Hats off to Tony LaRussa

I've never been a Tony LaRussa fan... but man you have to respect him.
He is probably the greatest manager of our time. If he's not, he's in the conversation.

And he retired as a World Series champ.
No backstabbing, book writing, passive aggressive swiping at management here.

This isn't Torre or Francona's ending where you need to remind people of the good times.

He's out on top after winning the best World Series in a decade.

He has three World Series titles. No need to apologize for not winning more. He has as many World Series titles as Leo Durocher, Earl Weaver and Whitey Herzog combined.

I was never a fan.
But man I am an admirer.

Ozzie Guillen, Bruce Bochy, Charlie Manuel, Joe Girardi, Davey Johnson, Mike Scioscia and Jim Leyland are the only current managers who have won a World Series title now.

None more than one.

Who will take the title of "Best Current Manager?"

We'll see.

The Big Bad Cardinals

Let’s take four big league franchises and look at what they’ve done in the past 10 seasons.

Franchise 1 from 2002 to now.
Won 2 World Series Titles.
Won 3 Pennants.
Appeared in the LCS 5 times

Franchise 2 from 2002 to now.
Won 2 World Series Titles
Won 2 Pennants.
Appeared in the LCS 4 times.

Franchise 3 from 2002 to now.
Won 1 World Series Title.
Won 2 Pennants.
Appeared in the LCS 4 times.

Franchise 4 from 2002 to now.
Won 1 World Series Title.
Won 2 Pennants.
Appeared in the LCS 2 times.

Franchise 1 clearly has been the most dominant team of the past 10 seasons.
Franchise 2 had a great stretch but hasn’t been in the World Series nor LCS as much as Franchise 1.
Franchises 3, and 4 each won a title and a few pennants but were hardly dominant.

Which franchise do you think is which?

Franchise 4 is the Giants.
Franchise 3 is the Yankees.
Franchise 2 is the Red Sox.
Franchise 1 is the newly crowned World Champion Cardinals.

Next time in this off season you hear someone crow about how the Yankees win it every year and how they and the Red Sox just buy pennants, remember than in the past 10 years the team that dominated was actually in St. Louis.

The three other teams I mentioned had a monumental face plant in that span of time. The Giants blew the 5-0 lead in a potential World Series clincher in 2002. The Yankees had the 2004 ALCS. The Red Sox had the 2003 ALCS and the great collapse of 2011.

What was the faceplant for the Cardinals?
Where was their classic choke job?
Who was their Aaron Boone? Dave Roberts? Scott Spiezio?

The Cardinals have had the Jim Edmonds homer, Pujols against Lidge (yeah Houston won that Series… nobody remembers Game 6.)… Wainwright striking out Beltran… Carpenter shutting down the Phillies… and Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

They broke the Padres hearts… the Astros hearts… the Mets hearts… the Tigers hearts… the Phillies and Brewers and Rangers hearts.

Remember that… the big bad Cardinals have won it again.

If this WAS Pujols' last game... you can not blame him

Pujols is probably going to return...
The Cardinals could finally become a National Brand.

But it also makes sense if he says "I've done EVERYTHING I can possibly do in St. Louis. Maybe I need a new challenge."

The new owner of the Dodgers would want to show the fan base that they spend money on the team instead of on their homes. (And I assume they won't blame victims when they get beaten in their poorly lit and lightly secured parking lots.)

Bringing in Albert Pujols makes all the short term sense in the world for the Dodgers.

If he goes to Chavez Ravine, then I not only don't want to hear CARDINALS fans boo him but I also want to hear nobody in all of baseball boo him.

If he wants to get top dollar, he has done everything he could have possibly done in St. Louis.

But I said all of that before.

Look at that! An NL Central team won a playoff game!

When the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, it was the last post season highlight for an NL Central Champion for a while.

The 2007 Cubs were swept by the Diamondbacks.
The 2008 Cubs were swept by the Dodgers.
The 2009 Cardinals were swept by the Dodgers.
The 2010 Reds were swept by the Phillies.

But the 2011 Brewers have put a big fat W on the board! (No offense Prince Fielder.)

