Chop sighted in St. Louis

[General]

Chop helps Cards reverse their flop
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Sep. 30 2006

It was 8:49 p.m. when Busch Stadium found its rallying cry. It was then that the Cardinals looked up and saw something they hadn't seen the past nine days.

The Houston Astros had lost, 4-1 to the Atlanta Braves.

In what would have been treasonous in almost any other setting, an announced crowd of 41,718 began to follow Ernie Hays' rendition of the tomahawk chop.

"I thought that was really a good touch, really smart," manager Tony La Russa said. "I didn't know the game was over until I heard that."

Rediscovering their voice, the Cardinals held up their part of the bargain by routing the Milwaukee Brewers 10-5 behind a flurry of offense led by Preston Wilson's game-winning two-run homer and Albert Pujols' three-run kill shot in a five-run fifth inning.

"It's a lot different to hear when you're actually on the field playing," Wilson said. "When you hear something that out of character, you know something weird has happened. You just hope it's for your benefit."

The Cardinals' magic number, grounded on five for a week until Wednesday, dropped to two as they gained ground on the Astros for the first time since Sept. 17.

And the Brewers couldn't stop the Chop.

"We're all Braves fans now," understated Cardinals infielder Aaron Miles.

Gotta love Cardinals fans. I just hate LaRussa.

[catman]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[DravenX]

I heard this on another forum. Does anyone know if it was shown during the game?

[catman]

Seriously, the Braves are a good enough offensive team. They lacked good quality pitching at critical times. Picking up Wickman was a good move and locking him up for next season was a better one. Now they need to find some arms to get the ball to him.

[General]

We had a 7-21 June, that's why we're not in the playoffs.

[DravenX]

Thanks to Sosa and Retisma. Sosa is gone and Retisma is on the DL. I want Retisma gone also.

[iluvfrenchy&bri]

GOOD move? GOOD move? THAT WAS THE GREATEST, MOST FANTASTIC MOVE MADE IN BRAVES GM HISTORY!