Blues
Last night, I got one of those feelings watching the Blues game. Sometimes I get the sinking sensation in my stomach when I know my team is doomed (I got it two batters before this moment in 2005, so it must have been more about Game 6). Other times, I get a tingle when I know something special is going to happen. I got the latter last night. The Blues were extremely lucky to get out of the first period scoreless. They were outshot 10-4 and completely outplayed. They picked it up after that, but they all needed to give Chris Mason a big thank you for keeping them in it until they could get the offense going in the third.
It was still scoreless going into the third. I was listening to the game on the radio on my way over to Laura's. Announcers Chris Kerber and Kelly Chase were just as fed up with the officiating as John Kelly and Bernie Federko had been on the television broadcast. Kerbs and Chaser mentioned two non-calls on penalties against the Kings from the time it took me to get from 141 to Chesterfield Parkway taking highway 40 (about three minutes actual time). Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz typed a Tweet (Twitter status update?) about the poor officiating, so it wasn't just me. The Kings finally gave the refs no choice to call one when the Blues got a fast break and Davis Drewiske crosschecked David Backes. About 30 seconds into the power play, Kerbs mentioned that he told a friend earlier in the day that he thought Patrik Berglund would have a big impact on the result of Tuesday's game. About five seconds later, Berglund got the puck from a shot by David Perron off of the end boards and put it in the open net.
Berglund added another tally a little under six minutes later to help the Blues secure a huge victory. T.J. Oshie did a lot of the work on that. Oshie's becoming one of the best forecheckers on the roster if he isn't already. What was even more impressive was his hit on Kings captain Dustin Brown in the closing minutes of the game. He completely laid him out with a clean two-handed shove to the chest at which point two different players came after Oshie. Jack Johnson, the second player to get to Oshie took and interference penalty with two minutes left, essentially ending all hope of the Kings coming back. If I get the Blues third jersey in the next couple of years, you can bet it will be Oshie's name across the back.
St. Louis climbed to within one point of the playoffs with that win and sit just two points back after Wednesday's games. They only have three home games left over their last nine, including their next two. I was thinking that they needed at least five points on this home stand to stay in the hunt with that big stretch of road games coming up. They got two on Tuesday against a club that had beaten them three times and out scored them 15-5 in those games. This team has saved its best hockey for the last half of the season. They let a couple of two-goal leads get away the last time Vancouver came to town. After getting shutout 3-0 by Roberto Luongo last Thursday, they'll need to get to him early. Great forechecking, especially by the "Kid Line" could really help and they can't afford to get off to a bad start like they did against LA. The Canucks are a much stronger team than the Kings and it's highly unlikely that the Blues will get off the hook if they're completely outplayed in the first period again. That said, the rest of the season should be really exciting. Let's go Blues!
Cardinals
The Cardinals are going to start this season eight million dollars below where they started last year for their major league salary. This shouldn't be too surprising with the club's track record when it comes to signing free agents. They haven't brought anyone big in for a large contract since before the 2002 season when they signed Jason Isringhausen. He was a dependable closer for many years (2008 not being one of them), but some clubs make big signings every year. The Cards certainly don't have the market to compete with the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, or Red Sox for free agents, but that's not what fans have been asking them to do. The Braves brought in Derek Lowe and Garret Anderson this offseason in addition to being active early in trade talks for Jake Peavy. Neither Anderson or Lowe instantly make the Braves a contender in that division with the defending champion Phillies and the high-spending Mets, but at least there's some effort there.
St. Louis' bullpen was easily their biggest issue last year. The team blew over 30 saves and flirted with the all-time record for blown saves in a season. If they even converted half of those blown opportunities, they would've won over 100 games and had the best record in the majors. Therefore, I completely understand suring up the bullpen with a couple of lefties. But aside from cutting Adam Kennedy (addition by subtraction) and trading for Khalil Greene, they didn't do anything. They had to acquire a shortstop to replace Cesar Izturis, Aaron Miles, and Jose Lopez, so that wasn't a huge upgrade either. So much for being aggressive on the free agent market. There were plenty of bargains out there and the Cards decided to let them get away. The lot across the street from Busch Stadium can serve as a visual reminder of the broken promises (in addition to undeniable truths) that the organization has been making for years. Instead of upper scale shops and restaurants, business offices, and residential buildings we're getting a parking lot and a softball field. Bill DeWitt assures us that it will just be a temporary use of the land, but we've heard it all before. An interesting wager would be whether the Cardinals begin some real construction on Ballpark Village or if they sign a top notch free agent first. At this point, I'd be more than willing to settle for just extending Pujols before he ends up in pinstripes. If that ever happens, I'll officially be done with the Cards.
NCAA Hoops
The Big Dance will resume later tonight. All three of my teams are playing tonight, so I have a significant rooting interest in all but one of Thursday's games. I have Pittsburgh winning the whole thing (which hasn't looked good so far), so I need them to beat Xavier. I don't know if this is the year that Jamie Dixon will finally break through to the Final Four, but I don't think he'll be denied entry to the Elite Eight. I think Oklahoma State, Pitt's second round opinion was just as good down the stretch as Xavier has been, so I think the Panthers will move on. As for Duke, I couldn't pick them to go down while playing in North Carolina in the first two rounds, but Villanova looked really good in the second round by blowing out UCLA. Of course, the Wildcats were in their home city, not just their home state. However, I think Nova will beat Duke unless Kyle Singler can stay out of foul trouble. The Wildcats are great at penetration, especially with their guards. The Blue Devils have had trouble with elite teams this year like North Carolina and Nova looked like one last Saturday. It should be a great game no matter who wins.
The Mizzou and Memphis game was shaping up to be a great one as well, but now DeMarre Carroll may be hurt. He claims that it's just a tweaked ankle, but it's certainly a reason for Mizzou fans to worry. Memphis has the size advantage at about every position, so an extra advantage will help the Conference USA titans even more. This team is on another huge roll. They haven't lost a game since December this season and were just a miracle three away from winning the national title last season. They haven't lost a conference game since Mizzou coach Mike Anderson was coaching at UAB and Anderson's now in this third year at the helm of the Tigers. I didn't take Memphis seriously last year because they didn't shoot free throws well. A lot of people didn't take them seriously again this year because they're in a weak conference. I wasn't one of them. I have them in the Final Four. They had a bit of a scare in the first round put they eventually pulled away before trouncing Maryland in the second round. Even though I'll be cheering for Missouri on Thursday, I have to think that the Memphis Tigers will be moving on.
My other picks for the the weekend:
UConn over Purdue
MSU over Kansas
Louisville over Arizona
Gonzaga over UNC (I'm really hoping Ty Lawson's toe gets to him finally)
Syracuse over Oklahoma (OU's the only original Final Four team I'm changing on, Jim Boeheim has the Orange on fire.)
Regional Finals
Memphis over UConn
Louisville over MSU
Pitt over Nova
Syracuse over Gonzaga
