Bloops: #11 In ’11 For The Cardinals!
Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 28, 2011
Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals for winning the 2011 World Series.
On September 24th, per CoolStandings.com, the Cards had a 6.8% chance of just making the post-season. Just over a month later, they were the kings of baseball.
The story of the '11 Cardinals should go down in baseball history as one of the best comeback stories of all-time, no?
October 28th, 2011 at 11:36 pm
And, that one Cards fan with his Vegas bet is massively better off now.
Man ...
October 28th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Actually '06 was better; they won with the lowest winning % of any teams, and I don't think the record will break.
Neftali Feliz should go back to wherever he came from, in my opinion. BK Kim eventually left the Major Leagues after a mediocre career following '01; Feliz should follow his way.
October 28th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Agreed. If Hollywood had made a movie like this (complete with the whole David Freese/hometown hero angle), I wouldn't have believed it. I would've laughed and said "Yeah, like that would ever really happen. Nice story tho."
October 28th, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Some people might find it amazing that I don't insult umpires in my last few posts, especially when there were some controversial strike calls in this game, but IMHO Rangers were not going to score after the first so it had no bearing on the game. Since there were no gaffe as I had first expected, I have no reason to criticize them at this occasion.
October 29th, 2011 at 12:14 am
Really? Feliz was roy last year so he's talented enough. He probably will start next year cuz he's got electric stuff.
October 29th, 2011 at 12:16 am
Somebody on ESPN's chat is claiming Motte was pulling a Kenny Rogers 2006 with his hat.
October 29th, 2011 at 12:28 am
5) BK was also a bid decent on the next year after his blowout, but quickly faded after that.
If Feliz gets any redemptiion, it will be with another team, like Lidge.
--
Given that it took Giants 8 years to get over from what happened on 2002, I think Rangers will win it all on 2019. However I don't think any of today's loster will be there on that series.
October 29th, 2011 at 12:30 am
Sorry about misspellings. My fingers slip quite often today...
October 29th, 2011 at 12:57 am
@#1 YEAHHHHH...make it 2 fans!!!
October 29th, 2011 at 1:12 am
Anyone else notice the Cards had the worst regular season record among those teams that made the playoffs?
October 29th, 2011 at 1:38 am
@2
What the heck is that based on? One postseason blown save after 6 straight converted? One not quite as good year after winning RoY? "Feliz should go back where he came from" is something I wouldn't say to anyone, and that tone I would reserve for someone who beats his wife or something.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:00 am
I think we should start having conversations about Lance Berkman being in the Hall of Fame. If there was a knock on him it's that he never played much in the post season. Well now he has a ring to add to his non-steroid resume. He is the premier switch hitter in baseball.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:23 am
"Anyone else notice the Cards had the worst regular season record among those teams that made the playoffs?"
I think you need to put less emphasis on the first part and more on the second part. They MADE THE PLAYOFFS. Heck, that's what playoffs are FOR.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:25 am
11) He failed when it counted the most,
If it were the 19th century he would have to take his chance with justice, Texas style.
Lidge never recovered what he did with Astros when he stayed in Houstonl only when he went to the Phillies he was able to redeem himself.
IMHO the best way for both of them would be trade him, so neither will have much to do with each other.
I don't think the 2010 Giant squad included anyone who were there on 2002.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:40 am
@14 Yes, because 1 blown save in a huge situation equals a lousy career. I mean, look at Mo Rivera. Nothing but downhill since 2001.
October 29th, 2011 at 3:08 am
15) Mo already had 1 WS MVP and 3 years of unparalleled success behind him. Neftali has neither, and nobody knows when the Rangers will be back in the world series; it might be much longer than anyone might think.
And, yes, Mo was crappy on the Game 4 of 2004 ALCS. He didn't become dominant in the postseason until 2009. It took him ... eight years to prove himself again in the world series.
October 29th, 2011 at 3:09 am
I was watching Tony LaRussa close tonight and I knew he was smart, but I swear his CPU was working so hard there was smoke coming out of his ears. LaRussa does it his way, a truly great manager and baseball mind.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:32 am
@16: From 2002-2007 (the time when Mariano "wasn't dominant" in the postseason) he threw 38.1 postseason innings, allowing 3 runs (all earned), 20 H and 4 BB. Those numbers equate to a 0.626 WHIP and 0.70 ERA. That seems pretty dominant to me.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:51 am
Cabriael wins dumbest poster award
Feliz "blew" the save cause Cruz apparently never learned how to catch a baseball. And in reference to this gem:
"Actually '06 was better; they won with the lowest winning % of any teams, and I don't think the record will break."
