Draw the curtains
Let’s face it, baseball is based on superstitions. Players will do anything to keep the good times rolling, from wearing their underwear backward on game days to eating the same pregame meal to not changing their socks during a hitting streak.
Some players think that the day they show up a pitcher by standing at home plate watching a home run is the day they’ll break their leg sliding into second. Don’t mess with the baseball gods, one veteran player told me long ago.
Remember Jose Lima‘s antics on the mound during his 21-win season in 1999? He sang, he danced, he celebrated a strikeout with the electric slide. The next year, he couldn’t get anyone out. At all. In 2001, he was traded to Detroit, home of the furthest fences in the bigs. Couldn’t get anyone out there, either.
Why? As the veteran said, maybe it was the baseball gods. Show up the other team, lose the strikezone. Forever.
So why in the world are players taking curtain calls?
Reggie Sanders hit a two-run homer in Game 1 of the NLCS and popped out of the dugout for a curtain call. IT WAS THE FIRST INNING! Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s become somewhat of a harmless Cardinals tradition, and I can appreciate that. But in a 2-0 game, with eight innings to play? Come on.
Lance Berkman pops a three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 5, and soon he pops out of the dugout for a curtain call. An hour later, Albert Pujols jacked a three-run shot of his own to win the game. Yikes.
And how about Sanders? In Game 2, he nearly broke his neck trying to make a heroic catch in left field. He had to leave the game, couldn’t play the next day, and since then, he’s had one hit.
Baseball gods? Maybe it’s a stretch. But players need to play it safe. Save the curtain calls for after the game, if your team wins. — Alyson Footer / MLB.com
NLCS: Astros vs. Cardinals 
I think that started during Big Mac’s run to 70 homers. I agree, it’s a little much. But … I have to say that Houston’s all-out celebration in the 7th inning was over-the-top. 9th inning cheering like it’s going out of style? I get that. 2 outs, 2 strikes on Eckstein, by all means, make all the noise you can. But in the 7th inning? You are messing with karma. And it wasn’t just the fans. The little celebrations in the dugout had to just irritate the Cards something fierce. To be SO disrespected with 2 innings left to play. In the 8th, you could see Pujols looking around, just disbelief that everyone was already in party mode. I’m a die-hard Cardinals fan, and if Oswalt brings his “A” game, the Astros may very well get to the World Series. But I will always, forever and ever, remember the night we taught Houston how long a baseball game really is.
Lesson learned. Now get ready for Lee Harvey Oswalt, the Houston assassin.
I thought the cities of Houston and Dallas were rivals…but nitro’s reference of Lee Harvey Oswalt, assassin, makes me remember Dallas, not Houston…hmmm…probably not the assasin you think he is…and we all know the Cards have had more success vs. Oswalt than failure. Game 6 and 7, like 2004, is the death of this wild card entrant. (PS…simply sticking the bat out for a 316 foot drive to left field wont work in Busch.
RIP Houston
Rivals? Why? What do we have against our fellow Texans? That’s like calling Kansas City YOUR rival. 27 more outs to go!
duhh…everyone knows the jealousy Houston has for Dallas….undeniable….Houston is Texas’s 2nd city (just ask the Cowboys in Dallas…hahahaha)
more like 54 more outs to go (that last out is the hardest, isnt it??)
27 outs … assuming you are ahead at the end of them. I smell this game going extra innings …
Warning!!! Category 5 Hurricane Oswalt is projected to touch down in St. Louis at approximately 7:28pm CST. Cardinal fans, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!!
It’s because St. Louis has the best fans in baseball and will not stop cheering until the player comes back out. Even guys, who are not cocky and run w/ their head down after a key homer, eventually are forced to come back out of the dugout.
Fort Worth is the the better North Texas city. Houston is king of the South. You should know that, rick.