SB Nation User Blog: the red baron

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Mozeliak, Part Deux

the red baron — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:23:53 -0000

Enclosed you will find Johnny's final grades for the term. I just want to say, once again, what a tremendous pleasure it has been having him in class this year. You will recall, back at the midpoint of the term, I sent along Johnny's grades, along with notes for possible areas of improvement. I have endeavoured to provide you with a similar report at this point, in the hopes that we can work together to further your son's development.

There are, of course, opportunities for improvement. I have done what I can to identify said areas, and I trust that you will take any and all steps necessary to see that these areas are given the appropriate attention. Remember, a symbiotic relationship between the institutional and the home is of paramount import when a child's future is in question.

All in all, it has been a productive and exhilarating year for me, and I hope for the students as well. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or just wish to check in on some bit of minutiae in the progress that John has made, I encourage you to contact me at any time. Until such time as we speak again, I remain,

Sincerely Yours,

Dr. Reginald Ecthelion Dante "Red" Barontonoviel

P.S.- Overall, John's conduct this year was exceptional: however, I would request you please ask him to stop forcing everyone to call him 'Mr. Mo'.

You may all recall I took a look at the job that John Mozeliak did in his first offseason as the Cardinals' General Manager. Well, now that the first actual baseball season of Mo's regime has been completed, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the moves Mr. Mozeliak made, as well as those he didn't make. After all, it's all well and good to grade job performance sans results, but in the end, the results are what really matter. So how did Mr. Mo do?

I thought we would just go right through the same list that I used before, and see if the grades look any different now, as compared to the January edition of the Cardinals.

Organisational Direction

When Mozeliak took over the Cardinal front office, there was turmoil everywhere. He quickly moved to establish at least a semblance of order, of continuity, of just flat out order. At the very least, the work Mo did to try and unite the Cards' house divided was one of the real bright spots of the early part of the offseason.

Now, though, we hear once again of problems within the team's management structure. It no longer seems that Mozeliak and La Russa, his on field manager, are quite on the same page. Of course, it's impossible to pin the blame one place or another; there is such a thing as positive tension, and the conflict between uniformed personnel and the front office types may just be one of those cases. One way or the other, though, you still have to wonder whether or not the harmony that Mozeliak worked so hard to establish will prove to be lasting or not.

Overall Grade: B

Organisational Hiring

All right. I'm going to level with you guys. I honestly don't have much of an idea how these things worked out. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I would be able to tell if an assistant GM were doing a good job or not. So I'm just going to cop right out on this one and say that hey, all the new Cardinal hires are sailing right along, doing whatever it is they're supposed to be doing.

With one notable exception. The one and only person on this list that I do think has done a great job this year is Brent Strom, the Cards' new pitching coordinator. I was impressed early on with the resume that Strom brought to the position, and I've become more and more impressed with all that I've seen from Strom as the year has gone on. From his preseason mini camps for the Cards' top prospects to the whole 'classic mechanics' paradigm that is just beginning to take root in the organisation, I think Strom is one of the brightest, and most intriguing, minds I've come across in a long time in the game. Fantastic hire.

Overall grade: A

On Field Moves

Resigning Joel Pineiro

Oy. This one isn't looking so good, is it? Score one for the 'regress to the mean' crowd. Still, the circumstances here were less than ideal, with lots of uncertainty and funky timing. Regardless, you can't escape the fact that, based on a handful of starts not at all in line with the direction Joel was heading, the Cardinals handed a two year deal to a pitcher who put up an ERA over 5.00 this year. Boooo.

Grade: D

Picking up Izzy's Option

Now this is interesting. What we ended up with was a player who badly damaged the team's chance to win this season, yet it's tough to really say that anyone should have seen it coming. In the end, I still think that picking up the option on Isringhausen was the right move, even though it didn't end up working out so well.

Bitter irony department: and I quote, "What .500 team (or worse), team really needs an $8 million closer?" Well, as it turns out, if the Cardinals' had had a competent closing corps, they wouldn't have been nearly as close to .500 as they ended up. Sigh.

