I especially have to give it to the starters. Jeff Weaver, Anthony Reyes and Jeff Suppan all pitched far above what they showed all season, and Chris Carpenter returned to his mid-season form with a combined shutout. The closers also pitched far above their regular season form, especially their late season performances, when the team fell into a swoon and nearly lost their division. The position players also really played superbly, getting hits when they really needed it, and never letting up. Series MVP David Eckstein (a towering 5'7") set the pace by batting .364 and driving in 4 runs, but Scott Rolen and Yadier Molina, who had the lowest average of any regular season starter in the league at .216, also got on base repeatedly and finished with a .412 average. Albert Pujols was able to slack off a bit after carrying his teammates for much of the season (his 19 regular season homers (out of a total of 49) to put the Cardinals in the lead and win games was one of the highest totals since this stat has been recorded.)
But it wasn't only the Cardinals' great play, though; the young and unseasoned Detroit team's many errors were crucial. Luck always plays a role, and the Cardinals capitalized on almost opportunity. In fact, had Manager Tony LaRussa taken a different tack in the second game, in Detroit, the Cardinals very could have wrapped it up in 4 games instead of 5. But 5 was perfect.
The Cardinals usually have their World Series trips bunched up every 20 years, and they usually win at least one, so I'm glad they did it this year!
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
C A R D I N A L S!!!
Cardinals just seemed more poised and determined to win it all. 2006 Cardinals really are a memorable team for all they had to overcome.
ReplyDeleteCongrats John,
ReplyDeleteYou are the only person who can make me excited about baseball! I actually turned up the NPR pre-game commentary last week.
Congrats, John. I vote for you cancelling class and heading home for the parade!
ReplyDeleteBernie, Sami, Audiologo, and Reggie, thanks for congrats on the Cardinals' victory. The person who really comes out looking best with this win is LaRussa, who repeatedly failed to get to the Series with stronger teams, yet won it with the weakest Cardinals team he's ever led. He also is now third on the all-time managerial win list. I'm wondering how much longer he's going to stay in it.
ReplyDeleteI can't cancel classes because I have so much more to do than just teach; I'm an administrator these days, and believe me, there's more than enough stuff waiting to be dealt with every day of this upcoming week....