8/7/08 – Dodgers 4, Cardinals 1

With any luck, I’ll be able to post a little more now that I’m settled in here in LA.  The Cards dropped this one on getaway day primarily because of their inability to hit Clayton Kershaw.  Not a whole lot else to say, really.  Lohse was unstable early, but settled into the game a little bit.

A huge series coming up in Chicago.  If the Cards are to retain any hope of winning the division, and I firmly believe that this ship has sailed, they’ll need to win this series.  This is the beginning of a ten game road trip that could be a make or break proposition.  If the Cards can win at least five, they’ll avoid the knockout punch.  The four games that follow in Florida are important for a number of reasons, but one of the more interesting is the possibility to knock Florida out of the wild card race.  A four game sweep in Florida would probably finish the Marlin hopes of winning the wild card.  If the Cards don’t win at least three of the first seven on the trip, they’ll not only be in huge trouble in the division and lose ground to Milwaukee, but they’ll bring another team closer into the race.  This is August, friends, and every one matters.

I am now part of a grand tradition

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately.  I am now a part of the grand tradition of Oklahomans migrating to California in search of opportunity.  I am glad to be going, but it is definitely kind of strange, as I have never lived outside of Oklahoma before (with the exception of a brief stint in KS/NE before I was two).  So it will be a major improvement in my life, but it will also be a lot to do and accomplish.  Then I have to, for the first time in my life, attend a real honest to goodness university with real honest to goodness smart people.  Good times.

In the baseball world, I’ve calmed down somewhat.  The Cards are now five games out of first in the Central, but are tied with Milwaukee for the wild card.  Carp is back, Ankiel should be back in the lineup tomorrow, and summer will begin to turn to fall, as August is upon us.  I arrive in Los Angeles at 3:30 PDT, and the Cardinal game starts at 5:15 PDT.  So, I have an hour and forty five minutes to catch a shuttle, get to Westwood, check into my apartment, get what little of my stuff I have into the apartment, get set up on the internet connection, and listen in.  I haven’t missed a game in a few months, so let’s hope this doesn’t break that streak.  I can’t imagine how awful it would be – but it’s all a day in the life of a loyal member of Cardinal Nation.  I may be moving to heaven, but Baseball Heaven will always be the Red Sea on the Mississippi.  Go get ‘em, Kyle.