Sunday, July 8, 2007

July 7th: Giants 7, Cardinals 6

San Francisco took their fifth game of the season from St. Louis when the Cardinals committed four errors in a 7-6 loss. Aaron Miles committed three errors in one inning, an inning where the Giants not coincidentally scored four runs.

The Giants have now guaranteed a split on the always-dangerous Cincinnati-St. Louis road trip. Based on no empirical evidence whatsoever, I have always considered this road trip to be cursed for the Giants. These two cities always seem fraught with bad luck: Blown saves, walkoff home runs, moths swirling all over the outfield, all kinds of stuff. But today, the Giants were the beneficiaries of good fortune. what could have made their luck change?

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Well perhaps it was the baseball gods, frowning on the hypocrisy of St. Louis fans. I can remember a time when the St. Louis fans were pretty excited when a long-standing home run record was being challenged, even though the man chasing the mark was the target of steroid rumors. In fact, the Mark McGwire Highway still runs through St. Louis. Maybe this disgust comes from their manager, Tony LaRussa, who managed Jose Canseco when he was injecting McGwire in the Oakland clubhouse. Or maybe St. Louis fans don't mind performance-enhancing drugs, as long as it is Caucasian players taking them.

Regardless of the reason, Miles played like the ghost of Abner Doubleday had scattered pebbles across the St. Louis infield, and the Giants reaped the benefits. Would they be able to complete the sweep with Barry Zito on the mound Sunday? (No.)

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