Grade: B+

Declining to offer Eckstein arbitration/ signing Cesar Izturis

It's funny how things work out sometimes, isn't it? Back in January, I really didn't like this move. I thought that offering Eck arbitration was a no brainer, especially considering who the Cards ended up getting to replace him.

In this case, Izturis actually turned out to be a slightly better signing than I had expected. And yes, I say that with full knowledge that he was a truly awful offensive player this year. However, his defense was a significant upgrade over Eckstein, and the improved middle infield defense had a lot to do with the success that the Cardinal starters were able to enjoy this season. Eckstein didn't exactly tear it up north of the border, nor, to be honest, once he got to Arizona either. I'm actually grading up on this one. Don't get me wrong, I don't really want to see Cesar back in a Cardinal uniform next season, but he actually wasn't as big of a disaster as I had feared. Most of what I thought back then does, in fact, still ring fairly true, but at least we got one plus tool, a glove, out of the deal.

Grade: C+

Trading Jim Edmonds for David Freese

Wow. Um, well, this wasn't too bad, huh? Yes, it was very, very difficult to watch Jimmy Baseball play some good ball in a Cubs' uni, but I think we all see just how necessary it was to move him. Do we see the breakout of Ryan Ludwick this year if Edmonds is still around taking at bats? What about Ankiel? The Cards needed opportunity in the outfield, and that's just what they got. Plus, David Freese was a legitimate contender for the organisational Player of the Year award, proving himself a legit prospect even though he's a little old. Fantastic deal all around.

Grade: A

Signing Matt Clement

Sigh. Was it terrible to bring Clement in? No. He was a higher upside arm than some of the other guys out there on the cheap. In the end, though, Clement never threw a pitch for the Cardinals, and was released during the season when it became clear his stuff just wasn't coming back. A justifiable risk, but I think it's fair to wonder whether the Cards should have seen it coming a bit more than they seemed to.

Grade: D

Signing Jason LaRue

I said then that LaRue is a backup catcher and, as such, represents a ridiculously unimportant move. Well, that was before I got a look at the awesomeness that is the Jason LaRue lifestyle. The hair. The 'stache. You just can't get that kind of greatness very often.

In all seriousness, LaRue was quite good as a backup this season. He hit a little better than I thought, and he did a nice job behind the plate. Another good signing.

Grade: B

The Aaron Miles Saga

I have no idea how I feel about this one, honestly. I was happy when the Cards let Miles go, then ticked off when they brought him back. Then he goes out and has a fairly productive year. It wasn't the worst move, as Brendan Ryan certainly bombed, but I still don't see that Miles is really that vital a part of the team. But such is the state of the St. Louis middle infield. It's all just plain blah.

Grade: C+

Releasing So Taguchi

Absolutely the right move. See the Jim Edmonds situation for additional details on the OF crunch.

Grade: A

Scotty Ro for Troy Glaus

This. Was. Awesome. While Rolen continued to have shoulder troubles later in the year as he wore down again, Glaus was everything the Cardinals expected, and more. His defense was far better than I had been expecting, and his bat was right about as advertised. There was that odd little power outage to begin the year, but sometimes things like that just happen. Add to that that he had not a whiff of the foot troubles that helped to depress his stock in the first place, and this one is a slam dunk.

Grade: A

Picking up Brian Barton in the Rule 5

Once again, a move that worked out quite well. Was it frustrating watching Barton play less than a lot of us here felt he should? Absolutely. However, this is a Mozeliak report card, and he doesn't fill out the lineup card.

Barton proved himself capable with the bat, exciting on the bases (though I wish he had been given the green light a bit more often), and just fine in the outfield. I think the arm concerns in ST turned out to be largely overblown. In the end, the Cards added a player with the tools to be at least a platoon outfielder for basically nothing. Not a bad day's work.

Grade: A

Newer moves

These are moves that hadn't happened yet when I did this before. Pretty self explanatory, yes?

