tops.

If they beat Schilling or Johnson the first time out, who knows? These best-of-3 series suck though.

It is great to see our guys playing such amazing baseball right now. If they continue to roll, any team will need to play their best to win a series from us. We have won 11 of the last 13 and have scored a bunch of runs. Things are really clicking along.

There was a lot of celebating last night. Given everything that has happened this season, to win the division rather handily is truly amazing. The Cardinals are one of the most team oriented clubs, and I am sure that helped them get through this year of troubling times.

I grew up outside of Chicago being very passionate about the cardinals-dating back to when I was a little kid and so into Lou Brock and Bob Gibson (we always went to Wrigley for cub/card games...the last five years or so I don't watch as much baseball (but I always go to Cubs games when I'm in Chicago and Dodger games when in LA if only for the Dodger dogs) as I used to, but I try to catch up when the post season gets under way...Thrilled to see the Cardinals push through and win their division...Keep it up!

Okay, I have a minor gripe. What adversity was caused the team by the death of Jack Buck? Yes, he was beloved by all. But he wasn't a player or coach, he was a broadcaster. And he was old. And he was sick for awhile before he died. It's very sad, but it really didn't (or shouldn't) cause adversity ON the field. The REAL adversity the Cards overcame was the death of Darryl Kile.

C'mon Joe. Even if Jack Buck was old, and had been sick for a while, dealing with death is not easy. Look how beloved Harry Kalas is with the Phillies (and Asburn was) - even as broadcasters, they're still part of a larger family that spends almost 9 months together a year. I think what was so particulary difficult for the Cards was Daryl's death occurring so soon after Jack's death. Speaking from personal experience, losing 2 people you loved and respected in the same month is very difficult. Congratulations Cardinals and Scott Rolen!

Kile's death was definitely more of an issue for the Cards, but Buck's death was also very traumatic. Cards players have a relationship with their announcer like few other teams. Buck was a friend to most of the guys on that roster.

[quote]Originally posted by MSUBulldog:
If they beat Schilling or Johnson the first time out, who knows?

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How does this team hit against Schilling/Johnson, anyway? I don't get to see enough NL games here in the Northwest. As for Randy Johnson, I wish the M's would've never traded him, but thats getting too far off the subject.