Cardinals Getting Dangerfield Treatment

My Cardinals now lead the National League Championship Series 2 - 1 over the Milwaukee Brewers. I know I haven't written much about baseball this year but believe me I've been paying attention over the past couple of months. The Birds were written off at the end of August when they were 10-1/2 games out of the Wild Card. Then they got hot. Then they over took a struggling Atlanta Braves. Then they made the playoffs.

In the first round they went up against the big money Phillies. The Phillies were the anointed winner of the National League and preordained to play the Boston Red Sox in the 2011 World Series. Every prognosticator said so. Then something weird happened. The Cardinals won game 2 in Philadelphia. The series went 5 innings with a match up of two former Cy Young award winners. The Phillies starter, Roy Halladay, went 8 innings giving up just a single run on 6 hits. Cardinals starter, Chris Carpenter, threw a complete game, 3 hit, shutout.

It was impossible. The Cardinals didn't deserve it. They had snuck into the playoffs because a better team, Atlanta had faltered. They didn't deserve this win. The Phillies had rolled over.

Never mind the Cardinals had a winning record against the Phillies in the regular season.
Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

Now we're facing the Central Division champion Milwaukee Brewers. Last off season they went out and got great starting pitching to go along with their potent offense. At the All Star break they traded for a closer with 30+ save seasons to be their 8th inning set up man. Milwaukee is destined to beat the Cardinals.

If (WHEN!) the Cardinals beat the Brewers I predict we'll hear the same thing. The Brewers were a better team. The Cardinals snuck past them because so-and-so didn't play well.

Never mind the Cardinals had a winning record against the Brewers in the regular season.
Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

If the Cardinals go on to win the World Series (probably against the Texas Rangers) I predict we will again hear how the Cardinals beat a better team. In 2006 we heard how the Cardinals shouldn't have beat The Hated New York Mets. And then we heard how they shouldn't have beat the Detroit Tigers.

Never mind the Cardinals have the best player in the game.
Never mind the Cardinals have very good starting pitching.
Never mind the Cardinals have a manager that has the most post seasons wins of any active manager.

Yes, the Cardinals are streaky. They go on long runs of winning and then long runs of losing. It frustrates the hell out of me when I see them put up 10 runs in one game and then 1 run the next day. I don't think it is a given we will beat the Brewers or win the world series. However, the Cardinals are a good team and when they are hot they are as good as any team in baseball today.

What frustrates me more than the losing streaks? The lack of respect.