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.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS