artie_fufkin wrote:

Speechless ...

I think that sums it up. I walked into this game thinking that there's no possible way Texas can lose game 6 like they did, and turn it around the next day for game 7, but you never know. I want to say thank you to the best, most knowledgable, ownery sons of bitches that a guy could hope to talk to for the honest truth about the team he loves. This board makes the 162 game grind a lot easier to get through.

And now, with that said, we can finally agree with the experts on one thing.

The Cardinals season is fucking over, we're done! They won't be coming back to the ballpark to play again tomorrow. As a result of their play, their season has now ended.

AND IT ENDED WITH A FUCKING RING BITCHES!!!! SUCK MY ASS ESPN!!!!!!!!

Dear Cardinals Fan,

 

Please join the St. Louis Cardinals as we celebrate our 11th World Series Championship! The World Series Championship Celebration, presented by Budweiser, is the culmination of the World Championship Parade, and will be held inside Busch Stadium on Sunday, October 30th. Gates will open at 2:00 P.M.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, October 29th at 2:00 PM. Cardinals fans can purchase up to two (2) tickets to the celebration for just $5 per ticket. 100% of ticket sale proceeds benefit Cardinals Care, the Cardinals community fund. To purchase your tickets, simply click the "Buy Tickets" button below.

What  ?  We won ?

Webstergrovesalum wrote:

Max wrote:

It's been a very satisfying year talking Cardinal baseball with you gentlemen, and Web.

You too Max!  What more could we ask for?!

Naked chicks?

Don't know about you, Web, but there are few things in life so good that they can't be improved by naked chicks.

artie_fufkin wrote:

It probably needs to be pointed out how professionally the Rangers conducted themselves in the World Series. That's a very good team that deserves to win a championship. If they face a National League team other than the Cardinals next season, I'm going to be rooting for them.

and i'm not on board with all the ron washington dissing.  that was a fine, well managed, team, and we just barely beat them.

Oh yeah, Chris Carpenter.

Can we go ahead and have a statue of him placed outside St. Louis already? I admit that I didn't like the idea of Carpenter going. The first inning went exactly as I feared, and as I said, he had over 260 innings on his arm. There's no way he should have been as effective as he was. Carpenter out-dueled Halladay, gutted it out against Milwaukee then won twice in the World Series. What an amazing run it was for him.

During the offseason the front office is going to have to try and see past winning the world series.  Do guys like Rhodes, Dotel, Furcal, Skip and Theriot get contract because they were part of a good team or do you see faults in those guy and move on?  They will have to be objective and look past this awesome ride.

windwalker wrote:

BTW, sort of lost in all of that last night was Lance Lynn's filthy 8th inning. He got lit up in Game 6 and came right back and blew three guys away. I was very impressed, he looked like he was out to prove something, and he did. Looking forward to a big role for him next season.

yeah.  something that was very impressive was the young bullpen pitchers' ability to walk into high pressure situations unfazed, throw strikes, usually succeed but when they didn't bounce right back the next day.  scrabble comes to mind, and i remember salas giving up some run in . . . game 5 maybe, and coming right back.  and all the talk that motte's hook in game whatever (2?) would break his self-confidence didn't last very long.

Motte, Lynn, Zep, Salas . . . and we haven't even gotten Sanchez back on the roster.  That's a filthy bullpen that can pitch 4-5 innings every night.

alz wrote:

windwalker wrote:

APRTW wrote:

Do guys like Rhodes, Dotel, Furcal, Skip and Theriot get contract because they were part of a good team or do you see faults in those guy and move on?

No,Yes,Yes,Yes,NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I like Theriot at 2B, but not at SS.

but i like punto better, and he's cheaper i think.

tkihshbt wrote:

Wow, these last 64 days just can't be explained. I don't think we're ever going to see something like this again, so I'm glad we savored it. That was just an unbelievable ride. Really, how many times can a team be punched in the gut, fall down and get back up again for more?

Go back to how awful you felt after August 24, when the Cardinals completed a stretch where they inexplicably lost six of eight against the Pirates, Cubs and Dodgers.

Go back to Sept. 12 when the Cardinals were in Pittsburgh and needed a sweep, only to watch a poor start from Lohse and a stumble from the bullpen blow it. It felt hopeless.

Go back to Sept. 22 when the game was seemingly in hand. It was 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth against the Mets. Motte was on the mound to close it out. Somehow, the Cardinals lost.

One night later, they lost 5-1 to the Cubs.

Then, go back to Sept. 27. Westbrook is on the mound against the 106-loss Astros. He gets tagged by the Astros Double A squad. Berkman ties the game off Wesley Wright, but Octavio Dotel can't field his position and the Cardinals fail to draw even in the wild card standings.

And of course, the big loss to Halladay in Game One of the LDS, the missed opportunities in Game Three, the meltdown in Game One of the LCS and the frustrations of Games 4-5 of the World Series. All those losses should have added up to kill them. And it didn't. I have no idea how they survived. This was a team with ONE reliable starter, and he was 36 with over 260 innings on a twice-repaired elbow. The lineup was looking gassed. They still made too many errors. They still hit into too many double plays.

Yet the sons of bitches won. Imagine how frustrating it is to be a fan of the Phillies or Brewers right now. They had superior rotations and superb bullpens. They had balance in their lineups. They combined to 198 games between the two of them, yet they are sitting at home.

It's just improbable. Everything that's happened over the last eight weeks shouldn't have happened. I'm still in shock four hours later.

Can we add to this list being down, 4-0, to Cliff Lee in Game 2 of the LDS?

windwalker wrote:

APRTW wrote:

Do guys like Rhodes, Dotel, Furcal, Skip and Theriot get contract because they were part of a good team or do you see faults in those guy and move on?

No,Yes,Yes,Yes,NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ditto.
There's the Craig conundrum they're going to have to deal with.
Of course, if Albert leaves, it makes it easy, but in any event they've got to find a way to get that guy 500 at bats.

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

windwalker wrote:

BTW, sort of lost in all of that last night was Lance Lynn's filthy 8th inning. He got lit up in Game 6 and came right back and blew three guys away. I was very impressed, he looked like he was out to prove something, and he did. Looking forward to a big role for him next season.

The way he was dealing, I wanted him out there for the ninth.
But there was no way the Rangers were getting four runs, as long as Motte threw strikes. I missed the first two innings because of Zach's football game, but in the last seven I saw a very defeated team in that Texas dugout.

Texas came out ready to play and jumped on Carpenter early. Fortunately they shot themselves in the foot when Kinsler got picked off first by Yadi. Otherwise, it might have been 3 or 4 to nothing before we ever sent a batter to the plate.

The dagger in the heart was Freese's double to tie it in the first. Texas had blown two run leads in the 9th and 10th of Game 6 and to immediately take a two run lead only to see it evaporate again was too much for them to take. They looked like a team that believed no matter what they did, the Cardinals would have an answer. They weren't just beaten, they were broken.

I think the key to last nights game was taking what was given.  This team has done a great job of that all year.  They dont start throwing at bats away when they are down in an effort to hit HRs.  They battle and take walks.  In the 5th Craig gets it going with a walk.  Most people wouldnt expect a young power hitter to draw a walk in that situation.  Pujols gets hit by a pitch.  They put Freese on and Molina gets a RBI walk.  Then Furcal gets an RBI by getting hit.  You could say it was all luck or the home crowd putting pressure on.  Molina did get some calls to go his way in his walk.  However there is something to be said for letting a team beat themselfs and not bailing pitchers out by rolling over on a bad pitch.