Baseball Had Quite a Month!
Best game ever? How about best month ever?
Danny Knobler, The Knobler Blog
Read more of Danny at http://danny-knobler.blogs.cbssports.com
The Yankees don’t think it was such a great month. The Phillies are sure it wasn’t a great month.
Oh, and the Red Sox? No, the last 31 days weren’t exactly pleasant for them.
But it sure was great for the rest of us, the best month of baseball most of us have seen, or will see, in our lifetimes.
If it gets better than this, I won’t complain. But I’m not planning on it.
We had the best single regular-season night ever, on the final night of the regular season, and maybe the best game ever, on the next-to-last night of the World Series.
We had so many great games that the best individual offensive performance in World Series history barely makes the list. So many that Chris Carpenter’s three-hit 1-0 shutout in a winner-take-all Game 5 wasn’t even his most important performance of the month.
This is the third year now that I’ve written a postseason recap, and it’s the first time that the best game of the month wasn’t the first game I saw. Nothing against Tigers-Twins (Game 163 in 2009) or Roy Halladay’s no-hitter (Division Series 2010), but it’s a better month when the drama builds.
This month, we saw Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, Chris Carpenter, Nelson Cruz and David Freese. We saw squirrels. We saw Na-po-li. We saw history.
We saw Game 6.
What a month.
Here’s a look back:
Best game: Some people are insisting that Game 6 of the World Series can’t be called great, because there were physical errors early and possible managerial errors late. Sorry, but that’s ridiculous. So it wasn’t the best-played game ever. Fine. It had thrills, it had drama, it had plenty to second-guess, it had great performances and gritty performances. You go ahead and say it wasn’t perfect. I’m going to say it was the best game I’ve ever seen.
Best moment: The flashbulbs going off when Albert Pujols batted in the seventh inning of Game 7 were great. Yes, it could have been his final Cardinals at-bat. But the best moment of the postseason — Pujols’ best moment — was when he called time out to allow the Miller Park crowd to honor Prince Fielder, who very, very likely was stepping to the plate for his final Brewers at-bat.
Best chant: In the end, maybe this wasn’t the Year of the Napoli, after all. But it sure was the month of the “Na!-Po!-Li!” at Rangers Ballpark. Mike Napoli became such an instant hero that I saw a Rangers fan who had altered his year-old Cliff Lee jersey, adding “Na-po” above the “Lee.”
Best crowd: It was incredibly loud all month in Texas. It was louder than ever in St. Louis for the final outs of Game 7. But everyone who was at Miller Park this month came back raving about the atmosphere and the Brewers’ fans (and everyone who was at Chase Field said there was barely any atmosphere for the Diamondbacks’ two home games).
Best player: Tough call. Freese was a revelation, and not just in the World Series. Cabrera was outstanding. So was Ryan Braun. But Pujols was the guy I’ll remember most, from his great defensive play against the Phillies to his historic three-homer game against the Rangers.
Best movie review: Moneyball took a beating every time Cardinals manager Tony La Russa took to the podium. La Russa went to see the movie the night Game 6 was rained out, and the next night he said that it “strains the credibility a little bit.” La Russa, like others, complained about the portrayal of scouts, and about the lack of mentions of Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Tim Hudson. “That club was carried by those guys that were signed, developed the old-fashioned way,” La Russa said. “That part wasn’t enjoyable, because it’s a nice story but it is not accurate enough.”
Most disappointing team: The Red Sox. The Phillies didn’t make it out of the first round. Neither did the Yankees, who then apologized to their fans for their “failure.” But Boston’s collapse was so bad that it led to the departure of the manager and general manager who broke the curse. The Red Sox will recover, but they’ll never be the same.
Best prediction: It’s well established by now that I can’t pick winners. But when the postseason began, I jokingly wrote that every series would go the distance. Turned out I was almost right, as 38 of a possible 41 games were required. Three of the four Division Series went the distance (and none were sweeps). Both League Championship Series went six games. And the World Series went seven, for the first time in nine years. Oh, and I even picked the World Series winner, Cardinals in 7, even if I did it because Rangers officials demanded that I pick against them.
