Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it. I think the Reds clearly showed that the pennant race ate them alive down the stretch. They rallied in September after being written-off. Since Casey seemed to perform so well on the big stage, I'm wondering if he could have made a difference this year. I was all for getting him off the payroll, but I wonder anyway.Originally Posted by dman
The smartest move the Cards made was signing Weaver and we all know what YOU would of said had the Reds made that move. Heck, look at what YOU were saying about the move when the Cards made it:
Now compare that statement to the following:I was the first to admit that Lohse will get a brief "boost" from the NL scene change, but that's sure as hell not going to last. Even Jeff Weaver made one good start for the Cards.
What does the last sentence mean, especially when considering the next one?I don't know, but he's going to get the W in the deciding game of the WS.
I hope Wayne's watching and watching well. ...
I'll say this for Wayne: he wisely stayed away from the prancing fecal matter that is Jeff Weaver.
Wise choice.FCB, your some good bagging on players who you THINK stink. But then as soon as they turn it around you use them as ammo against our GM. Earlier this year you were mocking the Cardinals:In the plus column, however, Jeff "I Am the Slime" Weaver goes for the Chickens.
Here is some more great analysis:How's that Jeff Weaver deal workin' out?
Your not the knowitall you think you are. Maybe today, after Jeff Weaver LEADS the Cardianals to the World Series would be a good day to start realizing that.If there's a pitcher in baseball who is done, it is Jeff Weaver.
I underestimated Dave Duncan. I'll learn never to do that again in the future. That's for sure.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
If only Wayne had followed FCB's advice and signed Jeff Weaver.
Of course FCB waits until after the World Series to give said advice.
Why would the Reds get Weaver? It's not as though they have a coach that can keep him on track. Undoubtedly he'd turn back into a pumpkin with the Reds.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
The same pumpkin you claimed he was all year?
Your the one who said you hoped Wayne was watching, in reference to Weaver.
Nah. He played well in the playoffs, but he went .272/.336/.388 in the regular season, not good at all.
I just turned off ther TV after the 5th pitcher error in 5 games allowed St. Louis to go on top. It was like the pitching staff decided the cards weren't getting enough runs off hits so they decided to sabotague the game other ways.
Josh Hancock gets a ring
So do a bunch of other guys...
A crowning moment for La Russa
October 28, 2006
BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
ST. LOUIS -- They're renaming the main highway into Detroit. I-75 now will be known as E-1, which means you'd better duck when passing Comerica Park. But don't let the slapstick futility of the Tigers -- so unworthy of the World Series that the White Sox could have fared better in their offseason boxer shorts -- obscure why the St. Louis Cardinals won a World Series that the Cubs ponder only in seances and Lou Piniella's dreams.
You know who we're talking about, the shadowy, stone-cold figure who wears dark glasses at night. Seems they won't be calling him Tony La Loser anymore, not that the insult ever was fair or made sense. Maybe his arrogance is irritating and he still comes off as a practicing lawyer in a warmup jacket, but is there any doubt now that Tony La Russa is a manager for his time and all time? Bet you didn't know he has more victories than any skipper alive, and on Friday night at new Busch Stadium, the Cardinals won the championship that validates his legacy and chases away any lingering dunces.
What were those wicked things they said about the man? Too tense in October, thinks himself into a ballpark pretzel, squanders talent, about a decade past his prime? That his record in World Series games coming in was 5-12, with two ugly sweeps? That Kirk Gibson beat him with one leg and Piniella clobbered him with an ordinary Cincinnati team? Well, few managers have ruled a postseason the way La Russa's strategized his way through the last few weeks, somehow bathing in bubbly with a team that won only 83 regular-season games -- lowest ever by a Series champ -- and stumbled into the month like a red-clad drunk leaving Al Hrabosky's bar.
There was La Russa, amid the confetti and fireworks, his face brighter then we've ever seen it. He found his wife, Elaine, and locked her in a long embrace, then looked soberly into the Detroit dugout and tipped his cap to the Tigers and his good friend, manager Jim Leyland. The fans, who waited two dozen years for another such party but never thought it would happen this year, watched in numb joy. Where were the detractors? Will they ever be heard from again?
''I'm doing a good job holding it together because I'm just bursting inside,'' La Russa said on the field. ''This was about total team. I don't think anybody in this uniform didn't do something in the postseason. The team that wins the world championship is the team that plays the best. There ain't no bad win, and there definitely ain't no bad World Series.''
Cards beat the odds
He looked at his players, knowing the injuries the ballclub overcame. ''There were times during the year we had doubts,'' La Russa said. ''But nobody ever lost the desire to play Cardinals baseball. We found a way.''