Kyle Lohse

The signing of Kyle Lohse just may have been the turning point of the season. Up until then, there was a palpable sense of foreboding hanging over the Cards' season before it even started. The rotation looked to be a mess, and the offense had been positively offensive in the spring. When Joel Pineiro went down with a groin strain and looked to miss the first couple weeks of the season, it looked as if 2008 was going to be a miserable repeat of 2007.

And then came Kyle.

One of the big name free agent pitchers of the offseason, Lohse had found himself sitting home in mid spring training, waiting to see if any team needed his services when the Cardinals came calling. He signed a one year, $4.25 million deal, and the rest, as they say, is history. Mo gets a ton of credit here for acting quickly and decisively to bring in help for the rotation in order to keep his team from starting in an even deeper hole. Face it; George Peppard couldn't have brought a deal together any better than this.

Note: I'm only considering the one year deal and Lohse's performance this year here. The contract he just signed is part of this offseason in my opinion, and I'm only interested in things that affected the 2008 season. The extension is a separate issue.

Grade: A

Trading Anthony Reyes for Luis Perdomo

Let's face it: Mo did the best he could to try and make it work for Anthony here. Unfortunately, when things get to a certain point of broken, it just ain't gonna happen. Such was the situation with Reyes and the Cards. I admired how Mo stepped in at the end of ST and kept Anthony on the team, going against La Russa and Duncan to do so. That shows real leadership. Unfortunately, in the end, the Cards still ended up dealing one of their former top prospects for a Double A reliever. Perdomo could end up being decent, but even so, it's a poor reflection on the organisation the way this whole thing worked out. Mozeliak did probably as good a job as could be expected, all things considered.

Grade: C

The Deadline (Non) Moves

Now, this one is quite likely to create some real controversy. There was quite a lot of angst at the time, mostly from a certain segment of fans, over Mo's failure to get anything done at the deadline to improve the team, particularly the bullpen. Easy to see why, when you consider that the 'pen is probably the single biggest reason the Cardinals' players are making tee times right now, rather than still playing baseball.

On the other side, the manager was clamouring for an impact bat, though where that bat was going to play is still a bit of mystery to me, to be completely honest. La Russa went so far as to question the team's commitment to winning in the press, at least in an indirect, passive aggressive sort of way. Add in all the rumours flying around about Matt Holliday and his Coors Field Park Factor Power being on the block, and you have a pretty tough situation to navigate.

And in the middle of all this, you had Mo, the first year GM, trying not to pull a Jack, as in And the Beanstalk. The Rockies apparently wanted two top prospects for lefty reliever Brian Fuentes, and Fuentes now reportedly wants something in the range of 3/$37 for the pleasure of his company. You look around the league, and virtually none of the players rumoured to be on the move ended up going anywhere. To me, that speaks of a trade market that got out of hand, big time.

Really, the only guy that I wish the Cards could have gotten their hands on was Damaso Marte, the lefty reliever from the Pirates. He ended up going to the Yankees along with Xavier Nady in a deal that probably didn't add up all that well from the Pittsburgh side of the ledger. Of course, Marte then got hurt, so there is that to consider, and the asking price for a divisional rival may very well have been steeper, so I can't really throw much of a fit here, either.

After the smoke cleared, the Cardinals were the team they were before the deadline. And, on balance, I think that was probably the best result we could have hoped for. Was it frustrating to watch the team fall out of contention down the stretch and wonder what might have been? Yes. But the price that likely would have been paid to upgrade the team in any meaningful way would have been steep indeed; probably much steeper than made sense for this team. Sometime you just have to bite the bullet and take the punch. I think it was absolutely the right (non) move to make. Were there some other creative deals that might have been put together? Maybe, which is why I can't give an unequivocal A here. Still, this was for the best, all things considered.

