\jeff{krimmel}

Prepared to Eat Crow

My World Series prediction went down the tubes this week. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my own advice:

I get very leery when picks are this seemingly unanimous. Remember when everyone thought Miami was going to destroy Ohio State in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl? Remember how Texas probably shouldn’t even have shown up against USC in last year’s Rose Bowl? Or what about the Rams supposedly running the Patriots off the field in Super Bowl XXXVI? Yeah, those didn’t turn out so well.

I should have gotten leerier. The Cardinals have really been taking it to the Tigers. I guess the one thing I really didn’t see coming was the almost total defensive collapse by the Tigers. Fox gave their quirky stat that this Tigers pitching staff has committed four errors in the World Series, the most by any pitching staff in the history of the Series. Well, it’s made a difference. When your pitcher can’t field a bunt and throw the runner out at first base, you aren’t going to win many World Series games.

The Cardinals have really turned it on since their days playing the Mets. They needed a dramatic Yadier Molina home run to pull out game seven of the NLCS, but in the World Series, they’re getting clutch hitting from Scott Rolen, David Eckstein, and others. I didn’t see those guys struggling against the Mets and think, “You know, if only they were playing the Tigers. Then these bats would get hot.”

This year’s Cardinals team reminds me of last year’s Pittsburgh Steelers team in the sense that you have world champions who played in such a pedestrian manner for most of the regular season (yes, I’m assuming the Cardinals are going to close the Tigers out, almost certainly tonight in game five). The difference between the Steelers and the Cardinals is that the Steelers got hot down the stretch and had a lot of momentum going into the playoffs. The Cardinals, on the other hand, got ice cold down the stretch and stumbled their way into the playoffs. Maybe momentum is overrated.

For whatever reason, my World Series prediction sucked, and I’m prepared to face the music. I offer my congratulations to the soon-to-be World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.