After watching my Cardinals play over the past two weeks, I can say that I’ve officially turned my attention to football. Good riddance baseball, see you again in 2008.
I mean, just a few days ago, the Cards were just a game out of first place in the Central. Their competition? The Brewers, who have absolutely sh*t the bed since May, and the Cubs, who have absolutely sh*t the bed since 1908.
Destiny again appeared to be on the Cards side. We’d be watching meaningful postseason baseball again this fall!
Then the Ankiel story broke. Reporters hounded the team. MLB said they wanted to “talk” to Rick. On a scale of 1 to 10, that kind of negative attention and distraction registered about 22 in the St. Louis clubhouse.
Coincidentally or not, the Cards have lost 7 straight, including a 3 game sweep by the Reds. Now 5 full games back, the Cards are pretty much done. Thank you very much, see you next year.
The return of Ankiel was one of the best storylines of the season, especially when it looked liked he would be the one to lead the Cards into the postseason. Then the storyline turned real ugly, and even diehard Card fans like myself didn’t know what to make of the guy.
But I don’t know if you can completely blame the Ankiel story for the Cards’ collapse. I mean, this was a team that played way over its head for the past month and a half, in spite of injuries, distractions, tragedies, and just sheer bad luck that would spell certain doom for other teams.
My buddy Greg lives in St. Louis and follows the Cards closely. He had some interesting thoughts on the developments of the past couple of days:
“On a more personal level, the destruction of this Cards team has finally occurred. People will point to the Ankiel story as the source, but it’s really the loss of Duncan and Rolen out of the line up. Tip of the cap to management and the players for making it this far with a depleted and old lineup, missing the ace (Carpenter), and all the off field drama (Josh Hancock’s death, LaRussa possibly leaving, Spezio to rehab, etc. etc.). That being said, I’ve that feeling you get when you’re breaking up with a girl when it comes to this team… You know you’re going to feel better once it’s over but you keep wanting to give them one more chance, so you just feel sick to your stomach.”
2008 is sure to bring a lot of changes to St. Louis, but one thing is for certain: Albert Pujols will be playing 1st base and batting third. Aside from that, I expect a lot of familiar faces will be gone (Eckstein? Rolen? Edmonds? La Russa?)
And maybe it’s time. The core of this team has had a fantastic run over the past four or five years. They were in the playoffs nearly every year, went to two World Series, and won one. It’s tough to ask for too much more, but having watched this team, you always left expecting more. That’s the price of success, I suppose.
Maybe it’s just a tad premature to offer the eulogy, but as a fan, I’m ready to turn the page – both on this season and on the team as a whole. Change has to happen for any ballclub, and it’s entirely correct to say that the Cards have done what they could to resist it. It sure has been fun though.
-Posted by Rev. Shaw Moore