Grade: B+

Signing Felipe Lopez

Yes, I'm aware of all the reasons why Floppy is a bad bet going forward. I've made all those arguments myself, hoping to stave off the (likely) inevitable contract he's going to get. Unsustainable BABIP, terrible defense, and all that.

Yet I'm going to give Mo a decent grade on bringing in Lopez here. Sustainable or not, Lopez has more athleticism, offensively at least, than any of the other middle infielders the Cards have on the roster. Using him in the outfield is an awful idea, but again, Mo doesn't fill out the lineup cards. I don't want to see Lopez back next year, not even as a backup, to be honest, but bringing him in was a low risk move with just enough possible payoff to make it worthwhile.

Grade: B-

Leaving Colby at home

Ah, the final piece of the puzzle. This one's really going to get everyone up in arms, and rightly so. Depending on where you stand, this is either a bullshit point that the anti- La Russa faction brings up to try and knock down your hero, or this is a monumental failure by a franchise to leverage one of its most valuable assets, instead preferring to play utility infielders in center field during a pennant race. As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I was not at all happy that Rasmus didn't get the call, to be honest with you. I think it would have been a fantastic opportunity to get the kid into the clubhouse, and allow him to begin the process of getting acclimated to the majors, if only a little bit. And when you're running Adam Kennedy out into right field on a daily basis, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. If nothing else, we know that Colby plays an excellent defensive center field, so even if he didn't hit, he would have been adding to the team.

Then again, he was hurt, and I'm sure there were concerns that he wasn't ready to be trying to play at a high level so soon. There was thought that he would play winter ball, and he didn't tear up Triple A, and he's only 21, and he hasn't earned it, and yadda, yadda, yadda. Can you tell by my tone where I'm coming down on this one?

In the end, I think this one was a judgement call. You could certainly make an argument for either side, and I can see both points of view. Still, I wish Colby had gotten the call. Even if he hadn't played a lick, I think it would have been good for him to get here, get a look at the stadium, see the crowds, taste the dream. What better way to keep a guy's spirits up and keep him motivated than to give him a taste of what he's been working for all along? We should all remember that Colby is most likely going to be a huge part of this franchise's future for quite a while. At the very least, getting him to St. Louis for the learning experience alone would have been worth it. I think the organisation really missed a chance here.

Grade: D

Final Adjusted Grade: B+

I know we were all frustrated by the way the season ended. It got very, very ugly there at the end, and it left a bad taste in our collective mouths. Still, I think it's important to remember just how bad a lot of us thought this team would be. What we ended up with was an exciting, hungry bunch of players for most of the year that stayed in the race until very nearly the end. The farm system is intact, as Mozeliak managed to avoid getting overly anxious and jumping into a bad deal because the team was fairly close. We have a pretty good idea of what we have going forward with most of the players that needed to get a look. And most of all, with a whole boat load of money finally coming off the books this offseason, the Cardinals have some real flexibility. Let's hope they don't squander it all on magic beans.

Good job, Mr. Mo. All in all, I think you acquitted yourself quite admirably. I'll just bet you get that ten speed you were hoping for in the offseason.

Playoff Game Thread- 4th October, 2008

the red baron — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:15:21 -0000

All three series currently stand at 2-0; our own personal cheeseballs, the Rays, have beaten the White Sox pretty handily both of the first two contests. Unfortunately, they won't be playing tonight, so we'll all be reduced to watching, and rooting against, the Cubbies and Brewers. Fits kind of nicely with my morning post, though, doesn't it?