Actually the Brewers are the only NL Central team to win a playoff game since 2006... they did so in 2008 as the Wild Card team against the eventual World Champion Phillies.

The AL Central hasn't fared well either.
Since the Indians took a 3-1 lead on the Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS, the AL Central has lost 13 out of 14 games.

The 2007 Indians lost its last 3 against the Red Sox.
The 2008 White Sox lost to the Rays in 4.
The 2009 and 2010 Twins were swept by the Yankees.
And the 2011 Tigers are down 0-1 to the Yankees.

You want to build up baseball interest in middle America?
Here's a tip.
Win a few games when they matter.

Bill Ivie joins the Sully Baseball show

Bill Ivie, the founder and editor of I-70 Baseball, which is a must read on the internet, joins The Sully Baseball Show.

We talk Missouri baseball, Denkinger, the strange 2006 World Series title and you will NOT believe where he thinks Albert Pujols might go. (And it makes sense.)

It is the second hour of the Seamheads block on Monday night after What's On Second, the flagship show of the Seamheads National Podcasting Network.

Listen to internet radio with Seamheads on Blog Talk Radio

10 Reasons why the St. Louis Cardinals winning the 2011 World Series would be good for baseball

Continuing my series of Why Each Team's Potential World Championship Would Be Good For The Game, I am tackling the Cardinals.

Now the NL Central race looked like it was going to be a four horse contest. Instead, Milwaukee could run away with it.

So I better get my Cardinals entry done before they fall out of the race. The Cardinals have had a strange year. Wainwright has missed the season, there was the bizarre Colby Rasmus controversy and questions about Albert Pujols and his contract have swirled around the club.

Yet here they sit in mid August in contention and facing a very soft part of their schedule in the next few weeks. Games against Pittsburgh, the Cubs and Dodgers will fill up their dance card before going head to head against first place Brewers at the end of the month. So by Labor Day they could be within striking distance.

So would the Cardinals winning it all be good for the game?

Let me count the ways!

10 Reasons why the

St. Louis Cardinals

winning the 2011 World Series

would be good for baseball

1. If Albert Pujols leaves, another title would be a hell of a Good Bye!



Look, nobody knows what is happening with Albert Pujols. He could be coming back to St. Louis. He could be looking for a new challenge. Lord knows the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs and Orioles all would love to get some POSITIVE PR. And the Nationals have seem hell bent to bring a star to DC. So Albert's fate beyond 2011 has not been sealed.



But if he has to go, leave as a champion! All I can think of is Pedro Martinez, whose contract situation wasn't always pleasant. But what was the last image of him pitching for the Red Sox? Winning Game 3 of the 2004 World Series.



Pujols owes Cardinals fans nothing... but if he leaves them happy, how could you be mad?

2. Maybe a THIRD World Series title can make Tony LaRussa remotely likable



I can't comprehend why I don't like Tony LaRussa. But I don't.



It has nothing to do with the drunk driving (although that makes you an automatic a--hole.) And it has nothing to do with the Glenn Back rally last year. My dislike for LaRussa goes back WAAAAAY before that.



And all the cute puppies and kittens can't save it.

But maybe another title can make him seem as cuddly as the animals he loves to be seen with.



Maybe a Tony LaRussa title can turn into a celebration of his greatness and a big love in.



It might be worth seeing.





3. It would be a wonderful middle finger to Colby Rasmus



I know I've been picking on Colby Rasmus... but come on! We whined his way out of St. Louis based on one good season. Albert Pujols NEVER calls anyone out and he called out him.



Having him stuck in Toronto while the Cardinals celebrate without him might give players with one good year second thoughts to acting superior to their Hall of Fame manager.



Just saying.









4. The ever growing argument to put Dave Duncan in the Hall of Fame



As the Phillies are stockpiling aces, the Giants growing them and the Brewers dealing for them, the Cardinals don't need them.



They'll win with Fernando Salas closing games. The Cardinals will win with Kyle Lohse, Jake Westbrook and Edwin Jackson.



That's because Dave Duncan works his magic, just he did when he turned Chris Carpenter from reclamation project to Cy Young winner and Jeff Weaver from waiver material to World Series hero.