They did more than that. ''We shocked the world,'' Jim Edmonds said.
''We battled. No one believed in us, and we battled to the end,'' said Series MVP David Eckstein, whose name was mispronounced as ''Eck-steen'' by Bud Selig.
Who knew the commissioner lived in Detroit? Again, the Cardinals got much help from the bumbling Tigers, whose pitching staff became the first commit a throwing error in every Series game and confirmed the olde English ''D'' stands for something other than Detroit. I'm taking suggestions, but Dopey works. Ever see a group more unpolished, less capable of making a simple toss to a bag? Justin Verlander joined the E-1 club in Game 5, blowing a lead with a fourth-inning throwing error and sitting down beside Joel Zumaya, Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney in infamy. This followed a reckless throw by third baseman Brandon Inge, who resembled Brooks Robinson in making a diving stab, then returned to life as Brandon Inge as the ball zinged past overworked first baseman Sean Casey. Know how bad the Tigers were, in making eight errors and batting .205 for the Series?
They made you beg for another John Mellencamp commercial. ''I just hope people don't forget how far these players have come,'' said Leyland, who erred himself in not starting Kenny Rogers instead of the jittery Verlander. ''It all starts with the manager. I didn't have my club prepared to play.''
That said, try to remember this as the triumph of La Russa. The Cardinals were smart and efficient enough to take advantage of the miscues, just as they were well-prepared and mentally sound throughout a postseason in which they were left for dead before it started. All you need to know is that Albert Pujols, the sport's most feared hitter, was fairly quiet and didn't make nearly as much impact as 5-7 Eckstein. Every time there was a horrible throw or a slip in the grass, the Cardinals capitalized. They weren't just witnesses to a meltdown. La Russa managed the hell out of his roster.
''Tony has done a remarkable job of putting guys in the right place at the right time to be successful,'' general manager Walt Jocketty said.
Pujols, now holding the trophy that Barry Bonds never has touched, said the La Russa knocks always were wrong. ''I think everybody points the finger at him. We are the one that make the big money,'' he said. ''It seems like every time something happens to the team, everybody point out to Tony La Russa.''
La Russa joins an elite club
His critics have found him unassailable the entire postseason. La Russa stayed one move ahead of the opponents in two National League series, had the guts to bench an unhappy Scott Rolen before returning him to the lineup with great results and worked marvels with his starting pitchers -- such as mercurial Jeff Weaver in the clincher. His every move turned to gold, like Ozzie Guillen last year, and he joins Sparky Anderson as the only managers to win a World Series in both leagues. I'd be remiss not to say the victory comes 12 months after his friend Jerry Reinsdorf won it all ... and 20 years after his former boss, the ever-shrewd Hawk Harrelson, fired him as Sox manager.
Perhaps we'll remember him most for winning the Rogers head-game war. Only six nights ago, we wondered why La Russa wasn't more aggressive in ordering a dress-down of Rogers, which could have led to a possible suspension if pine tar was on his hand. But though he later doubted Rogers' story that the substance was dirt, La Russa played it cool. ''A lot of people thought I should have gone to the mound,'' he said. ''But when the competition is over, you want to have no regrets.''
He knew.
Never doubt him again.
The 2006 Cardinals only won 83 games in the regular season, but they are less of a fluke World Champion IMO than some previous World Series winners, including probably all four of the wild card teams that have won the World Series in the last 10 years. The Cardinals are not one season wonders. The core of the Cardinals--Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen, Carpenter, Suppan, and of course LaRussa and Dave Duncan--were part of St. Louis teams that also won the NL Central in 2004 and 2005 with 105 and 100 win seasons.
The 2004 Cardinals may have been the best team in baseball over the course of the full season, but came up short in the World Series. The 2006 Cardinals certainly were not baseball's best team during the regular season, but so what? The best team in the regular season doesn't always win it all in the postseason.
The Cardinals winning the Series could be the best outcome as far as the Reds are concerned, if St. Louis becomes a fat and self-satified team in 2007.
"Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."
I will always doubt La Russa. He caught lightening in a bottle, jumped the Grand Canyon on an armadillo and ate oysters in a month that doesn't contain an 'r'. But I still doubt his 'genius'.Never doubt him again.
Now, having read this 'head-up-the-butt-article', I will always doubt Jay Marriotti as well.
Rem
Both teams backed into the playoffs and unfortunately there had to be a winner.
I'm just mad that the World Series was really dull. Who cares about WHO won it.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
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