Justin's Political Corner

SAN FRANCISCO — The Cardinals’ loss in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series meant the World Series will be a matchup of division winners. It’s the Tigers against the Giants. No Wild Card teams need apply.

As much as it stung on Monday night, Cardinals veteran Lance Berkman wondered whether this was good for the game. After all, the new system introduced for 2012, with two Wild Card teams in each league playing one game for the right to advance to the Division Series, was meant in part to incentivize winning one’s division.

“Absolutely, and that’s how it should be,” Berkman said. “I think it’s an excellent move by Major League Baseball to incorporate that format, because it does put a lot of weight on winning your division.”

And, in turn, being the Wild Card is something of a handicap. The Cardinals had to burn their top regular-season starter, Kyle Lohse, in the play-in game against the Braves.

“I think it’s just a matter of having the right guys available,” Berkman said. “The Wild Card team is going to have to have good pitching depth, because you’re not going to be able to set your pitching rotation the way you will if you win your division. That could be a factor, but I don’t think it’s going to be prohibitive in keeping a Wild Card team out of the World Series.”

In the first 17 years of the Wild Card era, which began in 1995, a Wild Card team made it to the World Series nine times, including in six straight seasons from 2002-07. Five Wild Card teams have won it all, including the 2011 Cardinals.

H/T: MLB.com

CINCINNATI — The Cardinals will have another new face in the bullpen on Monday, as right-hander Trevor Rosenthal has joined the club in Milwaukee for the series opener.

MILWAUKEE — Tony La Russa called the Brewers something very close to cheaters. Nyjer Morgan called the best player in baseball “Alberta.” Zack Greinke called Chris Carpenter a phony. Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun both took baseballs in the back.

The Cardinals and Brewers did not like each other last season, and they showed it. Here they are again. Last year’s National League Championship Series combatants will open Miller Park on Friday afternoon in the first of 15 matchups in 2012.

“Oh yeah,” Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman said. “There’s no question that it’s going to continue. They don’t like us and we’re not fond of them. I’m sure that will continue.”

Brewers outfielder Corey Hart is not so sure. He notes that three of the biggest personalities involved in past tensions between the teams are gone. La Russa retired from managing and took a job in the Commissioner’s Office. Pujols signed out west with the Angels. Equally intense Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder went to Detroit.

Carpenter has not left, but he will not be a player this weekend. The Cardinals ace is on the disabled list with a nerve issue in his neck.

Later, Brewers outfielder Morgan and Carpenter took the spotlight. On Aug. 12 in St. Louis, veteran umpire Gerry Davis took the unusual step of warning Morgan to stop screaming at Carpenter from the dugout. A month later, back in St. Louis, Morgan and Carpenter and Pujols cleared the benches after Morgan struck out, Carpenter yelled an expletive toward the plate and Morgan threw a wad of chewing tobacco toward the mound. After that game, Morgan took to Twitter, chiding “Alberta” Pujols from stepping in and saying, “I hope those crying birds [enjoy] watching tha Crew in tha Playoffs!!!”

Wouldn’t you know it? They saw each other up close after the Cardinals beat the Phillies and the Brewers beat the D-backs in the National League Division Series. That set up an all-Central NLCS, which began with Greinke characterizing Carpenter’s attitude on the mound as phony and La Russa responding with his “disappointment.”

Get the picture? These clubs do not exchange holiday cards.

H/T: MLB.com

ST. LOUIS — A familiar face on the other side of the diamond, Carlos Beltrán is going to be on the Cardinals’ side.

The six-time All-Star agreed to terms on a two-year contract with St. Louis on Thursday evening, pending a physical. According to Yahoo.com, the deal is worth $25 million.

Beltrán has played for the Royals, Astros, Mets and Giants in a 14-year Major League career, finishing the 2011 season with San Francisco. He was one of the top remaining free agents left on the market and would represent one of the Cardinals’ biggest external signings in several years.

“Beltrán is a proven outfielder who obviously has been a tough opponent against the Cardinals for many years,” said Cardinals’ senior vice president John Mozeliak in a statement.  ”It is going to be nice to have his bat and competitive nature working for us instead of on the other side of the field for the next couple of years.”

The last player to sign with the Cardinals for more than two years without already being in the organization was Adam Kennedy in November of 2006. The last time St. Louis gave more than $20 million guaranteed to a free agent who was not already in the organization was the winter of 2001-2002, when it signed Tino Martinez and Jason Isringhausen.

Once Craig comes back, Beltrán would probably still play plenty of right field. But he also could get more time in center field, spelling Jon Jay against left-handed pitchers and allowing new manager Mike Matheny a great deal of flexibility in making out his lineup.

Best known in St. Louis as the victim of Adam Wainwright’s strikeout that ended the 2006 National League Championship Series, Beltrán has an extensive history with the Redbirds. He also starred in the 2004 NLCS in which the Cards edged the Astros in seven games, and faced them both as an NL player as well as in Interleague Play, when he was with Kansas City.

h/t: MLB.com

On a Monday afternoon, I had an idea for the 4th member of the Cardinals Rally Squad. We already had Torty Craig, Sir Glovington A. Wilson, and Rally Squirrel around. The newest arrival’s name was Rally Copper.

And as for selecting the name “Rally Copper,” it was named after Fox 2 Morning Anchor Angie Mock’s puppy dog, Copper. It seemed to be a perfect fit, considering that I like the Cardinals, puppies, and Mock.