Thursday, June 05, 2003

Entertaining baseball game last night. The Cardinals won 8-5, and there was plenty of excitement, including back-to-back triples by Tino Martinez and Mike Matheny. I covered baseball for several years and have been to a lot of games, but I don't think I've ever seen back-to-back triples.

Here's why St. Louis fans are the best in baseball (which even players on most other teams acknowledge): Tino Martinez came to St. Louis as Mark McGwire's replacement last season from the American League, where he had been on several championship teams with the New York Yankees. Since coming here, he's struggled mightily. Last season, he hit around .250, and he's hitting about the same this year. And yet, he got a big round of applause from the Cardinal fans last night, because they know he's trying. Contrast that with Sammy Sosa (pre-cork) in Chicago, who has put together a Hall of Fame career with the Cubs, and yet gets booed after a few bad weeks.

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