Let Us Lay the Cardinals Hopes to Rest, Pretty Much

A post for pessimists looking for a silver lining

08/17/2012

Pirates 1 Cardinals 2

08/18/2012

Pirates 4 Cardinals 5

08/19/2012

Pirates 6 Cardinals 3

Final/19

Dear 'birds,

There is nothing to say.  I can't do anything about this.

But I can accept that you all are under-achievers,

find the joy in the small thrills that turn up during games

and ignore the disappointment from suffering the same failure over and over.

I promise to ignore the standings, because they are obviously not going to change, not

with this team being what it is: a team of bad luck, a team of absurdity, a team of missed opportunities. 

I will only watch to appreciate the heart and the effort you 

all have always shown.  I will watch for the love of game.

I will watch for love of the St. Louis Cardinals.  I will watch

because that's what fans do, we stick with our team through world series victories,

late season drives, and those dog days of summer that always leaves things looking 

especially bleak.  I will watch because I remember Albert Pujols' home run that extended the 2005 post 

season, I will watch because I remember those times Jim Edmonds scaled center field walls and snatched home runs, I will watch because I remember a bases loaded 3-2 curve ball, I will watch because I witnessed Jaime Garcia's rookie year, Matt Holliday's bat carrying us to October baseball in 2009, David Freese's 2011 post season, Jon Jay's emergence as a great center fielder, and Yadier Molina becoming a force in the lineup.  I will watch with no expectations, while trying to smother the hope for a post season burning in my chest, because, as Yogi Berra said, "it ain't over til it's over."  

For the optimists: We are not done until we are out, Cardinals, and we are not out.