Cardinals Diaspora - A St. Louis Cardinals blog
That's acutally an understatement. The Weather is looking like complete crap on WED.
If cancelled, the games slide back to THU then (if needed) FRI. Both days look to be playable at this point, so that's nice. But then again, maybe it will be all clear by the 7p CST, so who knows.
Below is an interactive radar you can play with if that's your thing. I can't tell what the hell it's saying.
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Maybe it's the anticipated 'Great World Series Storm' of 2011 that has people selling.
Perhaps it's fear that AT&T will be tinkering with the Busch Stadium bullpen phones.
Could be that seeing the 'real' Cardinals of 2011 the past couple of nights has scared us straight.
Whatever the reason, World Series tickets are dropping today after the Arlington Hatchet Job on Monday. You can browse the tickets for yourself in this handy little portal that our friends at TiqIQ made for us: LINK HERE
We'll keep you posted if you can just buy these tickets for nothing. But right now, it looks like there is some serious value in the market.no comments
There are losses.
Then there are LOSSES.
The St. Louis Cardinals LOST game 5 of the World Series. They took game 5, put it on a serving platter, walked it over to Ron Washington in the Texas dugout and threw it in his lap. A big steaming pile of win. All over Arlington.
You don't need Bill James to break this one down, friends. The Cardinals left 7 runners on base in scoring position. Inning after inning a different Cardinal would come to bat with a chance to drop the hammer and salt this game away. Inning after inning, the Cardinals whiffed, popped up, grounded out and cooked up some tasty LOBster.
It was brutal. It was unrelenting.
By the bottom of the 8th rolled around, I think you knew what was coming. A lead-off double started a rally that scored 2 runs and started closing the coffin top.
Pause.
I just stared at the computer screen for 5 minutes trying to think of some bit of analysis that seemed even mildly insightful. I came up with absolutely nothing. Some games you can pick at for hours and wonder what if this or what if that. Then there are games like this where it comes down to putting good wood on a ball when it matters.
The Cardinals came up limp. Now they limp home down 3-2 in the series and needing a miracle -- good starts from Garcia & Lohse -- in back to back nights to win 11 in 11. Perhaps it's this sites nature to doubt this team, but even in St. Louis, that's more than a tall order. That's a damn pipe dream.
Unlike in 2004 when the Red Sox forced the medicine down the Cardinals throats and made them like it, this World Series feels like it should be over.
It isn't, though. It's probably headed for a Game 7 and another chance to take years off our collective lives.
This team.
STUD: Bar Napoli. Nailed Craig twice at second. 2 RBIs. Just killing the Cardinals this series and the leader for MVP.
DUD: Albert Pujols. Couldn't make contact on two hit-n-runs and left Craig out to dry. Doesn't seem to be able to focus when Washington lets him bat the past two games.
BOTTOM LINE: Hmmm, the Cardinals have to win game 6 or it's over? Yep. I think that's the bottom line.
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Wait, what?
You mean Game 4 actually started? I wish someone would have told the Cardinals. Probably could have saved all of us 3 or so hours.
Most of the country is probably scratching their heads about how a team can come out and tag a team for two touchdowns one night and then hit the ball out of the infield, literally, less that 5 times. But those of us that have watched what's closing in on nearly 200 games in 2011, we can tell you that this is probably the most representative game of what the Cardinals are in 2011: winning or feckless.
Edwin Jackson gave the team pretty much what they needed. 5 1/3 with a few too many walks, but in the ball game. He left 2 runners on base when Mitchell Boggs came in and surrendered the death blow in one lone pitch. The Rangers went up 4 and, as it turns out, didn't need any of those runs because the Cardinals had apparently forgot it takes 4 wins, not 2 to clinch a championship.
Derek Holland went 8 1/3 innings and pitched a dominant game. So we'd be remiss if we didn't tip our cap to the Texas starter. But other than that, what the hell do you say?
The Cardinals didn't look to play inspired baseball. Didn't do much to try and generate opportunities. Quite frankly, didn't look much like they gave a shit about what was going on in general.
So here we are 2-2 and down to a best of 3 series for the championship of baseball. Busch Stadium will see at least one more game this season.
The advantage of winning game 3 is that a bed wetting in game 4 isn't as dire as it would have been had the Cardinals lost Saturday.
I'd say the best thing to do is forget about this whole game as quickly as possible.
In fact, I already have.
STUD: Derek Holland. Huge effort in a must win game for Texas. A night after he watched his teammates get tagged for 16 runs. Big time.
DUD: Jon Jay. Took the collar. AGAIN. Dude is down to .157 for the postseson and can't seem to hit the ball out of the infield. It's time to look for a change.
BOTTOM LINE: The Cardinals and Rangers are looking for a Game 5 win to shift all the momentum in this series. Chances are the winner of Monday's game will be the Champion of baseball.
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Game 5 of the 2006 World Series I was at Mike Shannon’s Outfield Bar. 
