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10/23/2004: Gem o'the day:
You can only keep the big bats of the St. Louis Cardinals down for so long, even if you throw a future Hall of Famer at them. The Houston Astros learned that in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series Thursday night when the Cards broke through against Roger Clemens in the sixth inning for the three-run rally that sent them to the World Series.
A run-scoring double by Albert Pujols tied a 2-1 game and a two-run homer by Scott Rolen put St. Louis ahead and hung the loss on Clemens.
The Boston Red Sox have two possible Hall of Famers to throw at the Cardinals, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez, though neither is pitching at his best. They're likely to learn the same lesson.
The good news for the Sox: You can't keep their big bats down indefinitely either. Ask Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, last seen issuing gracious press releases congratulating Boston for its American League Championship Series win and summoning his underlings to Tampa for closed-door meetings with special assistant "Tiny" and his trusty rubber hose.
--King Kaufman
Len on 10.23.04 @ 07:09 PM CST