The pitchers in St. Louis come and go but they all seem to improve under Duncan. He might be a genius or a wizard. But if he keeps this up, he might be the first person to make the Hall of Fame as a pitching coach!







5. Maybe Mark McGwire's success can lead to more "Post Roids" work



Hitting coach Mark McGwire hasn't caused much controversy since taking his new gig. He has had some hitters flourish under his watchful eye. (I really hope the sudden surge in Lance Berkman's numbers have been because of McGwire tips and not the old method of "inject this"!)



If the page has been turned, then I hope this leads to Barry Bonds, hitting coach... Roger Clemens, pitching coach... oh let's face it. I want it to lead to Manny Ramirez, MANAGER! Tell me you wouldn't watch a team managed by Manny every single day!





6. A ring for Octavio Dotel, at long last



I wrote about Octavio Dotel's unbelievably bad luck playing for contenders in The Hardball Times.



Dotel broke into the bigs in 1999. Since then he has played for the Mets, Astros, A’s, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays and Cardinals. During his 13-year career, seven of those franchises went to the World Series. Yet Dotel hasn't pitched in a World Series as of this writing. That is insane.



Like Mike Morgan before him, who bounced from team to team without a ring, he truly savored that 2001 title. It would be the same for Dotel who has been a solid if unspectacular veteran for over a decade. He would cherish that ring.





7. Chris Carpenter's reputation as a big game pitcher would grow



Chris Carpenter is not going to the Hall of Fame. But he's had a nice run in St. Louis. He won a Cy Young Award and had two more top 3 finishes in the vote. And when he went down to injuries in 2007 and 2008, St. Louis fell out of contention.



When he came back as the ERA Champ in 2009, they were back in. If the Cardinals win the Division this year, then they would have been a playoff team in 5 of Carpenter's 6 full seasons for the Redbirds.



Throw in the fact that his injury that kept him out of the 2004 World Series helped cost them the title. And he pitched wonderfully in 4 of his 6 post season series. Another great October could help him get that "Not a Hall of Famer but a big game pitcher" reputation that Dave Stewart and Jack Morris have.





8. Matt Holliday deserves a POSITIVE Post Season highlight!





Yeah I know Matt Holliday won the 2007 NLCS MVP. If you have any October memories of Holliday, what are they?



His Wild Card winning slide in the San Diego playoff game where it looked like he never touched home plate?



His being picked off in practically the only critical moment in the 2007 World Series?



Nah... it's probably his dropping a game ending flyball in the 2009 Division Series that led to a Dodgers come from behind rally.



Holliday has had a terrific career. He deserves better.



9. Let's face it. The 2006 World Series was strange.



I wrote a post a few years ago about a conversation I had with a die hard Cardinals fan who forgot his team won the 2006 World Series. In a strange way I can understand why. The 2004 and 2005 Cardinals teams both won over 100 games and looked like legit World Series contenders, but fell short.



The 2006 team stumbled into the post season and while I am sure St. Louis fans were happy for them, they probably didn't invest as much "I think this team is going to win it" emotion on that battered squad. But the '06 squad, by far the weakest of Tony LaRussa's 8 playoff teams in St. Louis, was the one that delivered.



And I think it caught St. Louis off guard. It was a nice surprise, but the kind that has the awkward "Oh dear, if I had known you were coming I would have cleaned up the house" vibe to it.







10. The biggest baseball fans shouldn't wait long for a title!



Any discussion of baseball's most passionate fans usually gravitates towards Boston and New York... then heads west and lands in St. Louis.



Relax Giants fans, I know you love your team. So do you Baltimore fans, even though you haven't had much to cheer about. But in terms of cities that love their baseball teams more than their football teams, that list seems to be three names long. And the Red Sox won in 2007 and the Yankees in 2009. All three fan bases have a recent one and they shouldn't have to wait for another.



There should be a celebration involving the living Cardinal greats like Bob Gibson, Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter and Lou Brock. And with the love of the Cardinals stretched throughout the Midwest, maybe Fox, TBS and ESPN will show them on the National stage a little more.







So that's plenty of reasons to be happy for a Cardinals title.

