Alright, I get it. It's a story book season. In March, they lost their ace pitcher and 2010 Cy Young runner up for the season. On August 25 they were 10.5 games out of the wild card spot, and they fought all the way back to clinch the playoff birth on the last day of the regular season. Thursday night they were one strike away from losing the World Series, two innings in a row. All the odds were against the 'poor Cardinals'. Now, the St. Louis Cardinals are World Series Champions. Again. Whoopie Frickin Doo.
No I don't have a good reason for not liking the Cardinals, I just don't. I'm tired of Tony LaRussa, I have no respect for Albert Pujols after turning down a lucrative offer from St. Louis because he wants to be the first 300 million dollar player, and I'm still ticked at Mark McGwire for trying to run over Pat Borders in the 1992 ALCS. The fact that they won is completely Boo Sucky!
Ok, I'm off my soap box. I will put my big boy pants on, and be an adult now.
It really was a storybook season for the Cardinals. In March they received the devastating news that their staff ace Adam Wainwright would require Tommy John surgery, and was out for the season. On August 25 they were 10.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the National League wild card spot, and put up a remarkable 23 and 8 record the rest of the way to pass Atlanta on the last day of the regular season and squeak into the playoffs. Only to meet their next hurdle in the first round. The Philadelphia Phillies and their major league best 102-60 win loss record.
The Cards dropped two of the first three to Philly, and found themselves on the brink of elimination when hometown boy David Freese put up a four RBI performance to help lead them to victory in game 4. Then, I sincerely hope that if you only saw one game these entire playoffs before the world series, that it was game 5 of the NLDS between the Cardinals and Phillies. Roy Halladay versus Chris Carpenter for the first time in their careers. Carpenter was nothing short of amazing. Halladay was good, don't get me wrong. He allowed six hits, and struck out seven over eight innings of work. However he had a tough first inning in which he gave up a lead off triple to Rafeal Furcal, and then a double to the next batter, Skip Schumaker. That one run would prove to be the difference in the game. Carpenter couldn't miss. He kept pounding the lower half of the strike zone inducing ground ball after ground ball after ground ball. He went on to throw a complete game shutout, giving up only 3 hits, and striking out 3, and walking no one. As a fan of good pitching, this game was a real treat to watch.
The Cardinal's next opponents were the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers. I didn't watch a lot of this series. I was rooting for the Brew Crew, and I was disappointed that Shaun Marcum had such a rough post season. I did watch his starts. Well, for as long as he was in them. The Cards finished them off in 6 games, and it wasn't really close. One of the Cards wins was a one run game. In the other three Cardinals victories, the combined score was 31 - 10. This series very likely marked the last time you will see Prince Fielder in a Brewers jersey. Next year he'll be in Chicago. But we'll get to that later.
Then came the Rangers. A team that I had the pleasure of seeing in their home park this year. I like the rangers. They have a great line up top to bottom, and they are a fun team to watch. They had two 11th inning home runs against the Tigers in the ALCS, and I really thought that they were going to bring the World Series home this year. They left Texas with a 3-2 series lead...... Then came game six. In a game in which the first six innings it seemed like nobody wanted to win, the last five innings proved that neither team wanted to lose. With a two run lead in the bottom of the ninth, on came Feliz. Series over right?? So we all thought. Two outs, two strikes, two RBI's, game continues. On to the tenth inning. Two outs, two strikes, rbi from NL come back player of the year Lance Berkman, game continues. On to the eleventh inning. Bottom of the eleventh hometown hero David Freese hits a solo shot and forces game seven. Texas becomes the first team to be one strike away from a world series championship twice in the same game... and lose.
Up until game seven, I had watched all of the world series thus far. I watched game seven as well. Right up until Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch with two strikes against him, and then they loaded the bases and walked in two runs. That was when for the interest of my health I turned the game off.
I hear St. Louis won, and David Freese won the MVP. I kind of suspect they may build him a statue in St. Louis.