In the early game, the Brewers will try to stave off elimination by sending Dave Bush, who we all remember as Yadier Molina's personal punching bag, to the mound to opposed the ageless wonder, Jamie Moyer. The Brewers have been quite good against lefthanded pitching in general this season, posting an OPS of .806 against them overall. Still, given the pitching matchup, I have to say that I like the Phillies, even in Milwaukee. I just don't think that much of Dave Bush. I could be wrong, though; it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

In the late game, which is the one I'm really interested in, the Cubbies will send Rich Harden to oppose the Dodgers' latest Pacific Rim import, Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda hasn't gotten a whole lot of press, which isn't surprising, considering he's essentially the Japanese pitcher following Daisuke Matsuzaka to America. Even so, Kuroda has quietly put together a very nice season for the Dodgers. He posted a 3.73 ERA this season, despite a less than stellar 9-10 W/L record. It's always tough to say what you're going to get out of Harden. Wait, that's not quite right. You pretty much always know what you're going to get from Harden, you're just not sure exactly how long he's going to be able to give it to you. I expect the standard five innings of near no-hit ball, after which the Cubs' pen will be asked to hold down the fort and hope that the offense can finally wake up. Bottom line, this game will likely come down to the top five in each team's lineups. If things continue on as they have in the first two contests, Chicago will be going home early, and the Dodgers will be making their first NLCS appearance since the Year of Kirk Gibson.

First pitch for the Milwaukee/Philly game is at 5:37 Central. Enjoy it, everybody. It's the best time of the year.

The Schadenfreude Polka

the red baron — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:02:32 -0000

Ah, what a lovely Saturday morning we have been graced with. Let us all give thanks, children. The weather is clear, the air crisp, and both the Cubs and Brewers look as if they will soon be eliminated.

Remember all the pain that we Cardinal fans were forced to endure this season, watching as the Chicago Nine had good fortune heaped upon them? Remember the shirt untucking, and the homer watching, and the simple presence of Ryan Braun? Let us all give thanks, children, a second time. It looks as if the Cardinals will remain, for another season at least, the only NL Central team with a championship in their current stadium.

It feels good, doesn't it?

All right, now let us all chastise ourselves for taking so much pleasure in the downfall of our enemies. It really isn't healthy, you know. It is, however, ever so much fun.

Our very own adopted playoff team, the Tampa Bay Rays, are also doing as well as one could possibly hope, adding to the sweetness of this young October. And after watching the Rays the first two games of the postseason, I must admit to being even more impressed with them than I was coming into the playoffs. It's one thing to have a young, talented team; it's quite another to have a young, talented team that manages to avoid the pitfalls that often cost such teams in the crunch. And, dare I say, the success of such a young team should certainly force many of us here in Cardinal country to take a long, hard look at the philosophy of our own management team.

As Cardinal fans, we hear, more often than anyone, about the necessity of having veteran players, veteran leadership, veteran this, veteran that. We constantly hear about the distrust of young players, whether it's an unwillingness to commit to a young fireballer as your closer, preferring instead to run a glorified middle reliever out in the ninth inning over and over, or the sight of a speedy young rocket scientist sitting on the bench, while veteran utility players run around the outfield, diving and missing for everything in sight. We are treated to the return of Miguel Cairo, and why? Not because he offers any particular skill set that the team truly needs, not because he represents some sort of upgrade over the current personnel, not even because he fills a position of need. No, we see him because the manager trusts him.

In our poll the other day, regarding who the VEB faithful should adopt as our October rooting interest, we received 1366 votes total. The Rays were a runaway train, garnering 825 votes, for a 60% slice of the pie. The Dodgers were runners up, with eleven percent of the vote, at 151 tallies. The Angels and White Sox were numbers three and four, respectively, with 101 and 99 votes, respectively.

Now, I'm sure there are lots of reasons people voted for the Rays. They're young, exciting, mostly homegrown, and they're flat out fun to watch. Of course, there are also some other possible reasons; i.e. they're completely removed from us ever having to root against them, barring a WS matchup, they haven't beaten our team in a meaningful way for us to hold a grudge, and they play in the same division as the teams that tend to evoke the most jealousy of any in baseball, the Scrooges and the Marleys.

Overall, though, I think the reason that most people voted for them is that many of us here value the way that their team is put together. We like teams that are mostly grown through the farm system. We like seeing young, talented players who are still excited just to be playing the game. My only question, then, is whether or not everybody here thinks we'll be able to see a team of our own with those qualities that we seemingly enjoy here any time soon?

