Major League Baseball
National League Central Division Standings
May 5, 2008

There’s a silver lining in the dark cloud that is the 2007 post-season: Tony LaRussa is going to be the St. Louis Cardinals manager for two more years, according to the Cardinals’ official website:

Tony La Russa agreed to a two-year contract with the Cardinals on Monday and will return as the team’s manager for a 13th season. […]

In 12 years as the Cardinals’ manager, La Russa has posted 1,055 wins against 887 losses for a .543 winning percentage. He has the highest win total of any manager in franchise history. La Russa has guided the Redbirds to seven postseason appearances, two National League pennants and the 2006 World Series championship.

It will be interesting to see what new dynamics there are next year having Tony LaRussa without Walt Jocketty as general manager. Now that Tony’s on board, it’s time for the Cardinals organization to start acquiring some quality pitchers.

I heard this during the Cubs game last night, and it made me sad.

Walt Jocketty, baseball’s second-longest-tenured general manager, has parted ways with the Cardinals. Bill DeWitt Jr., the team’s principal owner, and club president Mark Lamping made the announcement at Busch Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. […]

Jocketty was hired on Oct. 14, 1994, with the charge of reviving a franchise that had not made the postseason since 1987. The Cardinals won the National League Central in 1996, and though it struggled somewhat in the ensuing three seasons, the 2000 campaign began one of the most successful periods in the team’s history.

In total, the Cardinals made seven postseason trips in 13 seasons with Jocketty as general manager, winning two National League pennants and the 2006 World Series. The club went 1,117-968 with Jocketty at the helm — a .536 winning percentage.

It’s a parting of ways because of personalities, not performance. Let’s hope they don’t lose LaRussa because of it.

This article from Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch says it all. The Cardinals’ biggest problem this year was pitching, followed by injuries. Despite it all, LaRussa made the most of it, getting to within a game of first place late in the season before things fell apart. What should be done in the off-season? As the headline says, DeWitt needs to open “DeWallet”:

[Cardinals owner Bill] DeWitt owns the sixth-highest revenue producing franchise in Major League Baseball, and he has the third-highest ticket prices in the industry. The Cardinals drew a record 3.5 million fans to Busch Stadium this season.

But his payroll ranked 11th this season, same as last year, a drop from the No. 6 ranking in 2005. There’s no justification for keeping the payroll at its current level.

He ain’t kidding about those ticket prices, either. Since the Cardinals built their new stadium, ticket prices have skyrocketed. The fans deserve to see a better team out on the field. And they certainly deserve to see better pitching than what Kip Wells was serving up this year.

I’m hopeful Jocketty and LaRussa will be back next year with another World Series contender.

Not a very impressive performance by the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Hampered by poor pitching and many injuries, they couldn’t even muster a winning season in 2007. But, on a positive note, they did end the season with a five-game winning streak, including a sweep of the Pirates.

But the Cardinals are still the best baseball team with the best fans in all of baseball, and I’m sure they’ll be back in the post-season in 2008. They always bounce back. And they’ll be ready to get World Series victory #11 next year at this time.

Looking forward to Spring Training 2008. For now, it’s on to football season.

I was fortunate enough to be given free tickets to tonight’s Cardinals game, so posting will be light. It’s an interleague game against the Kansas City Royals. Go Cards!

Tonight’s game between the Cardinals and Cubs was postponed indefinitely due to the tragic death of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock. He apparently ran into the back of a tow truck on I-64 in St. Louis about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. He was 29 and single. MSNBC has a picture of his SUV after the accident and, let’s just say, it’s easy to see why he didn’t survive. It’s shocking.

It was only five years ago that another young Cardinals pitcher died. “Pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in a Chicago hotel room in June 2002. The 33-year-old Kile died of a coronary artery blockage.”

The Peoria Chronicle congratulates the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals on winning their 10th World Series Championship. GO CARDINALS!

Picture credit: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I was 12 years old the last time the Cardinals won the World Series. I watched them lose in ’85, and again in ’87. Then the long, grueling wait through the ’90s, aka “the Atlanta years.” Then two years ago, I was convinced they were going to go all the way. 105 wins — the best in all of Major League Baseball that year — and their first trip to the World Series in 17 years. It seemed like their destiny to win. Instead, they were swept by the suddenly curse-free Boston Red Sox. To add insult to injury for me, the Red Sox were the wildcard that year, and I have hated the wildcard since it was instituted.

I got to hate the wildcard again last year. After winning 100 games — 11 more than Houston — the Cardinals had to play Houston again in the League Championship Series because Houston was the wildcard team. What a farce. So the Cardinals were denied back-to-back World Series trips thanks to a system that allows second-place teams a second-chance.

So this year was sweet revenge. They only won 83 games this season, but still won their division. They got in by the skin of their teeth, but they were just getting started. They beat San Diego. They beat New York. And tonight, they beat the Detroit Tigers. Finally, no more hearing about how the Cardinals have gone up three games to one only to lose the series — twice. No more hearing about how the Cardinals “backed into” the postseason. And to make the victory even sweeter — they beat the AL wildcard team.

No doubt there will be a lot of talk on the sports shows and ink spilled about all the Tigers errors that helped out St. Louis. Whatever. Bottom line: the Cardinals played better baseball. They made the fundamental plays. Their pitchers could field the ball better. Their fielders (except for Chris Duncan, who needs to be sent back to the single-A minors) could run in the outfield without falling down and make routine catches. Their offense got the clutch hits. And, most importantly, their pitchers shut down the Tigers bats.

Best of all, now when anyone talks about the Cardinals for the next year, I can say, “you mean the World Champion Cardinals?” Ah, music to my ears!