This season has been so ugly at times, that continued emotional investment in this team must be difficult for even the most diehard of fans. Tonight the Cardinals, a mediocre team, faced another mediocre team in the Astros, and on the line is the right to be slaughtered by the Chinese dodgeball team. It's certainly not easy to watch Jeff Weaver or Ronnie Belliard or even Scott Rolen right now (last homer was August 23rd), enough so that I'm wanting to stick my nose in spreadsheets for the express purpose of not watching a game. So I've been wondering if I still care about the season, and then something like tonight happens. The adrenaline rush as Spiezio rounded third (Lane's still chasing the ball) tells me that heck, yeah, I care. Keep hope alive, boys.

In case you didn't see it on the FSMW broadcast, Albert Pujols is now 2-11 lifetime during the regular season against Brad Lidge. It's conventional wisdom that Albert broke Lidge last October, and I've got my suspicions like everybody else. But this psycho-analysis based on performance is iffy territory, and the implication that it was over when Pujols walked into the batter's box bothers me a bit. Pujols is facing his own pressures, and it's not like Lidge was throwing 82 mph fastballs.

Oswalt versus Marquis in the afternoon, which isn't a favorable matchup straightup. Throw in the fact that Marquis is going on short rest, and, well, I'll probably miss Chris Narveson again. The Cardinals and Astros have been in this position before, and I don't mean last year's NLCS. Four years ago to the day, Oswalt faced off against Jason Simontacchi. By my count, the Simo-man allowed 14 baserunners in 6.2 innings, but thanks to some dominant fielding from JD Drew and a little help from Jeff Fassero before his name was a word of curse, the Astros were held to two runs. In the 10th Jimy Williams had Tino Martinez intentionally walked to get to Edgar Renteria, who smacked one through the hole to drive in the winning run. In a must-win game with their ace on the hill, the Astros were beaten by the tow truck driver, a guy the Cubs dumped when he had a 6+ ERA and a waiver claim (Rick White). Their season basically ended that day.