"We shocked the world" was what Jim Edmonds, the stud center fielder had to say just moments after the Cardinals won the World Series yesterday. The Cardinals only won 83 games this year, the lowest total by any World Series champ. This was the 10th World Series victory (17th NL pennants) for the Cardinals, second only to the famed New York Yankees.

For Cardinal fans this was the sweetest of all victories.

In 2004 the Cardinals won 105 games, the most in the majors, only to get rolled 4-0 by Boston. Then last year they won 100 games, only to lose to Houston, which then get routed by Chicago 4-0.

As Bernie Miklasz said in his St. Louis Post Dispatch column today:

This [championship] was for the franchise immortals who always return home, a college of Cardinals, visiting this baseball Vatican in St. Louis. They are living monuments: Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst and Bruce Sutter. Their presence reminds new generations of Cardinals that theirs is an extraordinary legacy, always to be handled with care.

This was for old friends who could not be there, but you just know that the spirits of Jack Buck and Darryl Kile were close to the Cardinals and their fans, watching over the drama of Game 5.

This was for baseball’s best fans, who had waited 23 seasons for a reaffirmation of the proud franchise’s glorious tradition. It doesn’t matter where they were gathered for Game 5. They could have been shivering in the frigid bowl of Busch Stadium, or watching by the fireplace at home, or bonding with friends in a local sports bar, or watching on satellite from a base camp in Iraq, or an outpost in Afghanistan.

Cardinals fans live everywhere, existing as one extended family, and
they became one nation under a groove again on Friday night, when the
power of this Red October pulled their heartbeats together in an
electric moment. At 10:22 on the evening of Oct. 27, 2006, rookie
Cardinals closer Adam Wainwright struck out the Tigers’ Brandon Inge on
a heinous breaking ball, sealing World Series title No. 10 with a 4-2
victory in Game 5.

So we did it! We won, and I can’t wait, just can’t wait for the parade tomorrow. St. Louis Cardinals: 2006 World Champs. Gosh that sounds great to say!