The top 5 Cardinals stories of 2011
It’s that time of year again – time for the “Best ____ of 2011″ lists. Below is my list on the top 5 Cardinals stories of 2011. Your mileage may vary, so comment below if you agree or disagree.
1. 2011 World Series Championship
If you had asked me in the middle of August whether I thought the Cardinals would win the World Series this year, I would have laughed in your face. After all that happened in the 2011 season, who would have thought they would win the World Series? It was destiny, written in Heaven by a benevolent God who must enjoy baseball. How else do you explain a September Cards surge/Braves swoon, or the Rally Squirrel, the dramatic comeback in Game 6, or a fortuitous rainout that allowed Chris Carpenter to pitch Game 7?
2. Albert leaves the Cardinals and signs with the Angels
Contract talks broke off between the Cards and Pujols before the season began, which led to a season of speculation – would Albert stay or would he go? Albert did indeed leave and signed a 10 year contract with the Angels. There are not too many people upset about Albert leaving, however. Not signing Albert means there is money available to sign other players such as Carlos Beltran, etc. At least Albert will be playing in the American League, where the Cards won’t be facing him unless they play the Angels in interleague play or the World Series. Wouldn’t playing the Angels in the World Series be divine justice?
3. Tony LaRussa retires
Cardinals fans were still aglow about the World Series win when Tony announced his retirement. It was like a bubble had been burst. The Cardinals manager with the longest tenure was retiring. Love him or hate him, you have to wish him well for the future and congratulate him on what he accomplished while managing the Cardinals.
4. Mike Matheny named manager
Surprisingly, the Cardinals named the candidate with the least amount of managerial experience to be the manager. This puzzled many Cardinals fans. But those of us who remember Mike as a player know that he had a great deal of experience running the game from that position behind home plate. He has a great rapport with players and coaches from his playing days here. I’m sure he’ll do just fine.
5. Adam Wainwright’s season-ending injury in spring training
Imagine how different the season might have been if Adam hadn’t injured his elbow. The Cards could have won the division outright rather than sneaking in via the wild card. Tony probably wouldn’t have to use the bullpen in middle relief so often. With Adam pitching, the playoff series would have ended earlier, since he would win one game in each series.
The 2011 season was anything but boring. I’m looking forward to the Cardinals’ 2012 season and perhaps 12 in 12? Thanks for reading! I wish for you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Diane
The St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series Collector’s Edition 8 disc DVD review and contest!
Congratulations to Mike Wald, Corey Chapman and Mary Jane Lindley, the winners of the Blu-ray 2011 World Series Champions DVD set! As promised, here is my review of the 8 disc 2011 World Series Collector’s Edition. This set is definitely for the hardcore baseball/Cardinals fan. This set is available only on regular DVD only and not on Blu-ray.
Each game of the World Series is commemorated on its own DVD. The exterior cover for each DVD contains the length of the game, the starting pitchers, the temperature at game time, the attendance, the line score (on the front), the complete box score (on the back), and various factoids. The interior cover contains the scoring summary for each inning.
Each game DVD starts out with an advertisement for the Hot Stove show on MLB Network. There is a montage of World Series games. Then the menu for the DVD appears. You have 3 options – Play Ball!, which takes you directly to the Fox broadcast, Inning Selection, in which you can go directly to the inning you want to watch, and Audio Set-Up, in which you can select either the Cardinals’ radio announcers or the Rangers’ radio announcers to call the game. In the Audio Set-Up selection, you can also select whether you want to listen in English or Espanõl. Once you select the audio set up, you click on main menu and then you can select Play Ball!
Disc 8 has the bonus features. The exterior cover has the World Series line score and various factoids. The interior cover has the World Series stats and the World Series pitching stats. The bonus material appears to be the same as on the main DVD of the other 2 World Series sets.
Now on to the contest! The folks at A&E/MLB Productions have been gracious to allow me to give away one DVD set. I will permit previous winners to participate in this contest. The first person to answer this question is the winner: Chris Carpenter joined _________, ___________, and ___________ as Cardinals pitchers to make three starts in a single World Series championship. Fill in the blanks and e-mail your answers, name and mailing address to dmschultz1611@gmail.com no later than 9 PM on 12/22/11. Good luck!
I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And may the Cardinals win a 12th championship in 2012!
Diane
2011 World Series Blu-Ray DVD review and contest!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 World Series DVD set that I reviewed in my last post! The winners are Amy Reynolds, David Peery, Jr. and Chris Hays. I hope you are enjoying your DVD’s!
