The World
Series will get underway on Wednesday night with the St. Louis
Cardinals hosting the Texas Rangers. Still, I cannot help but
re-visit the Cardinals beatdown of the Milwaukee Brewers in the
National League Championship Series. Please, indulge me.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>How great have the St. Louis Cardinals been? How embarrassing were the Milwaukee Brewers?
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>These are the questions that both cities will ponder in the next few days as the Cardinals battle the Rangers for the championship. Meanwhile, the Brewers will try to pick up the pieces from what was an epic meltdown in the last two games of the National League Championship Series.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>With the NLCS tied at 2-2 last Friday night and the pennant coming down to a best-of-three series, the Cardinals got busy and the Brewers got dizzy. The Cardinals scored 19 runs in Games 5 and 6 and received lights-out pitching from its bullpen while the Brewers were a hot mess with six errors, brutal starting pitching and bad fundamental baseball.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The final result was a convincing Cardinals’ 4-2 series victory and a date with the Rangers in the World Series.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In the process of getting waxed by the Cardinals, perhaps the Brewers will learn a valuable lesson about chasing a championship. Substance wins out over style. The Brewers enjoyed a great regular season in winning the National League Central by five games. But on the biggest stage of all, they were woefully ill-prepared and they fell well short of the prize. And it was ugly.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Along the way, they got themselves caught up in the hype of being entertainers instead of baseball players. They started to follow the lead of a marginal outfielder named Nyjer Morgan, who created all of this senseless hype with his multiple personalities, trash talk, childish tweets and “Beast Mode” foolishness. He called out the Cardinals repeatedly, and everyone in the Brew City rejoiced as they prematurely danced on the Cardinals’ baseball graves a couple of months ago.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Meanwhile, the Cardinals got about the business of orchestrating one of the greatest comeback stories in baseball history. They fought their way back from being 10 ½ games out of the wild card race in late August to knock off the favorite Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Divisional Series.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The veteran Redbirds were clearly focused, battle-tested and clearly driven in their quest to get to the World Series. The Brewers had no idea what had hit them. They do now.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When the series was at 2-2 and the heat of pennant fever was at its most intense, the Cardinals played championship baseball while the Brewers turned into the Bad News Bears. Their bad defense and lack of fundamentals came back to haunt them at the worst possible time. The starting pitching was awful, but the infielders booted routine grounders and the outfielders misplayed fly balls, which turned into big innings for the Cardinals.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The Brewers set a new NLCS record for most errors with nine, and that did not include the numerous misplayed fly balls and throws to the wrong base, which let Cardinals runners continue to advance. As for Morgan, he hit a robust .179 in the NLCS and Brewers manager Ron Roenicke didn’t even start at times during the series. It’s hard to back up your boasting when your own manager doesn’t even trust you to start full-time.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>I admit, I am an “Old-School Geezer” when it comes to sports and showmanship. I’m from the old school of let your game do your talking for you, but I understand that sports is also entertainment and there are going to be some flamboyant characters out there.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>However, if you are going to put yourself out there like that, you had better be very good at your craft. In the case of the Brewers, when the showboating took the place of sound, fundamental baseball, they were cooked.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Maybe, that lesson will be learned as they watch the Cardinals in the World Series. Eh, Nyjer. Watch the professionals in action.