Now I will make this note. Before any Reds fans comment, yes Cincinnati should be mentioned along with Boston, St. Louis and New York as big baseball cities.



And yes Mets fans, I know that YOU haven't been appeased by the recent World Series titles. Get mad at Carlos Beltran for looking at a called third strike!



A Cardinals World Series title could be so terrific that it would almost make it bearable to hear Tim McCarver and Joe Buck go on and on about the great Cardinals teams of the past... almost.



If you liked this then go ahead and read the entries for the other teams.



CHICAGO WHITE SOX

NEW YORK YANKEES

Giants fans... it's time to shut up about the Buster Posey injury

Let me get this out of the way at the top.
The Giants are my second favorite team. (Oh I'm sorry... that would the DEFENDING WORLD CHAMPION Giants are my second favorite team.)

I basically made a video love letter to them this off season.

I am raising one of my sons as a Giants fan.

I would love to see them win the West and the NL Pennant again. And short of a Red Sox - Giants World Series, wouldn't mind seeing them repeating.

But the reaction of the Scott Cousins collision is getting to be absurd.

Yes. It was a devastating injury. I get it.
Yes. I understand the Giants lineup isn't deep enough to withstand a loss like this.

But a lot of Giant fans are crossing a strange and frankly annoying line.

Some of my friends have posted this picture where they are studying the trajectory of Scott Cousins path to the plate.

They are literally being some sort of a half assed Jim Garrison with this analysis.

I keep waiting for a friend of mine to insist there was a second slider and Scott Cousins was just a patsy.


Yes it sucks that Posey got hurt. I don't think a bang - bang play at the plate in extra innings was part of a conspiracy.


Which brings me to Brian Sabean. It's one thing for some drunk knucklehead to call the collision premeditated and cause for retribution. It's another thing when the General Manager of the Giants does it on the record.

In the wake of the stupid violence that went on against a Giants fan this year, isn't it ironic that the call of retribution came FROM the Giants' front office?

The injury last week put a damper on the year long love fest that has been the Giants World Series defense. But virtually EVERYTHING went right last year... this is some adversity.

The main thing is to fix the roster now and get a player who can replace Posey behind the plate and another bat. Now I wonder whose job that is...

SABEAN! So quit putting vendettas out there and do your damn job! Being the loon who claims collisions at the plate are "malicious" and the rest of the nonsense that foamed out of your mouth on KNBR might not exactly put you at a strong position to negotiate with other teams.

You better hope you don't have to make a deal with the Marlins!
Act like you've been there before, because YOU HAVE!

And finally a message to some other Giant fans...

Then there are my many Giant fan friends who can't stop bringing it up in mid conversation.

Remember how Lily Taylor kept writing songs about the boyfriend who dumped her in the movie Say Anything? Everyone was just super annoyed that she couldn't shut up about the guy.

That's what a lot of Giants fans are turning into.
The first few days. OK. But how long is this going to go on? The rest of the year?

Do you want to know the best revenge?
Winning.

And guess what the Giants are doing?
Winning.

They are the first place Giants. They've had a few dramatic wins in just the last few days. They are getting contributions from rookie Brandon Crawford and big power behind Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff.

And look at the Division they play in. The Dodgers are a joke. The Padres are rebuilding. Do you REALLY think the Diamondbacks are going to do this all year? And so far, the Giants have won 6 of 9 against Colorado and they go after them again today.

Even with NO Posey, the Giants have as good a shot as any team in the National League to win the pennant with the exception of Philadelphia. And guess what? The Phillies are not invincible.

Put the Giants staff in a short series against the Marlins? The Braves? The Rockies? The Reds? The Brewers? The Cardinals? Wouldn't you pick the Giants every time?

And speaking of the Cardinals, remember 2006?

They not only lost Mark Mulder but they lost their closer Jason Isringhausen before the playoffs. They had to slap together a playoff staff that included rejects (recently released Jeff Weaver) and untested rookies like Adam Wainwright.

Did they whine? Did they bitch and moan?

Nope.
They shut their mouth, injected their HGH and won the Damn World Series.

