The celebration has become a fall ritual for the St. Louis Cardinals. Not after an emotionally draining season in which they somehow powered themselves to a third straight NL Central title, the clincher coming in an 11-1 dispatching of Pittsburgh in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday night that served as an exclamation point on a year unlike any other. ''Tell me another team that is going to lose their ace and their three-hole hitter and is going to win 100 games?'' third baseman Matt Carpenter said, his eyes dripping with celebratory booze. More...