The 2011 Cardinals Coaster pt. 2

Richard Lam/AP

The Cardinals were riding high. They were doing flips and turns with chants of "happy flight" and "do it for Torty." The champagne and beer was flowing, spraying, and soaking deep. They had battled daily for a playoff spot for a month straight. Every moment built up tension and pressure that was released along with the champagne on that Wednesday night.

The team was full of a joy and elation as if they had just won it all. That may might not be far from the truth. They had won against doubt, won against fear, and won against the odds.

Though, now the odds were once again against the Cardinals. Their Wild Card title earned them the right to play the NL East Champ, Philadelphia Phillies, whom many considered the best team in baseball.

Of course, that same team had lost to the Cardinals in 6 out of 9 meetings during the regular season. So, why should the Phillies be favored in a best of 5 series? Well, that tells you how good they are right there. The Cardinals were one of the hottest teams heading into October and they had Phillies number during the season, but it's hard to count out the Phillies.

They've got one of the best starting rotations in baseball history and a dynamite offense. They could shut-down and blowup any opponent. They showed some of what they could do in Game 1 of the NLDS.

Aside from one mistake in the first that surrendered a three-run shot from Lance Berkman, Roy Halladay allowed only 3 hits over 8 innings. He finished the game with a streak of 21 straight batters retired. The offense lifted him to a victory with 11 runs to give him and the Phils an 11-6 victory in Game 1.

The first four games became a back and forth match between the two teams. Games 1 & 3 went to the Phillies, and Games 2 & 4 went to the Cardinals. In that game four one of the more bizarre happenings in a postseason occurred.  What happened spurred t-shirts, signs, and even a second mascot for the Cardinals, the Rally Squirrel.

In the fifth inning, Roy Oswalt delivered ball to Cardinal second baseman Skip Schumaker. As he did so a squirrel darted right in front of home plate. The critter immediately high-tailed it to the stands nearby. A squirrel had also been found on the field the day before, but this time it decided to be right in the middle of the action.

The Cards were leading at that point in the ball game, and would eventually win it. However, that one event joined another member to the ever growing St. Louis Cardinal Animal Kingdom. In the previous months, the pet tortoise, Torty, of Cardinal Allen Craig began to have a following in the clubhouse. Torty would later have his own Twitter account, which now has a following of more than 21,000.

At the rate the Cardinals are going, they may have to open a petting zoo in the vacant lot outside Busch Stadium.

In the end, however, no critters would overshadow what would happen in Game 5. It was touted as one of the best postseason matchups, Carpenter versus Halladay. Two Cy Young award winners would compete in the deciding Game 5 of the NLDS.

As both friends and former teammates, the two aces would provide a nail-biter for postseason lore. Halladay was tagged for a triple and a double in the first that scored one run, just one. That would prove to be the only difference for the night.

Halladay gave up 6 hits, Carpenter gave up 3. Halladay had 7 K's, Carpenter had 3. Halladay allowed one run to score, Carpenter allowed none.

Every throw, every swing threatened to change the complexion of an entire season. Through it all, Carpenter was the better pitcher that night and the Cardinals took advantage of it. That will make for a fun conversation on the old fishing boat with his friend Halladay in the offseason.

Matt Slocum/AP

Of course, fans won't forget their favorite critter making an appearance in Philly as well.

So, one might think that after eliminating the best team in baseball that things would get easier for the Cardinals. Not really. Now they had to face the second best team in baseball, and it was a team that they knew all too well.

The Cards had split the season-series against the Milwaukee Brewers but were left behind in the standings as the Brewers finished the year 6 games ahead of the Cards.

The season had also revealed a lot of angst between the two teams, particularly from Nyjer Morgan, a.k.a Tony Plush.

However, despite the tempers of the regular season, the October air did well to cool it off in the postseason. The series was uneventful from an altercation standpoint, but the games were anything but.

A very familiar walk to all of Cardinal Nation in the Postseason.
Matt Slocum/AP

The Cardinals averaged over 7 runs per game, due in large part to 12 run contests twice in the series. What was the real story of the NLCS? Tony LaRussa.

Well, that's not entirely true, he was half of the equation. His bullpen was the other half. The bullpen had done a fantastic job in the series against the Phillies, and they would need to work their magic again for Tony with the starters faltering.

Jason Motte, the Cardinal closer that is not the closer, only allowed one hit in the 2011 postseason by the end of the series against Milwaukee, but that one hit came against the Phillies.

