A night to remember

ST. LOUIS – It's after midnight and the streets are still ringing with the joyful noise of thousands of car horns, air horns, shrieks, shouts and sirens. The Cardinals clinched their first World Series title since 1982, and Raymond and I were in Busch Stadium for the final out.

You can see the press boxes and a good portion of the stands from our hotel room at the Adam's Mark on Laclede's Landing. A few thousand Red Bird faithful are still milling around the insides of the stadium.

Ray and I were packing our gear up for the short trek to Busch after the Cards went into the eighth inning with a two-run lead over Detroit. As we headed to the stadium, a crowd was already gathering, growing delirious by the smell of blood, imminent victory. I spotted a crowd of people rushing for the gates near right field, and Ray and I gave chase. Unencumbered, we reached the middle of center field, botom of the ninth, two outs , and Adam Wainwright walked Placido Polanco. Two outs, two on and Brandon Inge is up.

Strike one!

"Two more baby!" shouted some drunk teen behind us.

Strike two!

Victory is palpable... and just like that...

Strike three!

Fireworks, confetti, a mob on the mound, and a roar that was 26 years in the making. An older Cards fan tapped Ray on the shoulder and asked him
"Do you think Wainwright will be the Series MVP?"

Ray smiled and shook his head.
"I don't know."

I turned quickly to aid him, before things turned ugly.

"Maybe Weaver will get it, I mean, he pitched one hell of a game."

Satisfied, the old man returned to his beer/celebration, and pulled Raymond to one side.
"Whatever anybody says to you in the stadium, you just agree with them..." I said. "And you be sure to add, 'Yes sir, and I think he's a damn fine American, too!'"

After about 5 minutes, we made our way down to the lower level, eventually reaching the St. Louis dugout,

I snapped a photo of some Cardinal (identity to be determined) jubilantly carrying the World Series trophy into the locker room. I also got some pics of Albert Pujols and his family...
It's absolutely incredible. Fans were scooping up piles of infield dirt...

GG