I don't know how many people watched the game yesterday, but it was unbelieveable. Just when you think you can't possibly repeat the excitement of last years Worls Championship, here we are.

Been a die hard Cardinals fan since birth, these are some of the greatest years to be a fan!


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Carlos Beltran and the never-give-up St. Louis Cardinals began their latest comeback celebration quietly, plucking cans of beer from a blue bin that was hurriedly wheeled from the home to the visiting clubhouse in the middle of the ninth inning.

''How did that happen?!'' Beltran asked, speaking to no one in particular.

Then in walked Pete Kozma, and the party really started. Teammates sprayed champagne bottles directly at the rookie shortstop who drove in the go-ahead runs against the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of their NL division series. Doesn't matter how bad things look for these Cardinals. Trailing by a bunch, down to their last strike, they simply stay calm and do what it takes to win.

Erasing an early six-run hole slowly but surely, the defending World Series champs got a tying two-out, two-run single from Daniel Descalso and a go-ahead two-run single from Kozma in the top of the ninth inning, coming all the way back to beat the Nationals 9-7 Friday night and reach the NL championship series.

''We never quit,'' catcher Yadier Molina said. ''That's our rule.''

Behind 3-0 before recording an out, behind 6-0 in the third inning, behind 7-5 with two outs and one on in the ninth, the Cardinals somehow, some way constructed the largest comeback ever in a winner-take-all postseason game, according to STATS LLC. No other club in this sort of ultimate pressure situation had come back from more than four down.

''We knew we had a lot of game left after they scored six. Nobody went up there trying to hit a six-run homer,'' said Descalso, whose solo shot in the eighth made it 6-5. ''We needed to scratch and claw and get ourselves back in the game.''

They did, barely: Descalso, who only hit .227 in the regular season, came up with a game-saving single that ticked off the glove of diving shortstop Ian Desmond to make it 7-all.

Then it was Kozma's turn. He hit .236 in nearly 2,500 at-bats over six seasons in the minors - the unheralded guy was mistakenly called ''Cosmos'' by Nationals manager Davey Johnson before Game 4 - and was in the Cardinals' lineup only because of an injury to Rafael Furcal. But he sent another pitch from Nationals closer Drew Storen into right field.

''I was looking for a good fastball to hit. He gave it to me,'' Kozma said. ''You can't write this stuff up. It just happens.''

Cards score 4 in 9th, beat Nats 9-7, reach NLCS - Yahoo! Sports

 

Going to the second game in SF Monday . Hopefully the Giants can win at home. But based on this years playoffs home doesn't seem to matter anymore.