Sorry I've been away.

Since my last post a few things have happened. I am teaching New Testament Literature at Evangel and am enjoying it, immensely. I'm not landscaping anymore for which my back and knees thank me. My wife has recently scored a great career-type job with Patterson Dental which will blow anything that I have ever attempted to make out of the water. Our oldest is 14 and on the 8th grade basketball team. Our youngest played Mighty Mites football which he loved. After that, he broke metatarsils 2, 3, and 4 and can't play basketball. So, that's that.

Oh, did you hear the Cardinals won the World Series? I love what these guys had to say:

After Anthony Reyes won Game 1 with 8 innings and 2 earned runs pitching the game of his life and Albert Pujols hitting his first World Series home run:

The Cardinals entered Game 1 with fewer regular-season victories (83) than any team in World Series history except the 1973 Mets (82). The Tigers, like the Cardinals, struggled badly in the second half. Both teams entered the playoffs on a dubious note, with the Tigers being swept by Kansas City in the final regular-season series and thus handing the NL Central to Minnesota while settling for the Wild Card.

It didn't matter.  (by Mark Newman)

When Moses came down the mountain with the stone tablets, upon which God's fundamental instructions to mankind were written, he may not have fully understood the full meaning of the 11th Commandment:

"Do not pitch to Albert Pujols when something is at stake and first base is open."

You can see where this commandment might not have the moral weight of those commandments forbidding, for instance, murder or adultery. But in its own way, it is just as basic. There are things that you just can't do. Maybe the waters of the Red Sea can be parted. But, eventually, Albert Pujols will get you. (by Mike Bauman @ MLB.com)

After the Cardinals won game 3 5-0 behind a Carpenter 3 hit, 0 earned runs pitching clinic:

The Tigers are playing as if they'll be charged a late fee if the Series lasts seven games. Carpenter handcuffed them to the bedpost and noogied them to death, allowing just three hits, issuing no walks and striking out six. He was more efficient than a Swiss train schedule. (By Gene Wojciechowski @ ESPN.com)

Chris Carpenter could not be hit by the Tigers. But he also could not be questioned by the authorities.  (by Mike Bauman from MLB.com)

"Nothing is more important to a new house than a good Carpenter." (Tim Kurkjian on ESPN Sportscenter)

After the Cardinals won the World Series in five games behind great pitching from Jeff Weaver.

Dancing, then falling as a group before 46,638 paid, the Cardinals, a team seemingly splitting at its seams weeks ago, celebrated the redemptive power of October more than any team before them Friday night.

The first team to baptize a new facility with a World Series championship since 1923, the CArdinals won their first Series title since 1982 by completing a five-game domination of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-2 validation oat Busch Stadium.

(by Joe Strass @ The St. Louis Post Dispatch, the one with "YES!" on the cover.  I have one...had to wait for an awfully long time and guard it with my life leaving Barnes and Noble, but I have one.

In his 1,851st game as the Cardinals manager, regular season and postseason, Tony LaRussa got it don.  The number on his back is no longer 10 pounds of burdenome weight, or the symbol of an unfulfilled promise.  It stands for 10 World Series championships.  An imperfect team delivered a perfect 10.

(by Bernie Miklasz @ St. Louis Post Dispatch, same paper)

In the end, Adam Wainwright, who said he didn't know if he'd make the team out of spring training and hadn't closed before September, finished the World Series for the Cardinals, who (censored) near blew a 12-game lead, and the final game was won Jeff Weaver, who was designated for assignment in Anaheim because he lost his job to his younger brother. Oh, true, the Cardinals had the lowest winning percentage of any champion, and there were all those mudstains from Tiger pitchers whose throws went bump in the night...

But who is left standing at the end is not about wrong or right, but good -- and bad -- and the convergence of time and place. And this wet, frigid World Series will forever stand as testament to the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives, choosing the shiny ones instead. It's not about the best player at every position. October baseball is like March college hoops -- random, streaky, proof that most of the sport's predictions are invalid and intellectually dishonest.

(by Peter Gammons on ESPN.com)

I guess that about says it all, huh?