Let's hope not. What an absolute embarrassment for baseball that was. Pathetic division allowed them to be in the postseason (not unlike this year really.) Let's face it, the Cards got to this point cause they got to play the Cubs and Astros 18 times each which the Braves did not get the luxury of doing. (And I hate the Braves)
October 29th, 2011 at 5:07 am
@19
I agree wholeheartedly... Cabriael gets the LVP - the Least Valuable Poster award for some of his comments.
You are not going to get a lot of mileage by attacking Mariano Rivera's post season pitching record.
Or by constantly criticizing the umpires (it gets old)
Or by making personal attacks against players not born in the United States
October 29th, 2011 at 9:29 am
I think when LaRussa looks back at his managing career (if he retires), he'll say this was his best managing effort. Never have been much of a LaRussa fan, but this was a terrific team effort.
October 29th, 2011 at 9:42 am
If we're talking about comebacks, the Cards did a superb job this year; but it still looks to me like the '14 Braves take the "Number One" spot on the comeback list.
October 29th, 2011 at 11:41 am
1914 Miracle Braves.
1969 Miracle Mets
2011 Miracle Cardinals.
The Cards are well worthy of making the club of Miracle World Series Champions a 3 team club.
# 22-- I rate the 1969 Mets ahead. Then the Miracle Braves, then the 2011 Cards. But NO SHAME in being 3rd on that list!
October 29th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
@ 21
You're kidding right? Cardinals won IN SPITE of Tony. They win this in six or maybe even five without him. He basically blew Game 2 and Game 5 single handedly.
October 29th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Also I don't get why the 1969 team is called the Miracle Mets. They won 100 games.
October 29th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
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October 29th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
@25
In their first 7 seasons the Mets finished last 5 times and next to last 2 times , never winning more than 73 games. It appeared to Met fans that it would be years and years until they made it to the WS, if ever. In 1969 they made such a complete reversal it was considered a miracle.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
@23 I gotta disagree with anybody that puts the 69 Mets over the 14 Braves, its gotta be because of "recent memory" that anybody does, they started 26-40, lost to a SEMI PRO team in an exhibition game over July 4th weekend, then flipped it and went 70-19 over the last 89, from worst to first when there were no divisions, they had to jump 7 teams, then they swept one of the great teams of alltime in the WS, thats awesome, its over all of them. I agree this years Cards is in this group though, it was pretty amazing, I hate the Cards but it was tough not to root for them, also happy to see Berkman get a ring, and @12 yeah I think its gonna take a while but hes a HOFer.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
By the way, when talking about Miracle seasons nobody ever mentions the 06' Tigers, yeah they lost the Series, but come on three years remove from a 119 loss season, that was a miracle year. They're my pick for 2012.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Rich #25}
Yes, they won 100 in '69...but before that, the closest they ever came to a championship was a "torrid" ninth place finish the year before. The onteam the Mets had ever finished ahead of before 1969 were their co-expansion entry, the Houston Astros.
October 29th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
@19
The Cardinals went 22-13 against the NL East this year.
October 29th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Gee, I guess everyone forgot about the 2010 Giants already.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
@25.
The '69 Mets were a miracle because:
- they finished 38-11 to reel in the front-running and favored Cubs
- they did it with minimal changes from the 1968 team that finished 9th.
Wayne Garrett at 3rd instead of Ed Charles was only regular position player to change from '68. Even their top subs (Shamsky and Weis) were the same, with Donn Clendennon's mid-season acquisition being the one significant bench change.
The only changes in their staring rotation were in the back end (Gentry instead of Selma and Ryan). Seaver, Koosman, Cardwell and McAndrew started 106 games in '68 and 109 games in '69.
Probably the biggest change was in the bullpen, with Tug McGraw, Nolan Ryan and Jack DiLaurio being a definite upgrade from Al Jackson, Danny Frisella and Bill Short.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
@30 Frank, the Mets finished ahead of the Cubs in 1966.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Good column here from the NY Daily News, about how baseball's expansion has a lot of 4A, as in AAAA, players in the major leagues.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/texas-rangers-st-louis-cardinals-world-series-a-field-screams-article-1.968688
Of course, Bud ain't listening.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
@25 Rich, contemporary accounts of the Miracle Mets do acknowledge that they were a very good team, and won 100 games. And everyone, since the year before, had expected that they were going to get better. But at the time, there was no real controversy over the "miracle" appellation. I don't know if they would be declared a "miracle" now but you never know--what would you say if the Nationals won a hundred games next year?
