It was Aug. 8 last year. The Cardinals were playing the Braves at Busch Stadium, and they had put in seven scoreless innings. Despite being down by only two runs, things were looking grim.
The lack of runs could in no way be attributed to a lack of effort by shortstop David Eckstein. He had done everything that a lead-off man should do. He had gotten on base. A lot. He walked twice. He stole second base. He slid into third on a passed ball by the Braves catcher. He hit a double. He stood on base, often in scoring position, and waited, waited, waited for somebody behind him to do something. Anything. Which they didn't.
Then came the bottom of the ninth, and Davy found himself in an odd place. No longer the lead-off man, he was finally in a position to do something big, since doing something little and then counting on the rest of the team was getting him nowhere.
It is my belief that David Eckstein, all 170cm of him, stood in the batter's box with the bases loaded and only one out and thought, "Finally." And he busted a home run over the left field wall. Walk-off grand slam, Cardinals win.
In St. Louis, they know to never overlook Eckstein. What he lacks in height, he makes up for with pure ? I'm not even sure of the word for it. Heart? Gumption? Incredible will? It's the thing that makes him sprint for first base when he gets walked, when virtually every other player in the game just jogs. It's the thing that stretches him that crucial extra meter when he's diving for a ground ball. And it's the thing that had him pounding out hit after hit in Game 4 of the World Series, including the eventual game-winning RBI double.
In a game that could have easily gone either way, the difference proved to lie in two places -- Tiger mishaps and the St. Louis shortstop who never quits.
In many ways, he is emblematic of this Cardinals team. No one expected him to fill the very large shoes of All-Star shortstop Edgar Renteria, just as no one expected these Cardinals to be playing for the championship. But he did, and they are. Unlikely, unexpected and completely underestimated, they are there -- still in the game and full of faith.
And it's not over yet.
Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5. Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors. The Taiwanese
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
West Ham United’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday left Tottenham Hotspur realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for English Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea today, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal-difference over West Ham. “Overall bad performance. Too many things [went wrong], I think we gifted them the goals,” West Ham head caoch Nuno Espirito Santo
Jannik Sinner has his eyes on a first Roland Garros title after winning the Italian Open on Sunday to claim a record-extending sixth consecutive Masters 1000 tournament victory. World No. 1 Sinner beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to complete the “Golden Masters” by winning all of the ATP’s top-ranked events, in the process becoming the first Italian men’s champion in Rome since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago. Only Novak Djokovic had previously won all nine Masters 1000 events before Sunday, but there was little doubt about Sinner triumphing over the past 10 days. Sinner heads to Roland Garros, which starts at the weekend,
RSS