16 I Tuesday, October 31, 2006 I SIGNAL SPORTS

And the winner is: St.Louis formances like these to make it Hope to the CAA Championships, By LEE WILSON from page 13 said head coach Mike Webster [email protected] agrees. Webster commented that and forth affair. The Panthers he enjoyed the intensity that his When St. Louis Cardinal clos­ did manage to keep a steady team showed and knows that er struck two-point advantage throughout they will have to increase that Detroit's out on a the duration of the early stages, level with each upcoming vicious , the St. Louis but the Seahawks tied the game match. Cardinals became world champs at 12-12. Soon thereafter, the With the win, the Panthers for the first time in 25 years. The victory capped the end of Panthers reasserted themselves have improved their record to 5- a post-season aptly dubbed and pulled out to a healthy lead 9 in the conference and are only "shocktober." It seems that nothing that they refused to surrender. one game out of the sixth and went the way it was predicted to At the end of the game, the final spot for qualification in the go. The Cardinals weren't even a Panthers took a 2-0 game CAA Championships. popular pick to get out of the first advantage with a 30-24 lead. Upcoming matches, which are round! Now they are the best in By the beginning of the all crucial, include battles with and, with their 10th title in third game, it became obvious Delaware and Towson at the team history, they are in second that the Panthers were ready to Sports Arena on Friday and place all time to the Yankees. finish off their opponents. The Sunday, respectively. After two Going into the postseason, the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington important games at home, the favorites to come out of each were reduced to spectators as Panthers will finish out their league happened to be in New Special I Signal York and also had the highest pay­ the Panthers' domination last two games of the season on Eckstein was also an integral part to the 2002 Anaheim Angels roll in their respective leagues( the reached all-time heights as they the road at Northeastern and championship . Mets and the Yankees). jumped out to an 11-point Hofstra. The Twins and Athletics were a two-run homer off of Aaron accomplished before. So, there you advantage. The final score for Each of these next four also popular picks due to their late Heilman. Then, and former go Tiger fans, you made history. the game was 30-19. With the match-ups are against teams season surges. The Brave prospect Adam Wainwright The MVP honors were also dominant victory and clean that the Panthers have lost to in were not a popular pick due to showed the world his wicked surprising. It was not Albert sweep of the Seahawks, the their previous meetings. But, their late season struggles. They curveball and sent th Cards to the Pujols, it was not nor Panthers have prolonged their with time winding down, every slowly gave away their division to series. was it one of the aces of the staff. chances of reaching the confer­ game becomes a virtual must- the Twins as they were under .500 The series itself featured two It was all 5'7" of David ence playoffs. win. The killer instinct that the in the month of September. Eckstein with his .364 average and managers that are among the best Standouts for Georgia State Panthers showed against the The St. Louis Cardinals were in baseball history and great four ribbies. included Amy Lusk and UNC Wilmington Seahawks in a similar position in the National friends: Jimmy Leyland and Tony The postseason of an unpre­ Michelle Trimble, who con­ must be present in every upcom­ League. They finished the season LaRussa. dictable nature is now over, along tributed 14 and 13 kills, respec­ ing match. They must go out 83-79, one of the worst records The series itself lacked excite­ with another season of baseball. ever to reach the post-season. They ment, but featured some interest­ Whether next season will be as tively. Senior Christen Garcia with the desire and passion to nearly blew their division to the ing story lines. unpredictable is yet to be seen. had 23 digs, and Noelle Boyd win, or they will be sitting at , but thanks to our For one, St. Louis' entire Until then, St. Louis will enjoy delivered 38 assists. The home during the CAA Braves, the Astros came up pitching staff pitched better than their title reign. Panthers will need more per- Championships. short. they had all season. Surprising Jeff The Mets, who snapped the Weaver, rookie , Braves' division title streak, have and reigning been the favorite National League Championship all season long. Come playoff Series MVP combined time, almost every so called expert to obliterate the Detroit offense. picked them to get to the World Then there is the substance on Series. Kenny Rogers' hand. The good The and thing is the fact that Detroit did not were also win so it did not matter. expected to make some noise in Also, one of the more interest­ the playoffs due to their hot streaks ing facts about the series was the throughout the season, but not the Tiger committing errors in Cardinals. all five of the games, The A's and Mets plowed right a feat which has never been through the Twins and Dodgers, ending their title chances. The Cardinals also managed to defeat the Padres in four games. The Padres only managed six runs in four games as the Cardinal staff was on par. The Tigers, after being com­ W DEEPWSICK, pletely ruled out after losing game one in New York, reeled off three ,LY IRBESISriBI-E. straight victories against the highly paid Yankees. UTTEBW RICHARD CORLISS TIME They continued their domi­ nance in the Championship Series against the A's as they swept them. The series ended with a walk-off from Magglio Ordonez. The Cardinals then played in a tremendously exciting seven-game series with the Mets. The seventh game featured a home-run saving catch that turned into a rtir/IT•••I m i \ JU|i A play. The play is worth mentioning simply because it was awesome. WWM .torjInMiw OBcn Then, in the top of the ninth Special | Signal mm NOVEMBER 3 inning, Cardinal Yadier ONLY IM THEATRES .364, win­ Molina broke the Mets' heart with ning the World Series MVP.