No Joy in Mudville

Hats Off to the Cards! They deserved to win. As I type, David Eckstein is getting the MPV Corvette. Standing only five-and-a-half-feet tall, he redefines shortstop, but in games 4 and 5, he was incredible at the plate (batting .727 in those two games). Here's to little guys who play like giants! Speaking of giants... Here's to Sean Casey who got the last homerun and hit (a stand-up double) of the 2006 season.

I was so glad Casey was not in Inge's shoes, the last at-bat who struck out to end the final game 4 to 2. If that had been Casey it would have been literary déjà vu. Here's how the famous poem by E.L. Thayer entitled "Casey at the Bat" begins and ends...

"The outlook wasn't brilliant
for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two,
with but one inning more to play..."

[Then the hero Casey, big man-- big hitter,
steps up to the plate with two men on
and the chance to win the game with a home run.
Sound familiar? He swings at the final pitch and ...]

"Oh, somewhere in this favoured land
the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere,
and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing,
and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—
mighty Casey has struck out."

Unlike Thayer's Casey, Sean Casey brought his bat to St. Louis and ended the season very well, batting .529 in all five games, but he alone couldn't offset the PFP jitters of Detroit's young pitching staff. Those spasmodic moments led directly to the unearned runs that glopped across the plate like cold mashed potatoes. Their home-game sweep wasn't pretty, but the Cardinal's are chowing down just the same.

Thanks for your patient reading of my Tiger nostalgia in recent weeks. It was a great season. I'm done writing about it, but there's always next year.
Good night.
.
(Links added next morning :)