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Weatherbird's take on the postseason Cardinals
Date: 10/28/2011 Album ID: 1341652
Photos by Weatherbird drawings by Dan Martin
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The Weatherbird offers his take on each day's news, which lately has included the Cardinals. Here's a look at those postseason drawings.
<p><strong>Whole new ball game</strong> • When they had finally taken care of their end of the dramatic conclusion of this crazy, rousing, unpredictable, inexplicable, ulcer-inducing, but suddenly magical baseball season, there was really only one way for this joyride to come to an end: With one more healthy dose of gut-churning drama. So late Wednesday night, the Cardinals bunkered down in the visitors clubhouse inside Minute Maid Park and impatiently waited for the Atlanta Braves to fold. And they waited ... and waited ...and waited. Finally, at nearly 10:40 p.m., the extra-innings affair with the Philadelphia Phillies ended with a game-ending double play that sent the Braves home for the winter and the <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/article_637bf340-4159-5e9f-a7e2-f4de726508da.html>improbable Cardinals racing into the postseason</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Legends of the fall</strong> • As the cruel heat of August intensified for the Cardinals, the days quickly passed on the baseball calendar, making them seem less relevant and more hopeless by the inning. The Cardinals were left in the dust of the NL Central by the surging Milwaukee Brewers. The Atlanta Braves controlled the NL wild card race. As play began on Aug. 25, the Cardinals were a seemingly impossible 10 1/2 games behind the Braves. They were slinking toward a .500 finish, or worse. GM John Mozeliak and manager Tony La Russa weren’t getting positive reviews in the bleachers, or in the press box. Mozeliak had made a vigorously debated, controversial trade with Toronto, sending center fielder Colby Rasmus away on July 27. Mozeliak followed with other roster maneuvers, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing could light a spark. The Cardinals barely flickered, going 12-15 between July 27 and Aug. 24. <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_ebca0a22-a51a-5ebf-a670-132a902845ad.html>Continue reading >></a></p>
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<p><strong>Game on</strong> • Heading into the National League Division Series, the Cardinals were far from favorites. Not to worry, said Bernie Miklasz, the <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_22cb4e1f-db3f-5f84-9b45-496d58a21555.html>Cards play best as underdogs anyway</a>. Now, as we head into Game 3, the series is tied, 1-1.</p>
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<p><strong>Home to roost</strong> • The National League Division Series is tied, 1-1. If the St. Louis Cardinals win Game 3 today, they could <a href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/article_74428d6f-a077-5b02-9095-b91c0f9804a4.html>gain the edge in this best-of-five showdown</a>, and push the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies to the brink of elimination. Jaime Garcia will be pitching today for the Cardinals; Cole Hamels for the Phillies.</p>
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<p><strong>Home to roost</strong> • The National League Division Series is tied, 1-1. If the St. Louis Cardinals win Game 3 today, they could <a href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/article_74428d6f-a077-5b02-9095-b91c0f9804a4.html>gain the edge in this best-of-five showdown</a>, and push the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies to the brink of elimination. Jaime Garcia will be pitching today for the Cardinals; Cole Hamels for the Phillies.</p>
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<p><strong>Nuts about the Cards</strong> • It was a rough start, but <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_3b45a590-ef7c-11e0-b206-001a4bcf6878.html>after a little squirrel magic</a>, the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to win Game 4 of the NLDS, 5-3. Now tied at two games apiece, the Cards will travel to Philadelphia today and <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_0fb24947-92cb-5cca-bd30-b5d74ddd0fd3.html>reconvene for Game 5 on Friday</a> against the Phillies. The winner will advance to the National League Championship Series next week.</p>
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<p><strong>Believe it!</strong> • Cardinals pitcher <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_0bf82b03-58aa-574a-9b81-ec0efa4f4870.html>Chris Carpenter shut out the Phillies, 1-0</a>, in a deciding NLDS Game 5 on Friday night to put the Cardinals into the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers. Friday's drama represented only the third 1-0 clincher in postseason history. A one-win pitcher this season until June 23, Carpenter outgunned the first pillar of the Phillies' rotation, reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, by allowing only one runner to third base and making his offense's first-inning flurry stand up.</p>
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<p><strong>Bring it on home</strong> • In Game 2 of the NLCS, the St. Louis Cardinals had fun. Especially, after a day filled with doubts and questions, Albert Pujols. Monday night, the Cardinals thumped the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3, an ideal response to the disappointing loss in a winnable Game 1. <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_42604cc0-41f6-5631-b31d-ae4daf2586c8.html>Pujols emphatically lifted his team</a>, raising himself to his usual standard of excellence. Pujols answered all of the questions in his first four at-bats, leaving Brewers fans crying in their Miller beer. The series resumes at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in St. Louis.</p>
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<p><strong>Rally on!</strong> • Though a growing number of baseball purists, sports commentators and Milwaukee Brewers' fans have tired of the bushy-tailed mascot, <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_a11040ca-06a2-5329-92e9-d6136938b92e.html>many in Cardinal Nation are convinced Rally Squirrel deserves some credit</a> for the team's thrilling run. And he's so darn cute.</p>
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<strong>Back on top</strong> • It's clear that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa loves his team. He's crazy about these 25 Cardinals, his comeback Cardinals, his cardiac Cardinals. <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_1ea1d3c4-5a68-5a21-b961-932c75e7443a.html>I think I said from the first day of spring training, it's a special group of guys,</a> La Russa said. But what we went through there (with the comeback), in a sense it's historic. When this club gets together years from now, they will go 'Hey, remember what we did?' It has been more fun, so I'm enjoying the club a lot. Just enjoying them in a different way from some of the other clubs that got to October.
