Cardinals season closes with final NLDS loss
When Adam Wainwright delivered a 92 mile-an-hour fastball to Nyjer Morgan on April 6th, the 2009 baseball season began for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now a little more than 6 months later, the season is over. The Cardinals went on to win 91 games and lose 71 in the regular season. The Cardinals featured potential Cy Young and the Most Valuable Player award winners. The Cardinals also hosted the All-Star game and won the Central Division championship.
If only the season could have lasted a little longer.
With two out and one on in the bottom of the 9th, Rick Ankiel struckout to end to the Cardinals’ 5-1 loss in St. Louis Saturday. The loss was the Cardinals 3rd of the series, forcing the team out of the playoffs. But at least Ankiel and St. Louis can say that they went down swinging.
The Cardinals fought for their lives Saturday night, but try as they must, victory did not prevail. The club was outplayed in just about every way possible, and because so, the Los Angeles Dodgers –not the St. Louis Cardinals– will be advancing deeper on into the hunt for playoff glory.
Entering the post-season against the Dodgers, the Cardinals were 20-5 in the Division Series and only once had the team every lost such a set of playoffs games. But after dropping both of the first two games, St. Louis set itself up for a sweep, and their opponents did not disappoint.
Los Angeles scored runs in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th innings and took a commanding lead that carried on until the end of the game. St. Louis, on the other hand, failed to score but once, but their attempt at a comeback fell well short.
The score was 5-0 heading into the 8th, the inning the Cardinals’ lone run came. Julio Lugo was issued a walk, and after he stole second, Albert Pujols drove him home on a RBI single. St. Louis also had a very realistic chance to score in the 1st inning, loading up the bases, but failed to add a tally to the scoreboard.
But as the old baseball adage goes, there is alway next season. Such a season will begin for St. Louis at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 5th, 2010 when the Cardinals take on the Reds. But first, the Redbirds will play a pair of exhibition games against the Twins in the grand openeing of Target Field in Minnesota.
And so the 2009 season comes to a close for the St. Louis Cardinals. But baseball year has yet to end. The Cardinals will have many important decisions to make in the upcoming 3 months, each of which, like the 165 games St. Louis played this year, will go down in the history books.
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