A eulogy for the mostly competitive 2007-2011 Cardinals
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:36 pm
Looking at the shell of my team, I feel like I'm at a funeral, so the only thing to do is give it a proper burial and that'll require a eulogy. Can you tell I'm an unemployed college graduate with too much time on my hands?
While the 2004 and 2005 Cards won the NL Wild Card, those teams overall weren't very good, good enough to push Nils to 5 games in the NLDS each year, but not threats to win it all so I'm not including them in this era. The real golden era of the IBC Cardinals was 2007-2009.
Going into 2007 I thought I was the team to beat. I had good pitching and such a deep lineup that Pat Burrell was on the bench most of the year. A couple of in season trades for Jeremy Sowers (remember when he was supposed to be good?) and John Lackey (remember when he was good?), tag teamed with Roy Oswalt and Jon Garland still living off his great 2005 season, propelled me to 110 wins despite having a rash of injuries. I lucked out in that every guy I grabbed off the free agent list, be it Matt Kata, Julio Franco, Brian Horwitz, all hit well for me. All those guys started in the playoffs. I swept the NLDS and won the NLCS and WS in 5 and had my first title. Boy was I happy.
The 2008 season was, IMO, my finest job. I had to mix and match platoons in multiple positions all year, threw guys in the rotation out of necessity that wound up anchoring it. Yusmeiro Petit led my staff with 12 wins. Oswalt was 2nd on the team in wins and he was traded in June. I had no bullpen, but still managed 47 saves by the skin of my teeth. Won Game 163 with Brandon that is the last time I ever erupted with pure joy over the outcome of a sporting event, managed to upset Dan and somehow beat Nate, then went 7 with Pat after being down 3-0 but couldn't pull it off. I still think if that series were h2h I'd have won it, but then again I might've been swept.
In 2009 I missed the Wild Card by 3 games cause Ken lost something like, 3 games the entire month of July. In 2010 I had a rash of pitching injuries and never contended. I retooled my roster and built it for the specific purpose of gunning for the wild card in 2011. Then Adam Wainwright went down for the year the first week of spring training. I should've seen the writing on the wall, but couldn't overcome the loss of my best player. I held my own for a couple of months, then sunk lower and lower and knew I had to do something, so I blew it up and rebuilt.
I'd like to thank all the players that helped me win these years, guys like Frankie Francisco that were around before 2007. The guys that are going to hold this team together with bubble gum and paper clips the next couple of years while the kids mature like Seth Smith, Adam Wainwright and the now untradeable Jon Garland who's been here since 2003 I believe.
Godspeed Cardinals teams of the past. JP and Ken, we'll see your guys teams in hell
While the 2004 and 2005 Cards won the NL Wild Card, those teams overall weren't very good, good enough to push Nils to 5 games in the NLDS each year, but not threats to win it all so I'm not including them in this era. The real golden era of the IBC Cardinals was 2007-2009.
Going into 2007 I thought I was the team to beat. I had good pitching and such a deep lineup that Pat Burrell was on the bench most of the year. A couple of in season trades for Jeremy Sowers (remember when he was supposed to be good?) and John Lackey (remember when he was good?), tag teamed with Roy Oswalt and Jon Garland still living off his great 2005 season, propelled me to 110 wins despite having a rash of injuries. I lucked out in that every guy I grabbed off the free agent list, be it Matt Kata, Julio Franco, Brian Horwitz, all hit well for me. All those guys started in the playoffs. I swept the NLDS and won the NLCS and WS in 5 and had my first title. Boy was I happy.
The 2008 season was, IMO, my finest job. I had to mix and match platoons in multiple positions all year, threw guys in the rotation out of necessity that wound up anchoring it. Yusmeiro Petit led my staff with 12 wins. Oswalt was 2nd on the team in wins and he was traded in June. I had no bullpen, but still managed 47 saves by the skin of my teeth. Won Game 163 with Brandon that is the last time I ever erupted with pure joy over the outcome of a sporting event, managed to upset Dan and somehow beat Nate, then went 7 with Pat after being down 3-0 but couldn't pull it off. I still think if that series were h2h I'd have won it, but then again I might've been swept.
In 2009 I missed the Wild Card by 3 games cause Ken lost something like, 3 games the entire month of July. In 2010 I had a rash of pitching injuries and never contended. I retooled my roster and built it for the specific purpose of gunning for the wild card in 2011. Then Adam Wainwright went down for the year the first week of spring training. I should've seen the writing on the wall, but couldn't overcome the loss of my best player. I held my own for a couple of months, then sunk lower and lower and knew I had to do something, so I blew it up and rebuilt.
I'd like to thank all the players that helped me win these years, guys like Frankie Francisco that were around before 2007. The guys that are going to hold this team together with bubble gum and paper clips the next couple of years while the kids mature like Seth Smith, Adam Wainwright and the now untradeable Jon Garland who's been here since 2003 I believe.
Godspeed Cardinals teams of the past. JP and Ken, we'll see your guys teams in hell