Hahaha Jim Leyland is on TV talking about how bad the Tigers were last year: only 71 wins. He hopes people will remember how far they came this year.

The Cards won the series this year with 83 regular-season wins. Ironic, no? The person who is not so amused by this is Steven Maloney.

Steven, let me just recommend you change your attitude about baseball. First, keep in mind above all that there are only two numbers that matter. One: the magic number in September. Two: the final score in the World Series. While the Cardinals from time to time have done pretty well with number one, it’s been a looooong time since number two has come out in our favor. So I can’t feel bad about winning. Plus, the Baseball Genius was running our team.

Now, since those are the only two numbers that matter, here’s how I watch baseball:
* Early January — Start to get excited. Pitchers and catchers report soon!
* Throughout spring training — This could be the year!
* Opening Day — Almost always the best day of the baseball season. All possibilities remain open. Really, the first couple of months are good.
* Be sure to re-engage in time to vote for my team for the All-Star Game. Of course there’s no need to watch the All-Star Game [nor should you, Steven] since we’re fans of National League teams and we haven’t won in a decade.
* About the first of August, I start watching the standings closely enough to see if we could really pull it out. Now, I watch baseball all year, whenever I get the chance. I go to a game whenever I can. But I don’t bother with the standings until the end of the summer. There’s just no point. The season lasts seven months, for cryin’ out loud.
* And of course, hopefully, I am doing the complex calculus to figure out if we’re going to get to the post-season in late September.

But as I said the other day, you must keep it all in perspective. Any time it starts to seem heartbreaking, or inspires anger, frustration or other negative emotions, just remind yourself: we’re talking about grown men hitting a ball with a stick and running in circles.

Until next April, congrats to the Cardinals!

For the rest of you, since you asked, as a Cardinals fan, I certainly do have an opinion about Kenny Rogers and the potential substance on his left hand the other night. It is this. We are talking about a sport in which grown men take illegal drugs so they will do better at hitting a ball with a stick and running in a circle. You also are talking to a person who paid for mail delivery of the St. Louis Post Dispatch the entire summer and fall of 1998 only to discover not all that long thereafter that Mark McGwire’s record-breaking season had also been fueled by questionable, if not then illegal, drugs.

At this point, I’m beginning to think we ought to pass out awards to those who try to cheat with just a little pine tar and by corking their bats. Remember when Sammy Sosa’s bat cracked open in 2003? Given the MLB steroid hearings of the past year, corking your bat seems amateurish.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m not still a fan — but I am a fan with my eyes wide open. It’s still possible to enjoy the sport of my childhood when you see the reality adults bring to it today. That’s not always pretty, but pine tar or no, Rogers smoked us through and through on Sunday night.

Tonight, well just look at the homestanding Cardinals. Those guys still steal my heart every time.

Final score: 5-0 Cards
Series: 2-1 Cards

But you’ve got to watch these great commercials featuring Tommy Lasorda, exhorting all you Cubbies and BoSox fans [sorry, Jamie, Patrick, Patrick and Trocch] to watch the postseason anyway. They are just brilliant.

Kind of like BG.

*Baseball Genius. I have referred to Tony La Russa as the Baseball Genius for years. I am not alone. La Russa is the most maddening kind of man to have in charge of your team. Most of the time he’s doing a great job, so it’s really hard to complain, but you can never, and I mean never, figure out what the hell he’s up to. On the other hand, you hope that the other team has the same problem you do.

And, when he delivers with the results like we got in Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS thanks to his BG lineups, who’s arguing?