It became a strange but regular dance for the Cardinals. The starters would last three innings, LaRussa would make all the right moves, and the bullpen would shut down the opposition. The combination of bullpen and managerial genius would be a huge part of the Cardinals' success. Some wished that the MVP for the series could be given to the bullpen. That sentiment was shared by the one who would be voted the NLCS MVP, David Freese.

Of course, he had given his share of big time hits that helped to give the team the leads that the bullpen held. He had been the clutch player for the series, and the nation was getting their first tastes of the budding star.

Freese hit .545 in the series with 3 home runs and nine RBIs. Only Lou Gehrig had similar numbers in the postseason, when, in 1928, he hit .545 with 4 home runs and nine RBIs against the Cardinals.

With the Brewers behind them and the MVP sorted out, it was onward to the Big Stage. The Cardinals would face off against the Texas Rangers, who were making their second consecutive World Series appearance.

The strangest part of the series was the similarities of both teams. They were nearly identical matches. The greatest similarity was how the bullpen had carried the teams to this point, and ironically this would change for both teams.

Neither bullpen was lights out in the World Series. Both struggled to find the same rhythm they had earlier in the post season.

US Presswire

In at least one game, however, the bullpen of the Cardinals was able to take a backseat and watch the show. That show centered around Albert Pujols and the offense. Albert decided to have one of the greatest offensive games of his career in Game 3 of the World Series.

Pujols had 3 home runs, 5 hits, and 6 RBIs which tied the postseason record for each. He also set a new record for the most total bases in a game with 14. He joined pretty good company that night with his three home runs, one of which was a moon shot off the second deck. Only Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth had hit three home runs in a single post season game before Pujols. Ruth did it twice against the Cardinals in the 1920s.

The historic nature of that night would only be matched by what happened in Game 6, or at least the end of it. The majority of the game was full of miscues and errors and succeeded to pent up the frustration of Cardinals fans. Some completely gave up hope and called it a night, some might periodically check back in with little hope for the end, but if you missed the last three innings then you missed something special.

Going into the 9th, the Cards had managed to scratch back up to within striking distance of the Rangers at 7-5. The Rangers put in their closer Neftali Feliz to win the World Series for them, but the Cardinals would give in. Pujols hit a one-out double to left-center and was followed by a Lance Berkman walk. Allen Craig, the hero with a solo shot in the previous inning, struck out looking. So, it came down to David Freese.

Freese had already shown that he was clutch in the NLCS, but could he do it again? Freese would find himself down to two strikes against Feliz. This was it. Two strikes, two outs, the Cards seemed finished, but Freese cracked a triple over the glove of right fielder Nelson Cruz to tie the game.

The Cards had new life, but the Rangers were hungry for the win and Josh Hamilton wanted to contribute. In what could have been a Hollywood moment for the Rangers, Hamilton launched a two-run shot in the top of the 10th that seemed to almost seal the deal for Texas.

When the Cards took to the plate in the bottom of the 10th, they decide to manufacture runs after two singles and a bunt. However, once again they would be down to their last strike, and this time it was Lance Berkman that drove in the tying run on the brink.

Jeff Curry/US Presswire

After a quick top of the 11th, it was time for the Cardinals to capitalize, and it didn't take long. The first batter was the October hero, David Freese. He wasted no time in rewarding the 47,000 strong at Busch Stadium with a 428ft shot to straight away center field to send the series to Game 7. Only minutes after dropping an easy pop fly, David Freese had more than redeemed himself.

To Cardinal Nation, the Red Birds seemed invincible. They had made one of the greatest comebacks in postseason history, no team had won after being down to their last strike twice. Of course, that confidence had been with the team further back than just the postseason. Without confidence in their abilities, no team could do what the Cardinals had done to that point. Now they just had to seal the deal.

The Cards were prepared to do it. With an extra day due to postponing the original Game 6, the Cards could put their ace on the mound one more time. He delivered just as advertised. He didn't need another nail-biter like in Philadelphia, but he was more than enough.

Carpenter gave the Cardinals 6 strong innings, the offense scored more than enough, some good defense was mixed in, and the bullpen closed it out. A full team effort clinched the St. Louis Cardinals' 11th World Series, second only to the Yankees in the majors.

The improbable never let up for the Cardinals, and neither did they. Perseverance and confidence defined the team in which few had faith. They capped one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history, and turned the 2011 season into one hell of a ride.

A nice montage of the Cardinals improbable 2011 World Series run.

