The Day Two Great Managers Exited

Must be something in the air.

A few hours before Graham Henry announced his exit from the All Blacks head coach role, St Louis Cardinals manager, Tony La Russa, a legend in his own right stepped down after leading the Cards to their 11th World Championship - La Russa's 3rd as manager of the Cards for 16 years.

End of an era for two legends of sport.

Meanwhile we finally had a good game at primetime in the NFL. Traditional AFC West rivals, the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs battled it out in the loudest stadium this side of Seattle - there are a few stadia in the NFL which claim the loudest stadium title. The Chargers clawed their way right back to send the game into overtime, only to lose 23-20.

It means the Chiefs who started with 3 straight losses are now level with the Chargers at the top of the AFC West title. Not a great result if you're an Oakland Raiders fan.

Melbourne Cup Day also saw a horse named after the city of Dunedin when pronounced wrongly win on photo finish. I guess if you have a sweepstake that rewards 1st to 3rd, you still got something if you backed Red Cedeaux.

Anyway, New Zealand's first test match in a long while is about to kick off - in fact it is Zimbabwe's first test against anyone besides Bangladesh in a long while. It looks like a flat wicket in Bulawayo so could be plenty of runs.

Tomorrow, the Super rugby squads for 2012 are announced. My affiliate site: http://www.superrugbytips.com will have all the latest on this.

But will leave you with some highlights from the Henry days.

Graham Henry All Blacks XV (the best All Blacks picked during the Henry era):

Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Carl Hayman, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (captain), Kieran Read, Byron Kelleher, Dan Carter, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Ma'a Nonu, Tana Umaga, Cory Jane, Mils Muliaina

SUBS:
Andrew Hore, Owen Franks, Chris Jack, Jerry Collins, Piri Weepu, Nick Evans, Israel Dagg

St Louis Cardinals are World Champions!

The game as of the end of the 7th inning, the Cards lead the Rangers 6-2. In fact, they extended their lead in the 7th inning with a walk-in run to Molina. The Rangers have had their chances but have squandered many of them early on.

The Texas Rangers look set to gain an unwanted title of losing 2 consecutive World Series in a row - they lost to the Giants last year.








8th inning - Well that just raced by. The Cards didn't seem interested in scoring runs and Theriot and Pujols were quickly dismissed. The Cards will now look for those 3 outs to clinch their 11th World Championship title. 6-2 to the Cards.

9th inning - THE ST LOUIS CARDINALS ARE 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONS. Just like that.

Final score - TEX 2 STL 6. Cardinals win the series 4-3. You have to say that the real decider was in game 6 when the Cards just hung on and then walked off with the spoils and send the game to a do-or-die decider. The Rangers who dominated much of that game looked shell-shocked and never recovered. The Cardinals deserved champions, St Louis is again home to a champion baseball team.

Well done. Man of the Series should be Ryan Freese who really bailed out the Cardinals when they needed it and hit the winner in Game 6.

World Series Game 6 - Best Baseball Game Ever?

Busch Stadium, St Louis - the arena for tonight's big game.

After being delayed by poor weather on Thursday, game 6 is on tonight in St Louis. Cardinals' Jaime Garcia will open the pitching.

Courtesy of undoubtedly the best sports app on the iPhone - mlb At Bat, I'm able to listen to radio coverage of the game.

I will endeavour to post live updates throughout the afternoon.

1st inning - What a start to this game. Both pitchers, Garcia and Lewis look nervous and runs have been scored. Texas took the 1st run but the Cards replied with 2. Berkman hit his first World Series home run. 2-1 to the Cards.

2nd inning - If there's one thing to complain about this World Series, it's been the pitching under pressure from both sides: woeful. Garcia pitched a great top 2nd only to give away 1 run to the Rangers. 2-2.

4th inning - After a scoreless 3rd inning which saw the scorers catch a breather, the Rangers and Cards score a run each in an error-strewn 4th inning by both fielding sides - although the Cards are the guilty ones with 2 errs. It may be thrilling but the fielding has been a bit disappointing for a World Series. 3-3.

5th inning - Texas score but not as much as they really should be - they have dominated the Cards' erroneous pitching but they're not taking their chances and may rue not matching their batting dominance on the scoreboard. 4-3.

6th inning - Looks like the Cards are having the same problems the Rangers are having - getting all their bases loaded but unable to score big time. Cards level the game but really it should have been more. This could be the World Series of missed opportunities. 4-4.