October 29th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
@33
On Aug. 13 with 49 games to go the Mets were in third place, 10 games behind the Cubs and one game behind the Cards.
October 29th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Would Berkman have got your vote for MVP? I know he was one-upped by Freese in the sixth game (having done in the tenth pretty much what Freese had done the inning before), but that's just one game.
Napoli would also have been a good choice. I didn't know until post game that he is only the third man to drive in ten runs in a series.
October 29th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I guess why I don't get it is this happens a lot. 1991 Braves and Twins were in last place the previous season. 2008 Rays hadn't had a winning season and made it to the World Series.
And overtaking the CUBS for anything shouldn't count for much 😉
October 29th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
@37 The earliest I can remember of their being referred to as "miraculous", was when they beat the Cubs by scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning off Fergie Jenkins...on July 7th, and then got a near-perfect one hitter from Tom Seaver the next night...expectations for the Mets from year to year were pretty low...
October 29th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
@39 I contend that as of 1969 "this" had NOT happened "a lot". It had happened almost never.
A lot of distant memories of the 1914 Braves were brought up as a counterpoint...no one else could cite anything even remotely similar. I should note that Bill James maintains that the 1961 Reds were a "miracle" as much as the Mets were.
October 29th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
@39: Same thing in NFL. Last year was first time in a long time both Super Bowl teams made it back to the playoffs the next year. Colts & Saints. If I remember right they both lost in the wild card round. Also if I remember right it was
11 or 12 out of 20 Super Bowl teams from 2000-2009 that failed to make the playoffs the following year.
Of course the NFL & NBA pay even less than MLB for a Championship. At least you can make the Major League minimum for winning a World Series.
October 29th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
@35: Good article but how can you have a thin talent base with only 240 everyday starters & players coming in from Japan, Mexico, Dominican Republic & South America to name a few places.
October 29th, 2011 at 11:48 pm
If the 1973 Mets (82-79, next-to-last in scoring) had won the World Series (they led Oakland 3-2 and had Seaver starting game 6), would that be considered the biggest surprise WS win ever?
October 30th, 2011 at 12:20 am
@43 ... I think the author is perhaps pining for the "good old days" a bit much. Our population is double what it was in 1950, while MLB teams are also double.
Many commentators bemoan that black athletes today play football or basketball, not baseball. Counterfact: They were just coming in to MLB in 1950, and no Caribbean or Asian talent was in MLB at that time.
And, pre-1950, the ratio of teams to population was worse then than today, so there was MORE talent dilution pre-WWII than now.
On the other hand, I think it is true, what he says, about decline in fundamentals. OTOH, that's not just baseball, it's other sports, too. At the same time, I think he overstates that to a degree.
October 30th, 2011 at 1:39 am
Regarding the Cardinals and their strength of schedule, etc.
Including the postseason:
The Cardinals SOS against was .507 and they finished 22 games over .500. The Red Sox finished with a SOS @ .505 in the regular season, for comparison.
Vs. teams over .500, the Cardinals were 41-34, with wining records vs. the NL East and the American League
Over their last 50 games, the Cards were 34-16 (.680) with 31 of those games vs. the Phillies, Brewers, Rangers, and Braves. Total domination of very good teams.
Since the late July bullpen makeover and Furcal trade, the Cards are 17 games over .500.
Without 17 DL trips (many of them long-term trips and/or to the team's best players: Freese, Craig, Holliday, Pujols, and of course Wianwright), the Cards win close to 100 games easily.
October 30th, 2011 at 8:18 am
MLB TV did a coy follow up to the World Series just last night--presenting several classic Cardinals WS highlight reels.
Regardless of what you think of the quality of the current Cardinals, it was fun to be reminded that these guys have been periodically throwing big market boys on the block a beating for three generations.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:58 am
lastest dvd release...
[...]Bloops: #11 In ’11 For The Cardinals! » Baseball-Reference Blog » Blog Archive[...]...
November 7th, 2011 at 4:06 am
Einsamer Weg durch die Reißeckgruppe...
Ein jäher Wettersturz hatte die mehrwöchige Schönwetterperiode beendet, und just in diesen Wetterumschwung hinein waren wir mit unserer seit Iangem geplanten Bergfahrt in die Reißeckgruppe......