The 2011 Cardinal Coaster pt.1

©2007 Eric Giesz

For a Cardinal fan, the last week has been a roller coaster of emotion that might have given some a case of whiplash. Oh wait, the last two months have been that way.

Of course, if this were a real roller coaster, we'd have looked at the beginning of the ride and demanded a refund. There might have been some small ebbs and flows to start, but about halfway through it seemed to slowly decline with little hope for going back upward.

NBC Sports

Backing away from the metaphor for a moment, everyone knows the major blow the Cardinals received before the first Spring Training game. Losing one of your pocket aces, Adam Wainwright, before the first hand would dishearten any team. The Cardinals, however, pressed on putting the best they had on the table.

Of course, they had to mix and match with their pitchers and hope the end result could at least be satisfactory. Let's face it, the first half of the season was full of experiments and hope. Kyle McClellan had never started a Major League game before 2011. He made the most sense to start, within the organization, but it was still a long shot.

Then there was the signing of Lance Berkman. At 35 years of age, Berkman had come off his worst season since he began his career. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Berkman's batting average, home run total, and RBI totals from 2010 were only better than his numbers in his first year back in 1999.

Granted, he did switch leagues during the season, not just teams, but age was certainly on everyone's mind as well.

However, health remained the biggest factor of the St. Louis season. After Wainwright was out, Fans couldn't have imagined things getting much worse. Unfortunately, they did. Matt Holliday missed a ton of games because of anything from an appendectomy to a wrist injury and even missed the end of a game because a moth flew into his ear. Yikes. He missed 38 games during the regular season, and I don't think most of those were because he just needed a break.

The Cards got few breaks for themselves. On June 19th, against the Royals, all of Cardinal Nation made one unified gasp as they saw their star go to the ground in pain on collision at 1st base. If anyone was going to carry their team through the tough times, it was going to be Albert Pujols. Now, it seemed like all hope would fade away when news came that he would miss 4-6 weeks.

Everyone knows that Pujols is super-human, but no one thought he could recover as quickly as he did. After the minimum 15 days on the disabled list, Albert was back on the field to put the St. Louis Cardinals on his massive back once again, even amongst the multitude of injuries that continued to plague the Cardinals.

Some fans couldn't believe
what the bullpen was doing.

One thing Pujols couldn't carry on his back, though, was the Cardinal's bullpen. The bullpen struggled in the beginning with blown save after blown save by Ryan Franklin, and on June 29th the Cardinals decided they had had enough. They cut Franklin from the roster altogether to make room for newcomers. Franklin lost the closer role early after a slew of blown saves, and he finished with an 8.46 ERA in 2011.

So, the ride was falling downward and maybe even beginning to spiral a little bit. Many fans had lost or were losing hope for the season. That's something especially rare for a fan base that is rarely out of contention and has such a rich history of winning. However, the trading deadline proved to be new life for the Cardinals. By July 31st, the Cards had sured up their bullpen with Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, Edwin Jackson, and later claiming Arthur Rhodes.

Things were finally starting to fall into place, or were they? The Cardinals only won 15 of their 28 games in August. Be that as it may, an important date fell during that month, August 25th. That date in the regular season will be remembered as the beginning of one of the greatest runs in baseball history.

The Cardinals were 10 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card, and with the Brewers continuing to roll it looked liked the Cardinal coaster was about to turn toward the end. However, on August 25th the cars went into another gear along the track. The Cards went on to win 23 of their last 32 games from that date on. Including a huge series against the Braves that they swept.

The 1969 Mets found winning ways.

The improbable was becoming more possible with each passing day. However, the goal was still in the distance and still a long shot. Hope was beginning to rise, but skeptics still held the majority. Only the 1969 Mets came back from that kind of deficit. The Mets were 9 1/2 games back of the Cubs in August. They won 39 of their last 50 to win the NL East division by 8 games.

The 2011 Cardinals won 31 of their final 50 games, but they couldn't blow past their competition. Every game leading into the final week grew heavier and heavier with importance. The Cards were inching closer and closer. The work of nearly seven months was coming down to the wire.

In fact, it almost came down to a 163rd game playoff against the Braves, but the Philadelphia Phillies would help bring the Cards to the post season by defeating the Braves in an extra inning affair.

The practically impossible had happened. The Cardinals had crawled up from hopelessness to hopefulness. They now had their sights set on a showdown with the Phillies. They were going to play the team that helped them into the playoffs. The team regarded by many as "the best team in baseball."

Tony La Russa knew what lied ahead, and he was ready...