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<strong>Pennant power</strong> • When it was over, when an impossible dream became real Sunday night at Miller Park, the St. Louis Cardinals celebrated near the pitcher's mound. They jumped up and down, chanting their Happy flight! victory theme. <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/article_95437fc4-65f6-579f-ae96-f7dab4642072.html>Game 1 of the 2011 World Series starts Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, with the Cardinals facing American League champion Texas Rangers.</a>
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<p><strong>Baseball bedfellows</strong> • Before he assembled a group of investors that bought the St. Louis Cardinals in 1995, <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_bdf5a995-72de-5e94-a6b7-22cab32e8a58.html>Bill DeWitt Jr. did the same for the Lone Star franchise</a> that will come into Busch Stadium for the first time Wednesday. While DeWitt has owned parts of two other Major League Baseball teams, his involvement with the Texas Rangers revolved in no small part around a relationship with Texas' first baseball fan -- President George W. Bush, who has had a front-row seat for the team's playoff match.</p>
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<strong>Play ball!</strong> • Buried somewhere beneath bullpen heroism, a manager's unabashed creativity and a steady October defense, <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_f3f7189b-061d-5f7f-a809-f47ed6ea40a0.html>the St. Louis Cardinals open a World Series tonight</a> needing to remind the Texas Rangers of the thread that ran through general manager John Mozeliak's winter blueprint: An offense that can pound. Never before have two teams reached a World Series after relying so little on starting pitching in the previous round. <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_f3f7189b-061d-5f7f-a809-f47ed6ea40a0.html>Conversely, a pairing has rarely produced two teams carrying such offensive swagger.</a>
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<strong>Three to go</strong> • On a four-letter night (c-o-l-d), Chris Carpenter responded to the first question of a closely matched World Series. He answered loudly, sometimes profanely and once with his face planted beside the first-base bag. Ultimately, he held the Texas Rangers' offense long enough to see a sixth-inning pinch RBI and three innings of shutout relief <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_3098a01a-fa90-11e0-88ed-001a4bcf6878.html>translate into a 3-2 Cardinals win in Game 1</a> at Busch Stadium.
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<p><strong>Two bad</strong> • Three outs shy of taking command of a pitching-heavy World Series, the <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_ec932b34-5acb-52d7-9c7b-6638f69e886f.html>Cardinals denied themselves momentum and their starting pitcher justice in a 2-1 hard fall to the Texas Rangers</a> in Game 2 at Busch Stadium.</p>
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<strong>Lone Star statement</strong> • In the St. Louis Cardinals first World Series game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, first baseman <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_72a1fda6-fce0-11e0-a99e-0019bb30f31a.html>Albert Pujols silenced a crowd of 51,462 and stunned the American League champions</a> with three home runs and six RBIs in an unfathomable four-inning span. Pujols' breakout blew open a game that already had gorged itself on offense and put the Cardinals in control of the World Series with a 16-7 victory.
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<p><strong>Texas 2-2-step</strong> • The Cardinals ran into an unfamiliar left-handed power arm and what they perceived as a generous strike zone Sunday night against the Texas Rangers. Combined with an inefficient start from starting pitcher Edwin Jackson and a traumatic first-pitch, sixth-inning result from their bullpen, the <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_56642dd0-917e-567f-9648-4e30e77c1318.html>Cardinals went quietly in a 4-0 two-hit loss in Game 4</a> of a level World Series.</p>
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<p><strong>Seeing stars</strong> • For more than seven innings Monday night, the Cardinals cradled, stroked and manipulated Game 5 of a riveting World Series. Ultimately, <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_459fba38-fe83-11e0-a281-001a4bcf6878.html>they flat out dropped it</a>. A night that exposed the Cardinals' weakened offensive underside left the Texas Rangers one win from their first World Series championship in 40 seasons.</p>
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<p><strong>Pour excuse</strong> • <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_41b38756-0009-11e1-ba1c-0019bb30f31a.html>Game 6 of the World Series was postponed until tonight</a> due to the forecast for rain. First pitch is tonight at 7:05 at Busch Stadium; Game 6 tickets will be honored tonight. If there's a Game 7, it will be played Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Busch Stadium. The postponement gave players an extra day of rest -- 24 additional hours of recuperation, which <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_697110a3-9998-514c-a56f-6fbaa6221cdf.html>could help those with injuries</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Deep Freese</strong> • The Cardinals have moved beyond the unlikely, through the implausible and on to the absurd. Twice down to their last strike and possible elimination from the World Series, the Cardinals twice rallied to tie the Texas Rangers before ultimately <a target=_blank href=http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_66cbad54-012e-11e1-931e-001a4bcf6878.html>forcing tonight's Game 7 on third baseman David Freese's 11th-inning launch into the night</a> against reliever Mark Lowe.</p>
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