I am now in possession of the Blu-Ray version of the 2011 World Series DVD. There is only one disc, but since it’s Blu-Ray, there are additional features that are not on the regular edition. They include a segment from “This Week in Baseball” with Lance Berkman, and the “Prime 9″ episode with Tony LaRussa. It also contains everything from the 2 DVD set, but all is in high definition. I note the following on the DVD case: “These games include every pitch from the original broadcast feeds. They may contain minor video and audio imperfections that are inherent in the broadcast-quality feeds.” So that explains the audio static in the broadcast of NLDS Game 5 that I heard in the DVD set. This DVD has 4 hours of material on it.
My friends at A&E have graciously given me 3 Blu-Ray DVD’s to give away to 3 lucky winners. Previous winners are not eligible. I am in the Christmas spirit, so I will only make you answer one trivia question to win. So here is the question – how many flags are on this year’s World Series trophy? The first 3 people to send the answer to dmschultz1611@gmail.com no later than 9 AM on December 15, 2011 will get their very own copy of the Blu-Ray DVD. Good luck! In case you don’t win and you want one, click here to purchase one: http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12328343&cp=1337489.
In my next post I will review the creme de la creme of the World Series DVD sets, the 8 disc 2011 World Series Champions Collectors Edition DVD set. Stay tuned!
Diane
2011 World Series DVD review and contest!
As promised, here is my review of the 2011 World Series DVD set. One disc contains a summary of the Cardinals’ season and the playoffs, with an emphasis on the World Series. The second disc contains all of Game 5 of the National League Division Series which, as you may remember, was a classic pitching duel between Chris Carpenter and Roy “Doc” Halladay. My notes on each disc are below.
The first disc starts out with spring training. There is an overview of the Cardinals 2011 season. The injury problems were discussed. I enjoyed the interviews with the players, the coaches/manager, and others. The playoffs and World Series games were summarized. The flashback method used for Game 6 confused me, however. I cried when the Cards won Game 7 on the video, just like I did when it happened in real time. It also talked about LaRussa’s retirement. For those of you who notice gaffs, early in the DVD when Berkman is being interviewed, he has a beard, but when he’s being interviewed about Game 7, the beard is gone.
Now for some technical notes. St. Louis native and long time Cardinals fan Jon Hamm (Mad Men) narrated the story. He started out slow and flat, but gained confidence as the disc went along. Perhaps narrating is not Jon’s forte? The graphics are very nice and the backdrop behind the interviewees is also very nice. There were some interesting stats shown that I didn’t know before. The sound quality and the picture quality on this disc was excellent. The slo-mo was used effectively and there are some interesting camera angles. There are also some beautiful camera shots of downtown St. Louis.
Now on to disc 2. This disc contains Game 5 of the National League Division Series. You can select between watching the whole game or whichever inning you want to watch. The TBS broadcast of the game is what is on the disc, minus the commercials (too bad you can’t do that with a game in real time! LOL!). The sound quality was poor on the original broadcast, and this is also the case here. It’s a shame that the static in Dick Stockton’s microphone couldn’t have been removed for a clearer audio track. It wouldn’t have been too hard to do with today’s technology.
Now for the contest! A&E/MLB Productions has graciously given me 3 copies of the DVD set to give away. I have 3 trivia questions for you to answer. The first 3 people who send the correct answers to dmschultz1611@gmail.com, along with your name and mailing address, will win the DVD sets. The contest ends December 1, 2011 at 9 AM. Here are the questions:
1. Name the player who as a pinch hitter was the first to pinch hit RBI’s in back-to-back World Series games.
2. Who was the player that set the new postseason record for most RBI’s?
3. Who is the 9th manager to win 3 or more World Series?
I will post the winners’ names (and the answers to the questions) in a comment below after the contest is over. Thanks for reading!
2011 World Series 2 DVD set coming soon!
What a postseason the Cardinals had! There was enough drama for a movie – and soon there will be one! On November 22, A&E Home Entertainment/MLB Productions will release a 2 DVD set of the 2011 World Series. If you live in the St. Louis area, you can attend the premiere showing of the 2011 World Series movie on November 22 at the Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis. Cardinals luminaries who will be attending the premiere include World Series MVP David Freese, team owner Bill DeWitt and general manager John Mozeliak. For more information on how to purchase tickets to the premiere, click here: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/fan_forum/world_series_dvd.jsp?partnerId=aw-7949984298030227519-1043 To view the trailer for the DVD set, click here: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=mlb&content_id=19994459&topic_id=25589412.
I will review this DVD set in my next post next week. Included in that post will be a contest for you to win your very own 2011 World Series DVD set. If you can’t wait to see if you win the contest, you can purchase your very own DVD set of the 2011 World Series here: http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12328342&cp=2366583.2498437.
Thanks for reading! Have a great Thanksgiving! See you soon!
Diane
What a wild ride!
If you had asked me on August 26 whether the Cards would make the playoffs, I would have said “absolutely not.” The Cards were way back in the standing and the Brewers were running away with the division. The Braves were in the lead for the wild card. The Cards had as much of a chance of going to the playoffs as I do of winning America’s Got Talent. (Yours truly is auditioning on Saturday in St. Louis – wish me luck!)
