UNTUCK 'EM!

I've held a grudge against the Cardinals since the 1982 World Series. I know I should get over it and move on but I haven't. I felt like I was almost there until the 2008 season when Tony LaRussa declared the Brewers to be "classless" and a "classless organization" because of the whole untucking ritual and apparently because the Brewers players spent too much time admiring their homeruns. It was so bizarre it was almost comical. Why did he care? He'd never cared about the Brewers before. Untucking was more creative than that whole shaving cream/pie-in-face routine (yawn) and was started as a tribute to Mike Cameron's late father. As Bill Schroeder pointed out, I think LaRussa felt that the Brewers were classless because the Brewers were a better team than the Cardinals in 2008. During one Brewers-Cardinals game, I got the Cardinals feed (puke) and had to endure nine innings of the announcers discussing how classless the Brewers were and how "those kind of antics wouldn't be tolerated in St. Louis."

Right, nothing says class like a DUI (LaRussa) or killing yourself while driving drunk and high (Josh Hancock). But I digress...

I was not overly optimistic about tonight's game. Manny Parra was getting another start, allegedly because of Dave Bush's blister. I say allegedly because Bush actually pitched tonight, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Jaime Garcia took the mound for St. Louis-he of the ridiculous 1.28 ERA. But the Brewers came out swinging, scoring two runs in the first inning and another in the third on a Rickie Weeks homer. And Manny Parra (Manny Parra!) was pretty amazing, striking out 10 batters in 5 1/3 innings. He even struck out 4 batters in one inning. He even seemed--dare I say it--mentally tough.

In what can only be described as a bizarre move, Macha brought in Dave Bush for one batter in the sixth after Parra had walked the bases loaded with one out and the score 3-2. He struck out Skip Schumaker and was then pulled for Kameron Loe. Bush seemed confused. I was confused. Dave Bush is now a spot reliever? The Cardinals scored single runs in the third, sixth and eighth innings to tie up the game and send it into extra innings. The Brewers went ahead in the 10th inning when Prince walked, Braun got an infield single, Casey McGehee singled and Corey Hart hit a sac fly. Axford pitched the 10th for his fourth save. AX!

Since Mike Cameron plays for the Red Sox now, it appears that shirts were left tucked in. Too bad, because I am not over anything.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3

Game played 6-6-10