Well, the Cardinals season is over for 2008, and they didn’t make it into the post-season. This year, in my opinion, it all came down to pitching. Their pitching — especially the bullpen — was their Achilles heel. The Cardinals’ website sums it up well:
The back end of the bullpen never fully recovered after Jason Isringhausen lost his effectiveness and got hurt. Carpenter made only three starts before he got hurt again, and Wainwright was down for more than 2 1/2 months, so while the rotation was deep and solid, it didn’t have the front-end punch that was hoped for. And the offense bogged down frequently over the final two months as Ankiel, Glaus and Molina dealt with injuries.
It was encouraging to see them end the season strongly with a six-game winning streak. Hopefully they will pick up in 2009 where they left off the end of this year and continue that winning streak, and go all the way to the World Series again. A few key acquisitions in the bullpen would go a long way to making that a reality.
Related note: I’m mothballing the MLB Standings widget in my sidebar until next season.
It’s too bad the Cardinals ownership wasn’t in favor of trying to get some pitching help at the trade deadline (or before). The Cardinals could have made a serious run if they had.
I think LaRussa again proved he is one of the best, if not the best managers in the league. I think most other managers wouldn’t have done nearly as well with the talent level the Cards had this year.
(This all from a Cub fan, by the way.)