Halloween update

Cardinals Capture Their 11th World Series

• On Friday night, the St. Louis Cardinals won their second World Series in 6 years defeating the Texas Rangers in game 7. The 11th championship in the franchise’s history; putting them second on the list of franchises championships. This game may be the last played by Albert Pujols as a Cardinal, as he is a free agent this offseason and will be looking for a big contract. Cardinals Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa won the third World Series of his storied managerial career.
• The Cardinals sent their ace Chris Carpenter out, thanks to a rain day last Wednesday that pushed the game out a day which allowed Carpenter to get enough rest after pitching in game 5. The Texas Rangers tagged Carpenter early with 2-runs in the first inning as all 4 of the first 4 Texas hitters reached base. Things were not looking good for the Cardinals and the Rangers were looking good after a devastating loss the night before.
• However, the Cardinals tied the score in their half of the inning and went onto score another 4 runs. After the slow start Carpenter settled in and pitched through the 6th inning without giving up another run. David Freese, the hero of game 6, was named the MVP of the World Series. He is the 6th player in the history of baseball to be named the MVP of both the World Series and the League Championship series (the semifinals).
• While the Series win was a treat for the Cardinals, it was definitely a cruel trick for the Rangers who would have won the Series if, among other things, Nelson Cruz had simply caught David Freese's deep fly ball. It may or may not be the most debilitating collapse in American sports history and for a franchise that's never won a World Series, it will certainly be tough to swallow.

Major upsets in NFL, college football


• The last weekend in October was a big one for a number of teams, and many failed to answer the call. A week after #3 Oklahoma suffered their first loss, they played undefeated #8 Kansas State and after K-State took a 17-14 lead, they forgot to continue playing and let Oklahoma steamroll them, 58-17.
• The Clemson Tigers were also undefeated and looking for a BCS Title game possibility but they got beaten soundly, 31-17, by Georgia Tech whose well run triple option offense gives defenses firs because it is so rare and unconventional in today's game.
• Stanford nearly suffered a similar fate as it's fellow top 8 contemporaries but barely escaped with a 56-48 win in triple overtime against Southern Cal. Andrew Luck's Cardinal are now the 4th ranked team in the BCS standings and with #1 LSU and #2 Alabama playing each other next week, will likely move up to #3 after that game. Oklahoma State sits at #3 currently.
• In the NFL, the woeful Arizona Cardinals jumped out to a 24-3 lead over the Baltimore Ravens but former Cardinals star WR Anquan Boldin (7 catches for 145 yards) and his new team, the Ravens, avoided a second straight bad loss by beating the Cardinals 30-27 with a late rally.
• The New York Giants fell behind the winless Miami Dolphins 14-3 early but ended up rallying for a 20-17 win. The St. Louis Rams, however, did manage to get their first win after jumping off to a huge lead against the Saints and holding on for a 31-21 win. The fact that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in baseball can't be completely written off as a reason for this win as that victory gave the entire city a morale boost.
• In what could only be called a mild upset, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New England Patriots 25-17 after leading nearly the entire game. The Patriots were 5-1, considered by many to be the best team in the NFL and Tom Brady sported a 6-1 career record against the Steelers but all those stats meant nothing today as Pittsburgh and QB Ben Roethlisberger dominated the game that really didn't seem as close as the score indicated.