I don't have cable. Not having cable TV in October has sent me on a path of self-destruction worse than Courtney Love on a weeklong furlough in Ensenada. I am keeping a handle on my responsibilities. I still went to a meeting last Thursday during the game. I was lucky to have my brother, who lives in Seattle, and a buddy who attended the game shoot text messages at me the entire time. I don't remember what happened during the meeting. I remember the game via ticker tape. I remember Pujols taking a bases loaded walk. That dude is cool.

Nothing is more exciting than playoff baseball. Here's why. Baseball in the playoffs, more than any other team sport, is about showdowns and defining moments. And you just don't know when they'll happen, so you need to watch every single minute of the game. And even though I make my living by working with stastical data, I admit, in the playoffs, most of that goes out the window. The sample size is too small, the dimensionality is too large. We are just left with man vs. man. Optimal decision theory be damned. At some point in some game, the pitcher is thinking, "I need to bring the heat." The batter is thinking, "He's gonna throw me the heat." The catcher knows it. The ump knows it. The players' wives know it. Even Tim McCarver knows it. So it comes down to the performance of the moment.

The series against San Diego didn't have so many moments, we dominated them from start to finish. But that should change. Houston is a much more formidable opponent. In the Yankees/Angels series, I dare say defense made the difference. And where ARod swung and grounded into a double play, Pujols stands large and delivers again and again and again. Is there anyone in the world you'd rather have in your batter's box than Albert Pujols these days? Absolutely not. Look for him to deliver consistent moments throughout this series. Even when Pujols is wrong, he's right.

From here in, I don't second guess the management. I don't criticize the slippery moves of LaRussa. I instantly forgive Izzy upon the 27th out, because the odds blow out the window with the hot dog wrappers and the foul balls. From here on in, it's all about the moment. When it happens to us, we will call it magic. And although we expect King Albert to deliver such moments, we just never know who the next Cardinal hero will be.

Go Cards.