Play Ball

A wonderful afternoon which began with finding Schafly Summer Lager on tap at the stadium (Right Field upper deck Jose Cuervo bar), included seeing Stan Musial doing his patented swing while seated in his Pope-of-Cardinals-Nation-mobile, highlighted by Matt Holliday's go ahead dong in the bottom of the eight inning (featuring the post-HR double curtain call; rare even for Busch Stadium, home of unnecessary curtain calls) and capped off with a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth that did not happen, slowly turned into a cold, windy, mess of a baseball game.

As certain as grown men and women will get busted at Busch sneaking cigarettes in the nooks of the upper deck like a sophomore in high school after football practice, the Cardinals will win a game this season.

And just as twenty-somethings will find the need to get blackout drunk at four o'clock in the afternoon before leaving when the stadium stops serving beer and hitting up Paddy O's, Miguel Batista will torture a fanbase as he continues to pitch with the urgency of an old man writing a mystery novel.

Albert Pujols won't hit into three doubles plays every game, Skip Schumaker will tag a runner out eventually, and Ryan Theriot will eventually do something noteworthy (no promises). But David Freese, Colby Rasmus, and Matt Holliday will continue to perform and Lance Berkman will hit .500 this season (promise).

In the short attention span football heavy culture of America, starting 0-2 with two losses to the Padres may seem like a big deal. Luckily, the Cardinals have 160 games to make up for it.

Just as Thursdayand Saturday there will be good, there will be bad, but above all... there will be baseball.

And a reason to break out the Tony Reyes jersey.