Five who helped themselves: 1. Pujols. I’m not saying it makes a difference in his final free-agent price, but a great postseason reminded all of us how good he really is.
2. John Mozeliak. You think Cardinals fans will finally admit that it was a good idea to trade Colby Rasmus to help this team win now?
3. Mike Napoli. The Angels traded this guy for Vernon Wells. The Blue Jays then traded this guy for Frank Francisco. The Rangers will not be trading him.
4. Ryan Braun. MVP voting includes only the regular season, and not the postseason. But anyone who chose Braun over Matt Kemp in the National League race had to be happy to see him hit .405 with a 1.182 OPS in October.
5. David Freese. He was the best story of the month, the hometown kid who quit baseball after high school, and came back to become the World Series MVP. Now everyone knows him.
Five who hurt themselves: 1. C.J. Wilson. He’s still going to get overpaid on the free-agent market, but imagine how much he might have gotten if he’d had a good October, instead of a lousy one.
2. CC Sabathia. He’s still going to get a great new contract, too, but imagine how much he might have gotten if his postseason ERA was 1.23, instead of 6.23 (and if his waist size didn’t expand just as fast).
3. Cliff Lee. The team he left went to the World Series without him. And the team he couldn’t beat in Game 2, after his teammates gave him a 4-0 lead, went on to win the World Series.
4. Alex Rodriguez. Two years ago, he had a nice October and shed the label of postseason choker. This year, he went 2-for-18 against the Tigers and appeared on the back page of the New York Post as one of the Three Stooges (along with Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira).
5. Tony La Russa (for about 48 hours). I’m guessing Cardinals fans will now totally forgive him for the phone/noise/bullpen mess from Game 5. He’s now the guy who has won two World Series in St. Louis, to go with the one he won in Oakland. Still one of the very best managers in the game — in the history of the game, that is.
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Bernie: Cardinals win like never before
BY BERNIE MIKLASZ, Post-Dispatch Sports Columnist STLtoday.com
The St. Louis Cardinals have won the World Series with Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith. They’ve won it with speed. They’ve won with power. They’ve won it with pitching, defense and mastermind managers.
Until now, the Cardinals had never won a World Series with a team like this. A team that was lost, left behind and stranded in the standings. A team too stubborn and proud to accept the hopelessness of the situation. A team that fought back like no other has in franchise history.
A team that on Friday night completed one of the truly spectacular comebacks in major-league baseball history. With the autumn chill providing a holiday feeling, 47,399 fans saw their storied and beloved franchise win its 11th World Series championship.
Compared to the miracle rallies of Game 6, the seventh and deciding game was calm and almost clinical. In a 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, the Cardinals received a tough-minded start from their ace, Chris Carpenter. Mr. St. Louis, David Freese, lined another clutch hit, a two-run double. Allen Craig swatted a solo homer and made a catch to deny the home-run bid of Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz. The STL offense tacked on a few more runs, and the Cardinals bullpen locked the gate.
The Cardinals, for once, took it easy on our hearts. There was no crisis or emergency. Sure, there was a final comeback, just for old times’ sake. It was almost as if the Cardinals had planned it as a way to honor this glorious and most unusual 2011 season.
The Rangers punched at Carpenter for two first-inning runs, taking advantage of the big man before he could find his curveball and rhythm. But the irrepressible Freese got those two runs back in the bottom of the first.
The piercing double was a dagger to the Rangers, who had to be feeling good after seemingly recovering from the crushing loss in Game 6. But Freese made the Rangers feel bad again. He finished the postseason with a record 21 RBIs and was named World Series MVP.
Carpenter moved in for the kill, setting a franchise record for most wins (four) in a single postseason. Carpenter, 9-2 overall in his Cardinals postseason career, ran his home postseason mark to 7-0 with a 2.15 ERA. Bob Gibson would be proud of Carp.
