Sox clinch pennant, Cards on the ropes...

The White Sox are going to the World Series for the first time in 46 years, and the Cards are down 3-1 in their cursed series with the Houston Astros. St. Louis is battling injuries and bizarre calls and appeared to be unraveling in their 2-1 loss, with star outfielder Jim Edmunds and manager Tony LaRussa both being ejected from the game.

The Cards faced Houston in last years National League series, and remarkably, heading into the pivotal Game 7 of the series, both teams had exactly the same batting average at .246, the same number of runs scored at twenty-nine apiece and the exact same ERA at 4.80. In the end, the Card's clutch, 5-2 win brought the World Series back to St. Louis for the first time since 1987.

But this year, St. Louis is without Carlos Beltran, Jeff Kent, Edgar Renteria and Scott Rolen.

It would be great if the Cards could pull it off and win the NL title for four reasons:

To redeem themselves after being swept in a humiliating drubbing last year at the hands of the Red Sox.

As a fitting send off to Busch Stadium which after 39 years, is seeing it's last year of baseball.

To set up an I-55 series. (296 miles, just over 4 hours, stadium to stadium. Thousands of speeding and/or intoxicated fans all on one interstate. A true state police dream.)

The country has suffered enough from Texas. We could live without the Astros going to the World Series.

What's it going to be? Sox-Astros? Sox-Cards? Who wins it all?


And bonus trivia question. What was the saying which referred to St. Louis when it was the home of the AL Browns?