Like me, I'm sure you secretly believed way back in April when the baseball season began that Michael Gonzalez would be on the mound in the eighth inning of the seventh game of the World Series. That took some amazing foresight, so give yourself a big round of applause.

While you're at it, give the St. Louis Cardinals some love for the way they swept the final two games at Busch Stadium. Their double comeback on Thursday night was the stuff of legends and they took care of business on Friday night to make good (sort of) on my prediction that they would work their wild card magic on the Texas Rangers.

They didn't do it in six, but they did it, which will only enhance the legend of manager Tony La Russa and put more pressure on the Cardinals to give in to whatever Albert Pujols demands to forego free agency.

It's hard not to feel sorry for the Rangers, who were one strike away from their first world title in two different innings on Thursday night, but it wasn't to be. The baseball gods smiled on the Cardinals, even giving them a rainout to make it possible for Chris Carpenter to come back and deliver a terrific performance in Game 7.

The world title is the 11th for the venerable Cardinals franchise -- second only to the Yankees. St. Louis has a right to be very proud.