"Beautiful, just beautiful baseball"

As I am still working on catching up from the extended weekend (I hope you all had a fantastic Independence Day), I will return to baseball for at least one more post.
Chalk this play up as one more reason I'm a Cardinal fan. In an era where the home-run is king of the highlight reel (although this trend seems to be slowing a bit); the art of base-running seems to have fallen by the proverbial wayside. Seemingly gone are the days of the "hit and run," the "suicide squeeze," the double steal, scrapping for runs is passe. The importance of a stolen base seems to be slipping in everyone's book, even the scorekeeper now routinely scores a well stolen base as "defensive indifference." I grew up watching Vince Coleman swipe bases as if it were an inalienable right. Ricky Henderson.

So what happened? Well... many things, but that is a discussion for a different day. The point of this post, and again, one of the reasons I love to watch (listen usually) to the Cardinals, is that the fundamentals of baseball have not vanished from St. Louis. While it may seem like the aformentioned days of scrapping for runs are gone, that is just an illusion. Take the play I linked to earlier, watch it if you have time. Go ahead, I'll wait.

This is skillful base-running and coaching at it's finest. Ludwick is at bat, Ankiel leads off from first base with second open, Izturis is hovering at third. As the National's pitcher sends the ball to the plate Ankiel breaks for second. But he doesn't get a good jump. With visions of a free out running through his head the catcher jumps up and throws hard to second. Plenty of time to get Ankiel, not generally known for his base stealing prowess. Sure enough, too late Ankiel sees his mistake and tries to turn back to first, his steal attempt in shambles. Or is it?
Ankiel's steal is merely the white gloved hand of the magician distracting us from the "trick" about to happen. It's Han Solo picking at the wall with one hand while the other pulls his blaster in the Cantina. As the ball leaves the catcher's hand, Izturis, momentarily forgotten is breaking for home. Forgotten by everyone but the National's 2nd baseman. With his own visions of glory he scorns the stumbling Ankiel, cuts off the throw and hurls it right back to the catcher. A heroic effort, but too late. His decision doesn't pay off as his throw is not only off balance and fails to catch Izturis, but Ankiel miraculously finds his feet and trots to second. A double steal. They've successfully stolen a run. The rabbit jumps from the hat, the bounty hunter falls to the floor. In the words of Tony LaRussa, "Beautiful, just beautiful baseball."