Everybody tells me I missed Tim McCarver's prime, back in the 1980s with the Mets.

But I was around in the late '90s, and at that point I found McCarver insufferable.

He's somehow become less insufferable since then, which is both refreshing and surprising because people generally get more of whatever they are, and certainly not less. But I think McCarver has.

Sometimes he's also really, really, really smart.

Like at the very beginning of tonight's Game 1.

Ian Kinsler led off for the Rangers. McCarver noticed that Cardinals third baseman David Freese was playing fairly close, and said this after Chris Carpenter's first pitch:

McCarver: Hey, David Freese is expecting a bunt from Ian Kinsler, playing him very shallow, in front of the bag. Ian Kinsler, a very good pull hitter. He does not hit a lot of balls to right field.

Carpenter's third pitch:

Would you believe it? Yeah. Kinsler took a crazy swing and drove a hot grounder right past Freese, who (as everyone has been told many times) is not a good defender.

(Fortunately for Freese (and the Cardinals), Kinsler was erased a moment later on a busted hit-and-run.)

McCarver might not be so prescient again at any point in this World Series. But he's off to a great start.