We heard so much last offseason, and even into spring training, about the new direction that the club was taking. Tony La Russa talked at great length about how much he actually preferred a young, hungry club, much to our collective surprise. It seemed like everyone was on the same page. Truly, a welcome antidote to the turmoil and infighting that so characterized the last days of the Walt Jocketty regime.

Now, at the end of the very same season, where do we find ourselves? We had demands for trades for veteran, impact players. We have talk of the team's supposed closer of the future spending next season back in Memphis in favour of another season from the closer of the past. Worse, we hear talk that said young pitcher is being told to change the way he pitches, to work down in the zone more, to get on top of the ball, to stay more vertical, et cetera. We even hear talk of a disconnect between the on field management and the front office, a fundamental philosophical difference. To me, that's all more than a little bit worrisome.

Obviously, I don't necessarily want the Cardinals to be the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are a team that had to endure season after season of agonisingly bad play before finally reaching a point where it looks like they may have some real success for a while. The Cardinals shouldn't ever have to go through such an extended period of poor play, not with the fan base and resources they have. But still, with the Cards' long time pitching coach and managerial confidante signing a new contract yesterday, I think it's probably a fair question to ask. Do we, as fans, really see this team moving toward being the kind of team that we love to root for? Or do we see more of the same, with the same pitfalls looming up ahead that put the Cards into such a hole leading into the 2007 season? Does the team's philosophy truly match our own?

Or, heck, maybe I'm just reading way too much into all of this and grasping at straws to find something to write about on a Saturday morning in October. You could always just go with that, too, if you really dislike what I write. Either way.

I'll be back a bit later on with a game thread for the day's playoff action. Have a nice day, everyone.

Oh, and one other thing. This will most likely be my final Saturday post. Thanks to all of you who have made the assignment rewarding enough to justify having to actually drag my carcass out of the sweet, stuporous embrace of a Saturday morning to try and string together some coherent thoughts. Sadly, I find my energy simply unequal to the task of a full time gig over at the RFT, two days here, and the every once in a while that I have a chance to toss off something over at Future Redbirds. Something had to give. Thanks again, everybody.

They Took a Vote and Said No

the red baron — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:16:53 -0000

Just about everyone chimed in yesterday about the imminent departure of our fearless leader, the esteemed Mr. Borowsky, and I don't have much of anything to add that wasn't said already. However, we do have one more tradition that I think needs to be observed in this case.

Thank you once again, Mr. Borowsky, for your service. It will not be forgotten.

***

With the Cardinals' season over, we're all going to be watching the playoffs sans our beloved local St. Louis nine for the second consecutive season. With that in mind, I thought we might do the same thing we did last season and adopt another team as our official Viva El Birdos rooting interest.

I'll include a poll, and whichever team gets the most votes becomes our adopted team for the next however long, until they're eliminated from the postseason. We'll try to make sure there are game threads, and we can all follow along with some team, at least. It may not be love, but it'll have to do, until the- well, you know the rest.

The candidates:

The Chicago Cubs- We all know the Cubs. We know the players, we know the fans, we know the story. Personally, I could never root for the Cubbies, but you all may feel entirely different. So, they go in the pile.

The Milwaukee Brewers- Again, we're all pretty familiar with the Brewers, their players, and whatnot. As many times as we see them a year, we should be familiar. Pros- Young, exciting team, great story with first playoff appearance in 26 years, pleasant fans and excellent seasoned pork products. Cons- shirt untucking, Ryan Braun, beat the Cards around badly this season.

Los Angeles Dodgers- I admit, I was hoping to see the DBacks get in, just because I happen to like a bunch of their players. The Dodgers are one of those old line, classic organisations that I can really get behind, though, if I must. Pros- Another young team, for the most part. Joe Torre is a class act, and can stick it to Steinbrenner. Lots and lots of Alyssa Milano. Cons- So very tired of hearing about Manny, either being Manny or being anyone else. Everyone still bitter toward Russel Martin. Dodger dogs wildly overrated.

