Game Six: WSH @ STL

Game 6 of our Baseball Odyssey led us to Busch Stadium in the heart of St. Louis, MO. This was our audible game. When we woke up at our hotel in Dayton, OH and checked the weather in Detroit, our worst fears were realized. We saw that Detroit would be absolutely rained out that night, and due to our tight schedule, we would not be able to see a game there, bringing our total amount of games down to 10. Maxwell had the idea to see if St. Louis was home instead, and Sam ran with it. While the Brothers Polans shaved, showered, and packed up, Sam found out that St. Louis was home, bought tickets on StubHub, printed out directions, and booked a hotel on the road from St. Louis to Chicago. We had saved the day.

Pregame

Busch Stadium opened up 2 hours before game time. We immediately rushed to our seats in left center to talk to the Nationals Relief Pitchers warming up in the outfield. That morning, Brian Bruney had been demoted to allow for Drew Storen, Washington's other 2009 first round draft pick out of STANFORD University, to be promoted to the big leagues. Sam made sure to show off his Stanford gear, attracting a smile from the obviously nervous Storen.

Batting Practice was fairly uneventful. We did get another ball and we met National's Pitcher Craig Stammen's cousin. Most importantly, we met a rising Duke University senior who "had definitely heard of" Alex Golding. The stadium looked gorgeous, with the St. Louis arched mowed onto the grass. However, the sky was much cloudier than we anticipated. The storm was supposed to stay to the Northeast of St. Louis, but we began to fear that it would follow us to our audibled game 6.

The Game

The game consisted of a matchup between Cardinal's Ace and ex-Phillies great Kyle Lohse vs. National's superstar Craig Stammen. The Cardinals broke the game wide open right away in the bottom of the 1st. After the first two batters got out, the Cardinals' bats came alive. Matt Holliday, in the three hole, worked a walk, Albert Pujols singled, Colby Rasmus got an RBI single, David Freese knocked in 2 with a triple, Yadier Molina brought Freese home with a single, and then Scott Schumaker finally ended the inning with a ground out to first. The Nationals pulled within 2 in the 5th, but the Cardinals added 2 more in the 8th to take a commanding 6-2 lead, which ended up being the final score.

Win- Kyle Lohse

6 IP, 6H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 4K

Loss- Craig Stammen

6IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 4K

Busch Stadium

Fans: 9

Food: 9

Seats: 8

Overall Experience: 9

We had a great time at this stadium. It was a great idea to audible here. The food was unbelievably good. We had pulled pork, giant barbecued turkey legs, toasted raviolis, and much more. Sam won fat ass of the game, and doesn't regret even one bite of food.

The funniest moment of the game revolved around Drew Storen's major league debut. As a proud future Stanford Cardinal, Sam stood up and cheered for Storen when he entered the game for the Nationals, much to the dismay of the Cardinals fans around us. They asked Sam "Why are you a Stanford fan if you live in Missouri! Go back to California!" As funny as this was, the best part was when a crowd of other fans yelled back, in complete seriousness, "You guys are idiots. Stanford is in Connecticut, not California!" Enough said Missouri...

Other notes: It drizzled a little bit, but luckily, the game was never interrupted.