Tony La Russa became only the ninth manager in major-league history to win at least three World Series. He joined illustrious company: Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, Connie Mack, Walter Alston, Joe Torre, Sparky Anderson, Miller Huggins and John McGraw.
Moreover, La Russa gave the St. Louis fans their second World Series title in six seasons, joining Billy Southworth (1942, 1946) as the only managers in club history to lead the Cardinals to multiple world championships.
As always, the Cardinals did it the TLR way. This team competed in a way that reflected La Russa’s forceful, unyielding personality. The Cardinals’ players won this for themselves and for each other, but they also won this World Series for their manager, who was criticized from coast to coast after a shaky performance in Game 5. These loyal players had Don Tony’s back.
When asked what La Russa brought to this championship effort, Freese said: “Everything.”
A soft manager and team would have never survived the challenges that confronted the 2011 Cardinals. The Cardinals lost ace pitcher Adam Wainwright to season-ending elbow surgery in spring training. It was a devastating blow, even before they could break a sweat in Florida. Albert Pujols started slowly, then broke a bone in his wrist.
Along the way the Cardinals were blitzed by a cruel run of injuries and had to use the disabled list 17 times. The DL residents included Pujols, Matt Holliday, Freese and Craig.
There was first-half chaos in the bullpen. La Russa left the team for a week to receive treatment for a harsh, painful case of the shingles. Pitching coach Dave Duncan took a leave of absence to be with his ailing wife, Jeanine. (By the way, Jeanine was at the ballpark on Friday night, and her presence must have meant the world to Dave.)
The adversity never ended. One body blow after another, and much of it unfair. But this tenacious team wouldn’t quit. And general manager John Mozeliak never quit on the season, making trades to repair the bullpen and patch the hole at shortstop.
Mozeliak saved 2011.
Somehow, it all came together. Once the Cardinals established balance and traction, nothing could stop them. The comeback wasn’t just amazing; it was historically profound.
“Unbelievable, amazing, incredible,” La Russa said. “It’s hard to believe it actually happened.”
The Cardinals trailed the Braves in the NL wild card race by 101/2 games with 32 games remaining on the schedule. They trailed the Braves by three games with five to play. They trailed the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 and 2-1 in the NL division series.
The Cardinals trailed the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 in the NLCS. They trailed the Rangers 3-2 in the World Series. The trailed the Rangers five times in Game 6 and won 10-9; no team in World Series history had ever come back as many times in a single game to win it. And on Friday night, the Cardinals did it again, overcoming the Rangers’ early 2-0 lead.
That’s why, of the Cardinals’ 11 World Series champions, this may be the most unusual. A case can be made that these Cardinals pulled off the greatest comeback in MLB history. There are other legitimate candidates, such as the 1914 Boston Braves, who were in last place in the AL on July 4. Or the 1978 New York Yankees, who were 14½ games out in July. And certainly the 1964 Cardinals deserve special acclaim. But no team had ever won it all after being 10½ games out of a playoff spot as late as Aug. 24.
No team, that is, until the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.
“It’s a dream come true,” Freese said. “Every step of the way has been incredible. We really had to work hard for this. We believed. We wanted it. But we stayed humble. We had to fight our way into the playoffs, but once you get in it gives you a special feeling. We just kept our heads down and worked hard.”
Nothing was given to the 2011 Cardinals. They fought for this. They earned this. They deserved this. They would not be denied. Every time they were knocked down, these hardy souls picked themselves back up. And it went this way all the way into the World Series. At times you wondered how the Cardinals managed to pull it off, to rise to battle for another day.
Facing elimination by the Rangers in Game 6, how can a group of players possibly continue to believe after being down to their last strike – the last breath – in the ninth inning, and again in the 10th? How can you win a World Series game after trailing five times in 10 innings?
“We’ve got great character, that’s why,” Carpenter said. “The personalities in our clubhouse are unbelievable. I’ll never forget them. I’ll never forget this.”
A grateful and happily stunned Cardinal Nation seconds that emotion.