But then the tide began to turn. The Braves fell in a September swoon and the Cards started winning games. It all started coming together. Hope for a red October started to surge in my heart. The last week of the season especially was a nail biter – would the Cards be the wild card or the Braves? The Cards had to wait for the Phillies to finish off the Braves. The Cards thanked the Phillies for their assistance by beating the Phillies in the NLDS.
I think that God must be a baseball fan. Who else could have orchestrated the events of the last month and a half – the Braves’ September swoon, the Cards’ resurgence, and the collapse of the Phillies and the Brewers? If if were a book, no one would buy it, it’s so improbable.
The last chapter of the book starts tonight. The Cards are the underdog against the Rangers, which is a very good place to be, as the Cards were the underdog in the NLDS and the NLCS. I work in downtown St. Louis and there will be electricity in the air today. Productivity will be at an all time low as people discuss the WS and the Cardinals. What a wild ride the last month and a half has been! I will enjoy it as long as it lasts and I hope you do too.
Go Cards!
Bucket list – Cardinals style
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while – I guess I haven’t had much to say.
This post was inspired by a thread that I posted on at a message board about bucket lists. I posted some Cardinals related wishes there, but it got me thinking about other Cardinals related things that I’ve never done. So here’s the Cardinals section of my bucket list:
1. Sit in the Commissioner’s Box seats next to the dugout.
The closest I’ve ever sat to the field in Busch Stadium III is on the second level. It would be so nice to sit in these box seats, and not have to worry about paying for food and drink. Plus, the view would be awesome. And I might be able to accomplish #4 below.
2. Sing the National Anthem before a Cardinals game.
I’ve performed the National Anthem at a Cardinals game, but not vocally. I was part of a 100 person handbell choir that rang the National Anthem at Busch Stadium II for the Cardinals’ 100th anniversary in 1992. My degree is in music and I took voice lessons in college. I also sang in church choirs for over 20 years. I’m a first soprano, so I can sing the Anthem in the original key (F).
3. Sit in the radio broadcast booth with Mike and Jim and maybe do an inning of play-by-play.
I met the late Jack Buck at a Cardinals rally, not long after his book That’s a Winner! came out. I told him that I had really enjoyed his book and he told me to bring my copy up to the broadcast booth and he would sign it for me. Unfortunately, I never got to do that.
4. Catch a foul ball.
I went to a Cards game last year and Yadi Molina hit a foul ball that landed 2 rows below where I was sitting. Darn!
5. Catch a home run ball.
In 2001, my husband and I were sitting at a table in Homer’s Landing in Busch Stadium II. The Cards were playing the Reds that night, and Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a HR shot that bounced off of a table 2 rows below us. I wasn’t fast enough to get that one.
6. Meet Albert Pujols and Yadi Molina.
Okay, who doesn’t? LOL! The closest I’ve gotten to Albert was viewing him from afar at Winter Warmup. I couldn’t afford the price to get his autograph.
7. Go to a Cardinals home playoff or World Series game.
I’ve been a Cardinals fan for over 30 years but have never had the pleasure of attending a Cardinals home playoff or World Series game. My husband would rather watch these games at home, but I would love to feel the electricity from the crowd that I can see on TV.
8. Go to an All Star Game.
The closest I got to last year’s All Star Game was working at Fan Fest. That was fun, but it’s not the same as being at the actual game.
9. Go to spring training.
Another activity I’ve never been able to attend. I have vacation time, but not the funds.
10. Go to a Cards game at another MLB stadium.
Kaufmann Stadium and Wrigley Field are the closest ones to where I live. Maybe someday.
11. Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It would be so cool to visit all the Cardinals exhibits at the Hall.
12. Attend Whitey Herzog’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Numbers 11 and 12 could be combined if I won the lottery anytime soon. I may have to settle for watching #12 on MLB Network.
13. Go to an Opening Day game again.
I miss the days when Opening Day games were at night. I would have to take off work to attend an Opening Day game now.
Well, there’s my list. Are there any Cardinals items on your bucket list? Feel free to comment below.
See you next time!
Diane
Opening Day in St. Louis – a poem
Opening day in St. Louis
Should be a holiday
So those who work
Don’t have to play hooky to go to the game.
The pep rally itself
Has the feel of a picnic.
All the fans are there
Wearing their Cardinals gear
And carrying signs.
All the downtown workers
Skip out early for lunch and go to the pep rally
They register for prizes
Pick up all the free goodies
And soak up the ambiance.
Later on at the ballpark
The fans drink beer
And discuss the upcoming season.
Will the Cards go to the Series this year?
Will Albert win another MVP?
The atmosphere is electric.
Finally the opening ceremonies begin.
