Vini, Vidi, Yadi

The Cardinal fans version of "shock and awe"...


Yadier Molina? This is why I am a baseball guy. The first chill of winter, the smell of crispness in the air. The aisles of Walgreens being decked with bite size candies everywhere, the ever present change in the season that results in some of the best displays of color that mother nature can deliver and will ultimately end up in my gutter. The frontyards with the blown up Frankensteins or ghouls with the tombstones dedicated to no one that lie in jest catch my attention as a speed by. Man, I can feel, smell and taste the caramel Granny Smith apples that will soon be dropped into trick or treat sacks across the city. Yadier Molina? If you are a Cardinal fan, you have to truly be happy for this kid. His name goes right next to heroes of October named Mazeroski, Gibson, Lolich, Carbo, Fisk, Jackson, Morris, Puckett, Cesar Cedeno, Will Clark etc. Yadier Molina? Can't hit a lick but has a rocket for an arm. He has thrown out 44% of those unsuspecting guys who try to steal on him (that's a league high) and has picked off 14 saps on first base. I can out run him. That's not good. On the first pitch he saw from a Mets pitcher last night he became Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern rolled into one. It wasn't guys named Albert, Scott or Chris that lifted this team onto his shoulders, it was a guy named Yadier. That's why I am a baseball guy. In baseball, there no clock to watch, no coin flip to determine who gets the ball first, no overtime, just two teams slugging it out until one goes home a winner. I reminded of the George Carlin bit where he compares baseball with football. "In football, you go to the end zone and deal with blitzes, in baseball you go home and you sacrifice". "Clocks? we don't need no shtinking clocks!" As he launched his homerun into the night sky in the toughest city in America, I actually squealed like a little girl. Didn't care. How can you not be happy for Yadier Molina? Yadier friggin Molina? While listening to the broadcst last night, after he hit his Justice League home run, I was reminded of a Simon and Garfunkel song. Shea Stadium had indeed turned into "the Sounds of Silence". Yadier Molina! You da man.