The ninth inning of last night's game between St. Louis and Houston still has me dumbfounded. It was a shot to the solar plexus that Houston will have a hard time overcoming, no matter how much bravery they bring to Busch Stadium. With high drama and real momentum behind the Cardinals in St. Louis, it seems to me that though Houston needs only one win, the pressure is squarely on them. It will be interesting to see how the two teams respond.

Of course, today everyone's talking about Albert Pujols. That's to be expected. But the fact is, without David Eckstein's seeing-eye single, and without that gutsy walk by Jim Edmonds, the smash by Pujols would not have given the Cardinals the lead, nor even a tie. It was neat to hear Albert acknowledging that in the post-game interview. Not only a great player, he seems to be fine person as well.

For folks who drop by this blog and don't really care about baseball . . . I promise to talk about something else very soon.