The Dodgers deserved to win the National League Division Series. They simply played better baseball than the Cardinals. They had better pitching, clutch hitting, and much better fielding. These were all things that the Cardinals had about a month ago; I wonder where that team went? After the Cardinals clinched the Central Division title, they just fell apart for some reason and never recovered.

When I found out they would be playing the Dodgers in the NLDS, I was pretty hopeful because, historically, the Cardinals have done very well against the Dodgers. They certainly did well against them in the regular season this year — much better than the Rockies or the Phillies. But surprisingly, it was to the Dodgers that they fell in three straight games.

I’ll forever have nightmares of Holliday missing what should have been the game-ending fly ball in Game 2. A close second to that nightmare is LaRussa putting Rick Ankiel up to bat as a pinch hitter for the final out in Games 1 and 3. Both times, it took just three straight pitches to strike him out. Good call, Tony.

There were a lot of bad plays and missed opportunities, which is too bad, because they really did play well in the regular season, up until the last couple of weeks. Now it’ll be up to the 2010 Cardinals to bring the World Series trophy back to St. Louis. April will be here before we know it.