Philadelphia Phillies- Personally, I can't stand the Phillies. I've hated them for a very long time, since those early 90s teams. Mostly, I just couldn't stand Darren Daulton. Pros- Young, largely homegrown team. Feature a local St. Louis product. Tough to root against Chase Utley. I don't know about you, but I really like Brad Lidge. No idea why, but there it is. Cons- Fans are, um, less pleasant than some others. May see a player severely injured by a battery. (actually, that might be under pros; I just can't decide) Said local product has already stolen one MVP from Albert and is attempting to steal another. A drunken, celebrating Brett Myers could mean bad things for Mrs. Myers. Chase Utley should have been ours.

Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays- This one is probably my personal choice. I really like just about everything about this team. Pros- Very young, ridiculously talented. Outstanding story, very '69 Mets. Cool manager, better glasses. May get the chance to see World Series games with empty seats. Cons- Stupid name change irritating. Awful stadium. Really, really awful stadium. Tired of Florida teams winning more championships than us.

Los Angeles Angels- I'm also a big Angels fan; in fact, the only team in the AL West I don't like is the Texas Rangers. Pros- Outstanding pitching, dynamic offense. Always fun to watch, with aggressive, risk taking style. Will likely get to root for half their team in a few years when they're all Cardinals. Cons- No rally monkeys this time around. Largely a bought team, with ridiculous contracts all over the place in the outfield. Still not sure exactly where this team plays.

Chicago White Sox- I can't get on board with this team. I know some people like them, but Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen are both gigantic asshats as far as I'm concerned. Pros- Would irritate Cubs fans. A lot. No, I really mean a lot. No, more than that. Local product Mark Buerhle still kicking around on the South Side. Angry Ozzie Guillen is wicked funny. Cons- Roster full of overpriced, aging players. Crap ballpark. Carlos Quentin should have been in a Cards uni. Obnoxious fans. Happy Ozzie Guillen absolutely insufferable. Stores on Miracle Mile overpriced.

Boston Red Sox- I've said some very nasty things about the Red Sox at various times, and I mostly stick by them. Some are legit, others are motivated mostly by jealousy, I freely admit. Pros- One of the true model franchises in all of baseball. Haven't torn down their historic ballpark for more luxury boxes. Rabid, loyal, and knowledgeable fan base. Word wicked may gain even wider usage. Bill James is the man. Cons- Tired of seeing New England franchises win everything. Fan base also insufferable. Really not looking forward to any more semi nude pictures of Jonathan Papelbon. Friggin Boston.

For the record, Hardcore Legend put up a very nice fanpost a while back, supporting the Rays' October cause, and it got quite a nice response. I sort of suspect they're going to be the pick, but we'll just have to count the tallies.

In Cardinal related news, um, Kyle Lohse's deal still happened. Tony and staff are probably doing exit interviews, and may punch Chris Perez in the crotch as part of his. Uh, that's about it.

It's really pretty outside today, everyone. Try to get out and enjoy the weather, if you can.

Poll

Who do we love?

Game 161 Open Thread- 27th September 2008

the red baron — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:50:11 -0000

Harang The Colonel

6-16, 4.72 12-9, 3.69

The final weekend

Time speeds with each passing year

Good night, and good luck

Kudos All Around

the red baron — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:15:06 -0000

Okay, show of hands, everyone. Who here was surprised to see Ryan Franklin give up that homer? Anyone? No? Well, that's fine. I wasn't either. In fact, I honestly turned to my father (who I was watching the game with last night), and said, "Tie game" the second Franklin gave up the base hit. Sometimes the train sneaks up on you. Other times, it comes roaring out of the tunnel, lights blazing and whistle shrieking. It just so happened to be one of those second times last night.

With that blown save, the 2008 Cardinals tied the franchise record for blown saves at thirty one. Sadly, barring something truly bizarre happening, they won't get a chance to take a shot at the all time record, which is something like 37 for one of those mid 90s Colorado teams I think. Hey, a record's a record, damnit.