7th inning - Finally the Rangers have broken their shackels and scored 3 home runs with Beltre, Holland and grand slam hero Cruz getting them. The game paused in the middle of the inning while America continues to sow its very patriotic soul with a rendition of the national anthem. Hey, the economy might down the toilet but they can still claim to be the greatest country in the world. The Rangers looking ominous now. 7-4 to the Rangers.

8th inning - The Cards score a home run but are unable to capitalise on having their bases loaded to get back into the game. Huge blow to the Texans. 7-5 to the Rangers.

Top 9th inning -  Cards have stopped the Rangers scoring rout at the top of the 9th. It comes down to the bottom of the 9th- Cards need 2 runs to take the game to extra innings..

Bottom 9th inning - they do it! 7-7 and heading into extra inning!

Top 10th inning - Has Hamilton hit the most important home run in Rangers history? First base loaded, Hamilton lashes out. Cards have to do it all over again. 9-7 to Texas.

Bottom 10th inning - The Cards do do it again. This game is down to its 9th life. 9-9.

Bottom 11th inning - CARDS WIN!! Walk off win. Freese gets the home run that sends this series into a sudden death 7th!!

Final/11 - TEX 9 STL 10. An absolutely incredible game which the Rangers and Ron Washington will be kicking themselves about after they had plenty of chances to win and clinch their first World Series. Now the momentum is with the Cardinals. They say those who win game 6 to force the decider have gone on to win game 7 and the World Series.

Back in the Big US of A

In my previous blog, I mentioned that it was quite possible that two world champions in two different sports would be crowned within 48 hours. The Texas Rangers and St Louis Cardinals have ruled that possibility out now - thankfully, as it means the World Series' lifespan for 2011 will be over a week with games 6 and 7 to be played on Thursday and Friday afternoons NZ time.

Thanks to some up and down form, huge hitting and questionable bullpens, it is still hard to pick who will win this series. There is plenty resting on game 6 in St Louis on Thursday - one more Rangers' win and they would be world champions for the first time in their history but they have to do it at the Cardinals' home where they have been mostly imperious in the playoffs, and one where they can back themselves to level the series and take the World Series to game 7.

Colby Lewis will open the pitching for the Rangers having only allowed 1 run in his last game while Jaime Garcia has been magnificent at Busch Stadium and pitched seven shutout innings in Game 2.

With no NFL, NBA or college sport really to interfere, America's focus on their Wednesday night viewing should be on Busch Stadium as the most riveting World Series reaches its climax.

Staying on baseball, the New York Yankees' Curtis Granderson is looking to bring America's national sport to... Eden Park, Auckland.

Yes the same stadium which witnessed New Zealand's greatest moment of glory in a while yet is being lined up as a potential venue for the MLB. Surely it would be in the pre-season in March given that the MLB is played during what would be New Zealand's wet winter months.

Interesting move - you would have thought that Westpac Stadium would make a better fit for a promotional MLB game with its genuine oval shape. After all, Eden Park is already an awkward sport for that other game with ball and bat.

But if it does happen, I'd be keen to watch. And Eden Park would have done it all: union, cricket, league, football...

Update on the NBA lockout:
Still no resolution in sight with a further 2 weeks of games cancelled. The stars are coming up with their own invitational tournaments to fill the time. It looks like the 2011-12 NBA season will be a stillbirth unless something can be done as soon as possible.

So here's some NBA archive footage to keep you entertained while the men sort it out.

2011 - The Year of Arm Wrestles (I Mean World Cup Finals)

What is it with these tight World Championship deciders this year?

In June, there was that epic netball World Champs final in Singapore which went to extra time and had the lead change so many times before Caitlin Bassett put away the critical winner for Australia.

Last Sunday's World Cup Final was the perfect example of an arm-wrestle. Ultimately, New Zealand's defence and passion from the crowd baying for blood that won on the day.

Back to America, the 2011 World Series will almost surely go to game seven after both sides just seem to be trading punches - and who scores first. After the Rangers rallied home to win their last game in Arlington for the season, they now head to St Louis for game 6 on Thursday NZ time.

This surely has to be one of the most competitive World Series in a long time. Whether it'll be remembered for the quality remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, for baseball followers, this has been absolutely thrilling stuff. And I'm going to hedge my bets that baseball's latest world champion will be crowned at the conclusion on Game 7 on Friday afternoon New Zealand time (Thursday night for the USA). I might have to take the afternoon off - maybe I'll just download the app for $2 and try and get the radio.