Skip to main content

Cardinals Remind Everyone What is Possible

On August 25 the St. Louis Cardinals were coming off a 3 game losing streak as they had won just 3 of their last 10 sports betting matchups and were given up for dead in the National League wild card playoff race, as they were over 10 games behind the Atlanta Braves who seemed to be cruising along towards the post season. But St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa is as tough as they come and never gives up on a single pitch. LaRussa is relentless and his team reflected his character as they still came to play every single day and amazingly enough got back into the playoff race in September with a phenomenal run that coincided with the collapse of the Braves. The Cardinals went 23-9 down the stretch to steal the wild card spot from the Braves, who just died at their home of Turner Field with a chance to clinch the playoffs there against Philadelphia. At the end of the day this was a great lesson on how the marathon baseball season is truly “not over until it’s over.”

The Cardinals certainly showed signs of being a team that could pull of such a feat as they ranked 5th best in Major League Baseball for run production and 12th for staff earned run average. St. Louis was equally tough at home or on the road as they won 45 games as a host and racked up 45 more wins away from Busch Stadium.

Another major factor in the Cardinals advantage was their veteran presence on the roster with such stars as Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Yadier Molina, and Matt Holliday. The veteran lineup gave St. Louis the toughness and perspective of a long season and the guts to take on the number one seed Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series and pull off a stunning 3-2 upset. Another tough veteran, starting pitcher Chris Carpenter, went “old school” with a complete game win to clinch the series at Philly for a huge sports betting upset.

The Cardinals' toughness and determination proved to be the difference in a 4-2 series win over the talented but soft and sloppy Milwaukee Brewers for the National League pennant.

In the World Series, the Cardinals simply refused to die, as they kept coming back against the Texas Rangers including a game 6 for the ages when they were down to their last strike and twice rallied in the late innings to take the series to a 7th game, which they won going away.

With toughness, resilience, determination, and retro attitude the Cardinals proved to be an inspiring champion.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Drabek Preparing For Next Step

The transition has been easy for Kyle Drabek. In December, he was part of a package of young prospects that was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace pitcher Roy Halladay. Now, as though nothing has changed, he's right back where he was last season...the star prospect on the pitching staff of a team in the Double A Eastern League. Drabek has often stated that he wanted to stay in the Philadelphia organization, who drafted him in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft. The 22-year-old thought after the midseason trade rumors, that surrounded him possibly going to Toronto last year, passed with no action that all the turmoil was over and that he could simply relax and focus on getting to the big leagues with the Phillies. That wasn't the case, as the deal eventually came to fruition over the off-season. In the Blue Jays system this season, Drabek doesn't have to worry about being dealt. He only has to concern himself with opposing batters and working on his secondary pit...