Take a page from that Giants.
Say "Yeah that sucked... but guess what? We're going to win anyway."

Because right now? You are bordering on Miss Havisham's territory.

Yeah that's right. I made a Charles Dickens reference in a baseball post.

And I have great expectations myself for this Giants team (see what I did?)

Your team is the defending champion.
Your team's name is the Giants.

Right now Giants fans, you are acting like neither a champion nor a giant.

Sully Baseball Salutes... Braden Looper

Pitcher Braden Looper retired today after failing to land a roster spot with the Cubs. He probably won't get a prolonged farewell in baseball circles nor a big celebration of his career.

Chances are he'll clean out his locker, say good bye to some old friends and leave Arizona for his home in Illinois.

But the staff here at Sully Baseball thinks his career in baseball is worth a salute.

The Oklahoma native pitched in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games and starred at Wichita State. He was drafted third overall that year (after Kris Benson and Travis Lee) and worked his way up the Cardinals system.

But because of the on going Florida Marlins firesale, he was sent packing to Miami in exchange for former World Series hero Edgar Renteria after the 1998 seasons. In his five seasons in Florida, he developed into a solid if not spectacular reliever and a part time closer.

Though he lost the closer job to Ugeth Urbina, Looper became a key contributor to the 2003 Marlins playoff push. In the Division Series, he was the winning pitcher when Pudge Rodriguez laced a 2 run 2 out walk off single in the 10th inning of Game 3. In the NLCS, he got the save for the marathon game 1. And when Alex Gonzalez hit the walk off homer in Game 4 of the 2003 World Series, Looper got the win.

In 2004 and 2005 he pitched for the Mets as their closer before returning to St. Louis in 2006. He vultured off 9 relief wins in 2006 and got the final outs in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series. After earning his second ring in four years, Looper became a starting pitcher for the first time in his big league career.

His best start came on June 11, 2008, when he got 5 first inning runs and cruised to a complete game, 3 hit, no walk 10-0 shutout of the Reds.

He last pitched in the big leagues in 2009 when he posted a respectable 14-7 record with the Brewers. But he threw to a 5.22 ERA and led the league in runs and homers allowed.

I urged the Twins to sign him last year, but alas it never happened.

So now he hangs up his spikes. He never was an All Star but a lot of top 3 picks never pan out as major leaguers. (Just ask the Pirates.)

And he has wrapped up 12 full big league seasons (and a partial season in 1998). He saved 103 ballgames and earned over $20 million in the process.

Looper can go home to Illinois with his head high about his career. And he and his wife are raising three children, including a girl they adopted from China.

And if any of the kids ask about daddy's baseball career, he can slip on one his two World Series rings and tell them some tales.

Pujols's contract demands: 400 Bazillion Dollars for 99 years

Actually Pujols' agent Dan Lozano wants the Cardinals to include a 100th year but the Cardinals want the 100th year to be a club option.

I guess agents have a tendency to make a very high bid and then expect it to come down.

I am thinking maybe the Cardinals will counter offer with "Ownership of the Cardinals".

Either way, the Cardinals shouldn't mess around.
As I wrote before, Pujols owes neither the Cardinals nor the fans of St. Louis anything!

In the free agency era, even New Yorkers, Chicagoans and Bostonians should be satisfied with 10 seasons with a superstar. And yes, Derek Jeter's feeling might be hurt by that notion, but after 10 years, multiple MVPS, a playoff MVP and a World Series title, Pujols has earned the right to see what his worth on the open market is.

And guess what, St. Louis? That would be your worst nightmare.
Do you know why?

Because the Chicago Cubs have a TREMENDOUS amount of money coming off of the books after the 2011 season is over.

The New York Mets have a HUGE amount of money coming off of the books after the 2011 season is over.

And chances are the Los Angeles Dodgers will have new ownership who will want to make a splash and spend some dough.

You might have three big spenders who all, by fate and circumstance, have an opening at first base.

You want to try and outbid New York, Los Angeles and Chicago?
Give him the 100th year.

Hey Adam Wainwright. Now would be a good time to WANT that Cy Young

At one point Adam Wainwright looked like the Cy Young Front Runner...