The Clydesdales prance around the field
Carrying a load of the fans’ favorite beverage
And bringing back memories of Auggie Busch.
The players themselves finally parade in like royalty
Riding on red Mustangs
Circling the field to thunderous applause,
And then, the ceremony at the plate.
Dignitaries are introduced,
Awards are given,
Speeches are made,
The starting lineups are introduced,
And the National Anthem is sung.
Finally, the game begins!
The players take the field
And spring has sprung
For baseball is back in St. Louis.
The world is right once again.
==============================
Tomorrow is the home opener in St. Louis. I work in downtown St. Louis, so I try to get to the pep rally every year, Tomorrow will be no exception. I will be wearing my All Star Game 2009 lanyard (from working at Fan Fest), so if you’re at the pep rally, look for me! I’m 5’4″ with red hair and metal frame glasses. Just quote me some of the poem above so I’ll know you read my blog. 
It will be a beautiful day weather wise, and hopefully, it will be a beautiful day on the field as well. I get off of work at 4 and won’t get home until 5, so I’ll miss most of the game. 
I will have to see if Fox Midwest will rerun the game later.
Now that the season has started, hopefully I’ll be able to post more. See you then!
Diane
A call from the Hall for the White Rat
Congratulations to Whitey Herzog on his call from the Hall! It was long overdue. As a fellow southern Illinoisan (Whitey is from New Athens, and I’m from Belleville), I’m pleased as punch that a homestate boy is being inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Whitey Herzog was Cardinal baseball in the 1980′s. Before Whitey came to St. Louis, the Cards were a sub-par team. Whitey came in and cleaned house. As a GM, he wheeled and dealed to get the players he wanted. He had a great working relationship with Gussie Busch, then the Cards’ owner.
Whitey created his own brand of baseball, better known as “Whiteyball.” Whiteyball consisted of stealing bases and manufacturing runs, among other things. Whiteyball put fans in the stands, excited the baseball faithful, and led to a World Series win for the first time in 15 years. The Cards also won 2 NL pennants under Whitey’s management, one in 1985 and 1987. After Whitey left the Cards, he went to the Angels where he helped build that team too.
I have lots of great memories of Whiteyball. Thanks to my BFF who bought a lot of Cards tickets on her credit cards, we went to lots of Cards games in the 1980′s. I used to take my daughter to the Cardinals game. Bleacher seats were $4.00, and if she could walk under the turnstile, she got in free. Can’t do that anymore! But she went to the dark side and became a Cubs fan. That’s one of the ultimate acts of rebellion!
As Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch puts it so eloquently here, it’s long past time to retire Whitey’s uniform number 24. In my opinion, it should have been on the wall of the new Busch Stadium when it opened. I look forward to seeing Whitey inducted into the Hall on MLB TV, and if only I could win the lottery, I could be there in person. I know, I know, I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than winning the lottery.
In other news, it appears that the Cardinals are giving us another early Christmas present by signing pitcher Brad Penny, once he passes his physical. Penny will be another reclamation project for Dave Duncan. The winter meetings are not over yet, so maybe Cardinals fans will receive more Christmas presents in the days ahead.
Time for me to fly! See you all soon!
Diane
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas -
And ladies, you know what that means – Christmas shopping! Yes, I know that Christmas is about Jesus Christ, who I love so much. (And Albert is preaching it too – see here.) But the Wise Men did bring the baby Jesus some nice gifts, and we still follow that example today. We give to others to remember the great gift of love He gave to us.
Speaking of Christmas shopping, I did some cyber shopping and found some cute, cute Cardinals stuff you can suggest that your husband/boyfriend/significant other can buy you for Christmas, so to keep in your good graces. You could also give Cardinals gifts to your best buddies who are Cardinals fans.
I found a really cute purse on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website. Click here to see it. The Post-Dispatch site also has some cute Cardinals earrings, necklaces and even iPod covers. Click here to see all the Cardinals products.
The folks at Major League Baseball are no slouches in the women’s accessories department either. They have some really cute stuff and you can find it all here. MLB also has some cute women’s shirts and jackets, but they don’t come in plus size (yes, I’m talking to you, Alyssa Milano. Not all of us are skinny minis like you.) If you order from MLB, make sure you have the items you want in stock, because there are only 23 days until Christmas, you know!
If your husband/boyfriend/significant other is shopping impaired like my husband is, perhaps you can e-mail the links of the cute Cardinals stuff you want directly to them. A little hint never hurts!
The Cardinals themselves gave us an early Christmas present by resigning Jason LaRue. Yadi is a great catcher and all, but sometimes, he needs a rest (or he gets sick or injured) and Jason is a great backup. There was a photo of Jason in the Belleville News-Democrat this morning of Jason without his mustache and I didn’t recognize him!
Well, that’s all for now. Have a great evening!
Diane
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