Last night, as the bottom of the 7th inning rolled around, I was quietly assessing the game playing out on the screen of my TV, and I thought about the score: "Hmmm," I thought, "4-2's not so bad... we score one here, one there, it's tied up." But then I thought about the fact that, to win, the Cardinals would have to score three more runs, and given the way the offense had looked against Josh Beckett, all of a sudden, things looked pretty grim.

Through six, Beckett had allowed but three hits----one a "classic" David Eckstein homer in which he turns on an off-speed pitch and drives it straight down the line and barely over the wall---and the Birds had put only three balls out of the infield on the fly all night: Eckstein's homer, an Eckstein lineout to left in the first, and a second-inning Edmonds double to right. Of the 18 outs, 7 were grounders, 5 were strikeouts, and 4 were infield or foul pop-ups. Simply put, the Cards were being dealt with.

But in the 7th inning, after one out, Grudz squirted a grounder through the left side and Abraham Nunez drew a walk. John Mabry stood in as the pinch-hitter for Mike Mahoney, and rather than have Beckett face Mabry and his .789 ops vs. RHP, Jack McKeon yanked his starter and, for the third time in three games in the series, went to Ron "High-N-Tight" Villone.

Now, I've always thought that, in mid to late innings, when a good pitcher is on a roll and the other team looks lifeless, but then scratches out a runner or two, it might be a good idea to stick with what's been working. I know it drives me nuts when Tony pulls one of our starters with a low pitch count when he allows a baserunner after he's set down like 10 in a row. I'm always glad to see the other team's starter yanked in such a situtaion, and I imagine the hitters feel the same way. Beckett was at 101 pitches---a count he'd exceeded in 8 of his 18 starts, which included outings of 121, 113, and 110---and maybe the five-pitch walk to Nunez was all the evidence McKeon needed to decide that Beckett was through.

At this point, as a Cardinal fan, I'm less concerned about Mabry's lefty-righty splits than I am with the fact that we've got two guys on, their starter out of the game, and a decent hitter who's been hot lately---Mabry went .341/.396/.591 in July---at the dish.

Let's just say that when Tony pushed the platoon button and brought in So Taguchi to face the lefty Villone, the words that escaped my lips weren't those meant for tender ears. And that was before the graphic showing Taguchi's pinch-hitting line this year---2 for 18 with 5 Ks---flashed on the screen. (For the record, Mabry is hitting .292 in limited action vs. LHP in '05).

I began barking to the other fan in the room (my wife) who joined in my protestations: "Who gives a crap about Taguchi's left/righty splits? Who'd you rather see up there right now??!!?? Two-for-eighteen??!!!"

After the first pitch from Villone to Taguchi sailed high and wide (it would have been right at Mabry's chin---maybe he CAN'T help it), we were still carrying on our diatribe when So delivered the blow that would shut us up: a quick upper-cut slash at a low inside pitch that was hit on a high arc and you knew it gone as soon as he hit it. I wonder how often the Gooch has been able to ease into his home-run trot that soon after hitting a ball.

A wave of guilty joy washed over me as I realized that the Birds were now on top, thanks to Tony's sick button-pushing and Taguchi's pinch-hitting prowess, the very things I had been railing against seconds earlier. Do I, as I fan, deserve to feel this, after all I've been spewing?

Hell yeah!! And I felt great as I reveled in my naked wrongheadedness that, as a fan, will never (thankfully) be able to affect what happens on the field, much as I may want to believe that my double-crossed-fingers and beseechings to the Great Cardinal in the Sky sometimes come to bear on an outcome.

So let's hear it for Taguchi, and for TLR, and for Matt Morris and his seven gritty innings, and for Edmonds and his amazing catch that spared Ray King even more trouble, and for David Eckstein's multiple smashes (do I see a month-long slump lifting?) as well as his fine play to end the game.

Fifty-five more to go. And then things get REALLY exciting.