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OK, I PROMISE I'll get to con stuff shortly, just, this stuff is really on my mind now, and I need to let it out I guess.
OK, so Mulder got shelled and we lost, while both the Cubs and Brewers won. It sucks, but as long as we stay close and win our head to head games with those teams, we still can win this thing.
TBH, it's really not that surprising that Mulder got hammered. The guy hasn't started a major league game while healthy in almost 2 full seasons. Besides, every start he and Maroth make is a start that we DON'T have to see 2-13 Anthony Reyes or 6-16 Kip Wells screw us over.
Hell, Wells has managed something that is HARD to do. He's managed to turn the St. Louis fan's against him. When you suck bad enough, or in some cases, are enough of an ass to turn baseball's most forgiving and loving fan base against you, you deserve some kind of award.
In retrospect, I'm just glad we managed to get close enough to even be in a race. How many teams could survive what this one has and even be 500? Few if any.
Every position starter, except Pujols, has been on the DL at least once this season. Heck, most of the reserves and starting rotation have been too.
We've had exactly ONE starter (Wainwright) stay healthy and pitch decently the entire season. We're without our Ace, our Second Baseman, our Right Handed Platoon Left Fielder, our primary set up guy, and our Third Baseman for the rest of the season. We're using cast off's by some of baseball's WORST teams, and our starting Rotation currently consists of 4 guys who were relief pitchers last year, or earlier this year, and one guy who has been on the DL for over a year.
Our super sub from last season is on the restricted list, apparently for alcohol or drug (or both related) issues, and is unlikely to return.
That's to say nothing of our poor Right Fielder, who may have permanently lost sight in one of his eyes after that freak accident last week.
In virtually any other year, that would be the season's great tragedy, but not this year, of course, it's not.
Some things happen in life, and you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when you found out about them. The death of Josh Hancock falls into that category.
Rachel and I were in Collinsville at the Drury Inn reserving a second room for Archon, since we (supposedly) had 7-9 people attending at that point, and that was too many for one room. We had been at my mom's the day before, and were on our way to see Kevin. Swinging by Collinsville was only like 15 minutes out of the way, so why not?
I remember getting in the car, hopping on the interstate, and turning the radio on to KMOX to hear Sports on a Sunday Morning. It was the top of the hour at just that moment, so what I heard was the CBS Radio news instead. The very first words, literally, the very first ones, were "Josh Hancock is dead." I remember the eerie pause, during which my mind frantically searched to find what "other" Josh Hancock he could be talking about. After all, it couldn't be the Cardinal Pitcher right? Only it was. For the second time in five years, a Cardinal player was dead.
I remember how dazed I felt over the news. I can only imagine how the players must have felt, especially as it became apparent in the coming days that alcohol played a role in his fatal crash.
I'm not going to go into great detail about my feelings over the coming days here. I've already dealt with those issues. Rather, I'm trying to illustrate a point.
The level of injury crap and tragedy that this team has gone through this year has been tremendous. Can anyone point out a case where any other team in recent history has had to deal with so much adversity and was STILL able to play through it at such a level?
This group of players will always have a special place in my heart, even if they don't make the post season. What a truly special group of players this is.
Also, big, BIG kudos go out to Jockety for continually finding those players off the scrap heap. His ability to find and plug in other teams discarded spare parts is really something special.
Finally, I have to admit, I've bashed La Russa (who had his own problem with the Spring Training DUI) in the past, and I'm still not going to admit the guy is a great tactical manager, but clearly this is a man who deserves to be recognized as a great leader. He clearly knows how to keep people focused, and how to get the most out of his players over the long haul.
Way to go everyone. For what it's worth, I'm proud of each and every one of you.
OK, so Mulder got shelled and we lost, while both the Cubs and Brewers won. It sucks, but as long as we stay close and win our head to head games with those teams, we still can win this thing.
TBH, it's really not that surprising that Mulder got hammered. The guy hasn't started a major league game while healthy in almost 2 full seasons. Besides, every start he and Maroth make is a start that we DON'T have to see 2-13 Anthony Reyes or 6-16 Kip Wells screw us over.
Hell, Wells has managed something that is HARD to do. He's managed to turn the St. Louis fan's against him. When you suck bad enough, or in some cases, are enough of an ass to turn baseball's most forgiving and loving fan base against you, you deserve some kind of award.
In retrospect, I'm just glad we managed to get close enough to even be in a race. How many teams could survive what this one has and even be 500? Few if any.
Every position starter, except Pujols, has been on the DL at least once this season. Heck, most of the reserves and starting rotation have been too.
We've had exactly ONE starter (Wainwright) stay healthy and pitch decently the entire season. We're without our Ace, our Second Baseman, our Right Handed Platoon Left Fielder, our primary set up guy, and our Third Baseman for the rest of the season. We're using cast off's by some of baseball's WORST teams, and our starting Rotation currently consists of 4 guys who were relief pitchers last year, or earlier this year, and one guy who has been on the DL for over a year.
Our super sub from last season is on the restricted list, apparently for alcohol or drug (or both related) issues, and is unlikely to return.
That's to say nothing of our poor Right Fielder, who may have permanently lost sight in one of his eyes after that freak accident last week.
In virtually any other year, that would be the season's great tragedy, but not this year, of course, it's not.
Some things happen in life, and you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when you found out about them. The death of Josh Hancock falls into that category.
Rachel and I were in Collinsville at the Drury Inn reserving a second room for Archon, since we (supposedly) had 7-9 people attending at that point, and that was too many for one room. We had been at my mom's the day before, and were on our way to see Kevin. Swinging by Collinsville was only like 15 minutes out of the way, so why not?
I remember getting in the car, hopping on the interstate, and turning the radio on to KMOX to hear Sports on a Sunday Morning. It was the top of the hour at just that moment, so what I heard was the CBS Radio news instead. The very first words, literally, the very first ones, were "Josh Hancock is dead." I remember the eerie pause, during which my mind frantically searched to find what "other" Josh Hancock he could be talking about. After all, it couldn't be the Cardinal Pitcher right? Only it was. For the second time in five years, a Cardinal player was dead.
I remember how dazed I felt over the news. I can only imagine how the players must have felt, especially as it became apparent in the coming days that alcohol played a role in his fatal crash.
I'm not going to go into great detail about my feelings over the coming days here. I've already dealt with those issues. Rather, I'm trying to illustrate a point.
The level of injury crap and tragedy that this team has gone through this year has been tremendous. Can anyone point out a case where any other team in recent history has had to deal with so much adversity and was STILL able to play through it at such a level?
This group of players will always have a special place in my heart, even if they don't make the post season. What a truly special group of players this is.
Also, big, BIG kudos go out to Jockety for continually finding those players off the scrap heap. His ability to find and plug in other teams discarded spare parts is really something special.
Finally, I have to admit, I've bashed La Russa (who had his own problem with the Spring Training DUI) in the past, and I'm still not going to admit the guy is a great tactical manager, but clearly this is a man who deserves to be recognized as a great leader. He clearly knows how to keep people focused, and how to get the most out of his players over the long haul.
Way to go everyone. For what it's worth, I'm proud of each and every one of you.