He was 17-6 with an ERA of 1.99 on August 11 and it looked like a 20 win season and a sub 2.00 ERA were in his future.

Then it looked like he decided to make a conscious effort to hand it over to Roy Halladay.
He had been 1-5 since and his ERA has jumped up .51 points.

Now of course he is still in the mix for the Cy Young and some of his losses were tough luck losses.

But a big win here would go a long way. A nice domination of the Padres would land him win #19 and make his ERA closer to 2.00 than 3.00. And the fans would love him for it...

Not the Cardinals fans... GIANTS fans.

Giant fans have images of a Division Title dancing in their heads and the Padres going on another skid would go a long way to making that true.

So come on! It is fun to be loved. Cardinals fans will love you forever if for no other reason than clinching the 2006 World Series.

You can have San Francisco fans love you too and you don't even need to change uniforms.

So come on, Adam. A Cy Young would look good on your mantle. Go for it tomorrow.

GOOD FOR BRANDON PHILLIPS!

Seriously... there can sometimes be too much gentile friendliness among baseball players these days.

Look, I understand that most of the ballplayers are friends now and you aren't going to get any true bad blood between the teams. We hear how rivalries are media creations and teams don't really care who they beat.

Yeah, as if Aaron Boone's homer would have meant the same to the players if it beat the A's... or the 2004 ALCS comeback would have been as sweet for the Red Sox if it were against the Twins.

Well Cincinnati is in its first REAL pennant race in over a decade. (Sorry, I am not counting the end of the 2006 season when the Reds almost backed into the playoffs because the Cardinals imploded down the stretch... even though the Cardinals went on to win the whole shebang.)

Cincinnati fans are coming back. There is reason to be excited again.
And the Reds and Cardinals are starting a TRULY meaningful series. I'm not talking about the "Can the Sox struggle back into the race" series they had with the Yankees.

I'm talking a "Two teams tied in the loss column for first place in mid August playing each other" series.

Now the midwest is supposed to be above anger, hatred and meanness (or so I have read) but Brandon Phillips is having none of it.

He threw a Molotov Cocktail in the direction of St. Louis. According to Rob Neyer (and why would he lie to me?) Brandon not so diplomatically declared “I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”

I love the caveat that he needs to compare his hatred of the Cardinals with the relatively low hatred of the Cubs. As if we ALL knew how much he hates the Cubs and we'd think "Holy Cats! He hates them more than the CUBS! Thems is fighting words!"

How much of this was show? How much of this was playing for the fans?
Who knows and who cares?

Baseball needs to let loose every once in a while. There needs to be a few Kevin Millars and David Wells and Brandon Phillips out there willing to pop off and be fun.

It's fun, remember?

Now Millar and Wells also both came up big in games that led to a World Series title.

If Phillips comes up small down the stretch, he'll be all talk.

But hey, at least it is fun to see this energy out of Cincy.

Keep talking, Brandon. Tell us what you REALLY think.

Beating Cardinals with Cardinals

The first thought I had when I heard the Reds picked up Jim Edmonds from the Brewers was "I wonder why the White Sox didn't deal for Edmonds when the trade for Adam Dunn fell through.

But next of course I thought of the Cardinals of the 2000s. In the 2004 NLCS, Pujols may have been the Series MVP, but it was Edmonds and Rolen who supplied the dramatic homers.

Edmonds hit the walk off homer in the 12th inning of game 6 to tie the series and Rolen's 2 run homer off Roger Clemens in the 6th inning of Game 7 gave the Cardinals the lead that they wouldn't give up.

And in the 2006 World Series, Rolen batted .421 with an OPS of 1.213 and Jim Edmonds got a key go ahead double in the critical Game 3 of the World Series.

Now these huge Cardinals heroes have one duty... take down the Cardinals.

It is an ingenious strategy... get guys who are not intimidated by the Cardinals.

"Am I afraid of the Cardinals recent success? We ARE the Cardinals recent success."

It will be interesting to see the Cardinal fans reaction. The supposed nicest fans in the game will see some of their own trying to beat them.

If the Reds get Pujols, I'll be impressed.