The Cardinals have tied the Milwaukee Brewers at one game apiece and are heading home to St. Louis. These are tough birds indeed. The probability of being in this position was slim. Although the Cardinals are the hardest-hitting team in the National League, at the beginning of September they were way out of the race. The New York Mets defeated them in an important late-season game. But Tony LaRussa’s men are tenacious. Pitching great Chris Carpenter ought to be making an appearance, by my calculation, for this all-important Game 3. The Cardinals storied franchise has an unusual position in Major League Baseball, second (with 10) to the New York Yankees’s 27 championships, and involved in some of the most memorable World Series ever (1926, 1944, 1964, 1975, 2004). For many years, they (and the old St. Louis Browns of the American League) were the farthermost-western club in the United States. To make things juicier still, it is reported the Cardinals and Brewers hate each other, with all sorts of accusations flying (What else for a Cardinal?) back and forth. This is some kind of series.