Take Me Out to the Ballgame

No, really. If someone wants to take me to San Francisco to cheer on my Cardinals tomorrow, I will love you forever. Promise.

I am still riding the wave of excitement from last night's incredible comeback. I'm not going to lie--when the Cards found themselves down 6-0 in the 3rd inning, I didn't feel good about it. My dad was saying "There's plenty of game left," but inside I was thinking, "Well, they made it a lot further than anyone thought they would."

Little by little, the Cards closed the gap and in the top of the 8th, found themselves only 1 away after a solo homer by Daniel Descalso. 
But of course, the Nationals scored an insurance run (or so they thought) in the bottom of the 8th to make their lead 2 going into the 9th. 
At this point, my grandma, uncle, dad, and sister were in the living room looking calm, cool, and collected. On the other hand, the rest of us were in the back room with my mom (who is recovering from surgery), looking anything but collected: Mom, laid up with her left leg twitching, my aunt half-standing/half-laying down, and too nervous to sit, I was doing what some might call a jig (that Irish heritage can't be denied).
In dramatic fashion (also known as Cardinal postseason play), Beltran, Molina, and Freese got themselves on base. Heart palpitations. Descalso steps up to bat and I'm saying, "Wish he could have saved that homer for this inning." And almost as if he heard me and wanted to say, "Don't worry, Jackie," Descalso produced another huge hit that scored 2 and tied the game.
Insanity ensued throughout the house, and by that I mean I was galloping in Happy Gilmore fashion from the back room to the living room and back.
But that wasn't all, folks. No. Kozma stepped up and said, "Let's just win this thing once and for all," and the next thing I knew, we were up by 2.
More insanity.
After Motte did his thing in the bottom of the 9th and the game was truly over, I felt just like I did in Game 6 of last year's World Series. I love my college football & basketball,  but there is nothing like MLB in October.

I have many dear friends who could care less about baseball, some who would say they even hate it. And that's fine--we all have our opinions. Lord knows you'll never see me watching any NASCAR. But to those of you who find baseball isn't worth watching, I simply say, "You are missing out."

My love for the game has been instilled since birth, for which I am truly grateful. But even if you're not a lifer like me, you have to appreciate what's happened so far in this postseason:
-The crazy Wildcards
-Verlander pitches 9 solid innings to clinch Game 5 for the Tigers and The Giants come back from being 2 games down to defeat the Reds in three straight to head to the NLCS 
-The walk-offs
-And of course, this...just to name a few

I'm not saying I'm happy about all of it. Ideally, I'd be watching a Tigers-Orioles ALCS & a Reds-Cardinals NLCS, but that's not the reality. What I am saying is, if you haven't tuned in or taken yourself out to a ballgame yet this month, it's time to get on board. There are at least 8 games left and I have no doubt they'll be dramatic.

Here's hoping my Cardinals are apart of all of 'em.