When Adam Wainright closed out the tenth championship in St. Louis Cardinals history, I remember the entire bar being like a coiled snake… waiting until the exact right moment to explode. When that final pitched happened, it was a huge release of energy. I dropped my phone amongst the masses. I had to crawl around amongst a couple thousand people to get it back. I think my eye got popped out of socket somehow.
I’ll never forget it.
There are always going to be those games. The ones where time only makes them better. Where the crowd doubles in size. Where the drinks were twice as strong. It’s the great thing about sports; you really don’ t know where the next legendary thing is going to happen. You might suffer through 100 something suck-ass games, but that 101th is going to be something you never forget.
Game 3 of the 2011 World Series is going to be one of those game. 4+ hours of baseball that produced a historic game from one Mr. Jose Alberto Pujols. 14 total bases. 3 home runs. 6 RBI’s. 5 hits. The dude broke so many records that the only ones that were comparable were named Jackson. And Ruth.
Not bad company.
I happen to be in Denver for my real job. And while watching the game with 50 or so Cardinal fans in a bar isn’t comparable to being in STL, I can tell you unequivocally that this not will not be forgotten.
Ever.
It’s a legendary performance, by a legendary player. The kind of game where you sit back and tell everyone what you were doing the WS game where Pujols hit 3 HRs and even though you don’t really care… you kind of actually do want to hear.
The Cardinals are up 2 games to 1 in the World Series.
That’s the good news.
But the bigger story is that you just got done watching a game that you’ll never forget. Good or bad, happy or sad, Game 3 of the 2011 World Series is going to stick with you for a long time. It’s the reason that sports is so compelling- you really don’t know when greatness will strike.
Albert Pujols not only added to his legend tonight. He gave us a memory we’ll never forget.
Beautiful.
no commentsOur boy Albert is taking a beating in the press today for skipping out on a presser after Game 2 of the World Series.
So when Wheaties
reached out to Cards Diaspora to let people know they're going to donate up to 10K to the Albert Pujols Family Foundation, we figure we'd better post something to brighten up El Hombre's day, right?From Wheaties:
Go Cardinals! With the World Series tied 1-1, Wheaties FUEL is asking fans nationwide to support Wheaties FUEL-athlete Albert Pujols on and off the field. Starting today, fans can help power Pujols by tweeting support using #FuelPujols or by posting a message supporting Pujols: LINK HERE
For each original tweet or post, Wheaties FUEL will donate $1 to the Pujols Family Foundation, up to $10,000.
So there you have it. Send a Tweet out. Go to the FB page. Get 'Bert to that 10k. And just for being cool, Wheaties is going to send us two prize packs to give away. The first two comments in our comment section on this post will get 'em.
On to game 3.
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Tony LaRussa turns out to be right more often than many of us care to admit. 
Last night, Jason Motte blew a save. We are all painfully aware of this. But before the actual damage was done, Tony LaRussa came out to the mound and for only one of the few handful of times I can remember, he didn’t signal for a pitching change right away (to go leftie/leftie with Arthur Rhodes). He had a conversation on the mound and then took the ball from Motte.
What was said in that 20 seconds we’ll never know.
What wasn’t said in that 20 seconds, I think we do know.
Motte had the rare opportunity to send TLR back to the dugout and finish what he started. TLR was looking for some sort of indication that Motte was confident that he knew he needed to overcome some bad defense and deal strikeouts. TLR wanted Motte to order him off the mound and do it convincingly.
It didn’t happen. And the pitching change was made. Motte is filling the role of closer, but he isn’t THE CLOSER.
The World Series is now tied at a game apiece. A beautiful outing by Jamie Garcia was wasted. Another clutch hit from Allen Craig against Alexi Ogando is for naught. And the match-up heads back to Texas with home field advantage in the Rangers back pocket.
I’m not going to lie- this one hurts.
Worse, there isn’t much to second guess. You can probably argue that a semi-botched cut-off by Pujols was the big difference. Or missed sacrifice bunts from the Cardinals were what caused a loss. You wouldn’t be wrong. But in 2-1 games, every little thing matters and the Rangers just happened to execute the little things better than the Cardinals. I wouldn’t say the Cardinals played a ‘bad’ game by any stretch… just not a good enough game.
Sucks.
And so does that play by Elvis Andrus. Technically, it doesn’t suck at all, but holy hell, can’t that play be saved for some other series?
STUD: Craig. For those that don’t watch AL baseball all that much, Ogando is a stud. To come off the bench twice with clutch hits is pretty much not going to happen against this guy. To do it in the World Series? Unfathomable.
DUD: Cardinals Big Bats. Pujols, Holliday and Berkman didn’t do Garcia any favors with a limp 0-every time up.
BOTTOM LINE: This series wasn’t expected to be easy, but this one stings. Let’s hope we’re not looking back in a week remembering this as the turning point.
More Reaction:
- McKernan @ InsideSTL: LINK HERE
- Passan @ Yahoo! Sports: LINK HERE
- Bernie @ STLToday: LINK HERE
- DanUpBaby @ VEB: LINK HERE
Motherf@#$er butthead fartface DAMMIT. (This blog post is now rated MA and not safe for children.)
That one hurt.
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