After a full day of travel, I arrived in St. Louis last night, eagerly awaiting Games 3-4-and 5 of the World Series.

The terminal at the airport had a huge balloon arch of red and white balloons with silver Cardinal balloons at the top. it was pretty cool. Fans wearing Cards garb walked under the arch for good luck.

To me, this is the point of the Series when everything gets really interesting.
We’ll be seeing Joe Kelly and Lance Lynn pitching games 3 and 4 for the Cardinals and Jake Peavy and Clay Buchholz going for the Red Sox.

In those matches, the Cardinals are hoping to get to Peavy early because he hasn’t had success recently in bigger games.

The bullpens will be crucial, of course. Consider that the Cards can throw Carlos Martinez (age 22) with his 98 mph fastball and 82 mph slider and then Trevor Rosenthal (age 23) back-to-back in the 8th and 9th innings. Yikes!

Not to be outdone, the Red Sox can bring in the amazing Koji Uehara (age 38) for the 8th and 9th inning if they wish. He throws a darting fastball at 89 and a jaw dropping spit finger that has guys swinging at air.

The Red Sox will try to put pitches on the arms of the starters. They may swing and miss, but they’ll try to increase pitch counts.

Cards Allen Craig may be taking infield practice, but there is little chance he’ll be playing in the field. The team does not want to risk further injury to his foot. But he’ll be able to pinch hit or be the designated hitter if the Series returns to Boston.

Every city should have a landmark, iconic symbol. I can see the arch from my hotel. It’s really cool. When I think of St. Louis, I think of the Cardinals and the arch. When I think of New York I think of the Statue of Liberty. When I think of my home town Phoenix, I think of my swimming pool in the hot weather. Not to knock Phoenix, it’s a great place to live. But-that’s my landmark. My pool-my iconic symbol.

For tonight’s game, the Cardinals will wear their alternate home jersey. Look for it to say “St. Louis” on the front and not “Cardinals.”

Also look for Daniel Nava to play left field instead of Johnny Gomes tonight for the Red Sox. Why? Left field at Busch Stadium. Much more ground to cover.

Red Sox 3B Xander Boegarts has amazing patience at the plate. He doesn’t get himself out swinging at pitches he can’t hit. He looks like a five year veteran.

There were 900 members of the media in Boston.

The Red Sox will be playing each of the next three games without one of their hottest hitters. Either David Ortiz or Mike Napoli will be on the bench due to not having the designated hitter in the National League. I think I’d have Ortiz at 1B every game. That’s how hot he is.

The Red Sox flew to St. Louis Friday instead of Thursday night. Got that extra night of rest at home.

Historically, the team that has won Game 3 has gone on to win the World Series 55 of 80 times. So, I guess tonight’s important.

Hope you’ll read my player profile every day of the Series at MLB.com. Just look for my mug under Voices and click.

I’ll be writing a daily blog during the Series. I will also tweet all game long provided the wireless doesn’t go down. You can find me @BerniePleskoff. And bring your friends.

That’s it, I’m done.