Congratulations to the 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, who defeated the heavily favored Detroit Tigers, 4-2, to win their 10th World Series championship in five games tonight at Busch Stadium. David Eckstein won the World Series MVP.
The Cardinals simply outplayed the Tigers in every aspect of the game, especially in pitching, clutch hitting and defense. Despite the rather mediocre regular season they had, St. Louis deserved to win the title, as they outpitched their opponents in all three series.
I love those oddball stats they come up with once a team wins a title, like this one:
The Cardinals are the first team to win a World Series in their first year in a new stadium and clinch the title there since the Red Sox opened Fenway Park with a championship in 1912.
I bet you didn't know that...
I guess this also ends the dreaded "Keith Hernandez Curse." Once again, it has been come fashionable (thanks to that imbecile Dan Shaughnessy) to explain any prolonged dry spell a team has had by calling it some kind of "curse."(I haven't heard one yet to explain the San Francisco Giants or Cleveland Indians long drought, but I'm sure someone will make something up for those teams before long. Both teams have now gone more than a half-century without a title.) It really goes into a new form of stupidity, from trading an icon to stupid billy goats.
But last year I heard that all the reasons why the Cardinals have gone over two decades without a title (their previous one was in 1982), and it was due to the ill-advised trade the Cardinals made with the Mets in June 1983 when they sent Hernandez to the Mets for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. It would be one of the biggest moves the Mets would make to put them on the road to their title of three years later.
And the Cardinals won their title tonight on the 20th anniversary of the Mets last championship, the one that featured one Keith Hernandez at first base for the Mets. Hmmm...
I remember Hernandez talking about it during a Mets game last season, and he talked about it in very humorous terms. I did find a web site from a Cardinal fan that goes into detail about this so-called "curse" that has now bitten the dust:
http://thephatphree.com/features.asp?StoryID=1739&SectionID=2&LayoutType=1&StoryMonth=11&StoryYear=2005
Once the World Series game concluded, I put on my 2004 World Series Game 4 DVD, and enjoyed watching the Red Sox glorious victory on its second anniversary.
Ah, the sweet memories. And it never gets old...
2004 will NEVER get old. Well, when next we win it could become a more distant memory, but not now. This will be an off season of hope. Hopes highest. And I cannot wait to write about the wheeling. The dealing. The pros and cons. have a great weekend...raining beer and wine here.
ReplyDeleteTo The ONLY Team which WON 8 Straight Postseason Games:
ReplyDeleteIt never gets old;
BTW, The Mets Have a 20 Year Old "Curse", called "C.O.R.K." or The Curse Of Ray Knight;
Frankly, I've always held to "The C.O.W.";
That was when Fred Wilpon became The Equal Partner of Nellie Doubleday;
When the NHL Stanley Cup Champion NY Islanders won all those 4 Cups, it ended with "C.O.N.E.D.";
It was "The Curse Of Nellie Doubleday", when he eventually pulled out of Islanders Ownership;
Yikes! This is getting way out of hand.
In the Case of The SF Giants:
ReplyDeleteIt's "The Curse Of Coogan's Bluff";
NEVER Leave The City Of Your Greatest Successes.
& Jeff Weaver no longer suffers from C.O.M.S.(Curse of Mel Stottlemyre).
ReplyDeleteI think that Cleveland's curse might be that they're from Cleveland. That's enough of a curse for anyone.
ReplyDeleteI hate Ohio!
I first wrote about the Curse of Keith back in 2004, so it's fun to see that it's been repealed. Good point about it being the 20th anniversary of the Mets' championship. ;)
ReplyDelete