PART 10: St. Louis Cardinals: The Ultimate Winners
A year that brought inspiring victories to the St. Louis Cardinals could well be explained by the highly competitive values the team held since the start of it. When the season had kicked off, very few teams could have anticipated that they might see the
Cardinals as their rivals in the postseason, or the World Series finals.
Not that epic collapses did not come in their way. They did. However, the Cardinals probably knew well than any other team how to rise when the tides are going against you. The victory gave the then manager, Tony La Russa his third and the team’s 11th
World Series title.
The Cardinals, in the every sense of the word, were a team that would never give in no matter what the circumstances were. This fact could be ascertained by looking at their Game 6 fight. They were almost out of the World Series, as the Rangers had won the
previous two games, but they won in the last moments by 10-9.
While Albert Pujols could not quite do in the Game 7 what he had done in the Game 3, with 3 homers and 6 runs, he was buoyant. In Game 7 he was barely 0 for 2 at-bats, nonetheless, it was victory that was important to him.
“You know what? I'm not even thinking about that. I'm thinking about, you know, we're the world champions and I'm going to celebrate and whenever that time comes, you know, then we'll deal with it,” he said.
“I told you it was going to be a great series, and it was,” Texas slugger, Josh Hamilton said. “I don't care what other people remember. We fell a little bit short. Hats off to the Cards, they did a great job, especially last night. It was actually fun to
watch and fun to see. You hate it but it happened.”
In all this, if there is one player who is not to be forgotten, it is Chris Carpenter. He proved an ultimate ace for any team in the season. He brought unlikely victories for the Cardinals. Especially, when they faced the Philadelphia Phillies where Carpenter
was faced with Roy Halladay; the breathtaking duel was won by the former.
With the 11th World Series title, the Cardinals would certainly be remembered for the resplendence and brilliance of a quality champion in the game. However, the Rangers must be lauded for their excellent professionalism and the Great Spirit they
exhibited throughout the season.
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