My second MLB playoff game.

Nothing beats free tickets to watch the Cardinals beat the Astros 6-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS. Too bad it was rainy and butt-arse cold...but then again, that was the reason I got the ticket in the first place.

I am now attempting to proliferate the nickname "Murderer's Row" for the Cardinals line-up. Is there a bigger masher in all the land than Albert Pujols? I think not...Barry Bonds doesn't count cuz he's on a planet of his own...and he's out of the playoffs. Phat Albert was getting the MVP chant (and a Most Valuable Pujols sign) all night...then he hit the eventual game-winning home run. Rolen got the chant, too, when he followed it up w/ the tail end of back-to-back jacks (also his second big fly of the evening). But neither he nor Edmonds, both probable top 5 or 6 in MVP voting, compare to Al. Also, I should travel back in time about 2 months and slap myself in the face for proclaiming that Larry Walker was an unnecessary acquisition.

But that's not to say that the Astros don't have a damn scary line-up of their own. Though the elder two of the Killer B's, Biggio and Bagwell, are showing their age, the other two give me heart attacks every time they come up to the plate. Lance Berkman is so formidable he has been dubbed El Matador by the Chuk governing council for some time now. And Carlos Beltran is still My Daddy. He homered in his first at-bat for the second consecutive night. Jordan called him the third best hitter in the league behind Bonds and Pujols...I'm not going to question that claim. What I am questioning is why he's hitting second in their line-up, though I freely admit it is pretty stacked. In any case, I hope to get him to tuck me in and read me a bedtime story tonight.