I'm just going to come right out and say it. I can't think of a thing to say about this team this morning that we haven't already been over. It's one of the occupational hazards this time of year. So I thought that we could maybe look at the 2008 Cardinals and give out the season awards. So, without further ado (or a patented Red Baron overblown intro), here are your 2008 St. Louis Cardinal season award winners.

Most Valuable Player- Albert Pujols

Honestly, can there be anyone else? I'll give an honourable mention to Ryan Ludwick, who did an outstanding job for the Cards this season, but Albert is the straw that stirs the Cardinals' drink.

It's been said before, and I'll say it again, Albert is underappreciated. And that's no small feat, really, considering the accolades that are consistently heaped on his shoulders. Still, though, no other player in baseball puts up the numbers that he does year after year, with the reliability of a metronome. If AP doesn't win the MVP in the National League this year, it will be a complete travesty. No such worries though about the Cards' award.

How about an 1.109 OPS? Is that good enough to finally get him another trophy? Or will his superior play be trumped by the home run totals and coastal advantage of Ryan Howard? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Cy Young Award- Todd Wellemeyer

This was actually sort of a tough one, to be honest. I gave a lot of consideration to Kyle Lohse and Adam Wainwright for this award as well as the Colonel.

Lohse made two more starts than Wellemeyer and threw fifteen more innings, which very nearly tipped the scales in his favour. Welley, though, led the team in ERA and strikeouts. Both pitchers started out strong, then struggled in the second half of the season. Both also managed to rebound and finish out strong.

Wainwright got consideration because I still think he was probably the Cards' best pitcher this season. He lost only three times all year, and had an ERA that was lower than someone like, oh, I don't know, Brandon Webb, who will most likely win his second NL Cy Young award this year. Unfortunately for the Wagonmaker, those two and a half months he missed do count, and I just couldn't give the award to a guy who made only twenty starts, compared to over thirty for the other two candidates. Even more unfortunately for the Cardinals, if Wainer stays healthy, I'm pretty sure the team finds a way to get in to the postseason.

So the award goes to Wellemeyer, by the slimmest of margins. You could make an argument either way for the Colonel or Lohse, but I just think Welley was a bit more dominant at times this season. So congratulations, Todd. If you had told me back in March that I would be giving Todd Wellemeyer the Cards' CY award, well, honestly, I'm not sure what I would have said. However, I am absolutely certain that it wouldn't have been polite, nor reflected well on the state of your intelligence.

Rookie of the Year- Kyle McClellan

This one, as opposed to the Cy Young, was easy. Not as easy as it might have been in years past, when the Cards simply didn't have any rookies, but still not that tough of a call to make.

For the better part of the year, Kyle McClellan was not only the best rookie on the team, he was the single best pitcher in the bullpen, period. Sadly, his September swoon has severely damaged his overall statistical line for the year, as well as throwing a bit of doubt into some hats about his long term outlook.

At the end of August, McClellan's ERA stood at 3.16. Even at that point, it was on the way up, from just 2.91 on the fifteenth of the month. In September, McClellan has made only six appearances, and been unscored upon only once, in a contest against the Pirates on the 13th. His final ERA stands at 4.04, and his won/loss record at 2-7. Neither one, I think, truly represent just how well K-Mac has pitched this season. Early in the season, though, he often represented the only good choice in the bullpen, and racked up the appearances accordingly. Unfortunately, it looks like it may have taken a toll on Kyle.

While it would be outstanding if McClellan could transition back into the starting rotation, as Azru talked about yesterday, I have to admit that I worry about his ability to hold up over that many innings over the course of a season. Either way, K-Mac was outstanding this year, and deserves a ton of praise for his efforts.

Comeback Player of the Year- Troy Glaus

Remember what it was like when the Cardinals traded Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus? There were a lot of us wondering if the Cardinals got the short end of the stick in the deal. Personally, I was happy that Mozeliak was able to get such a good return for a player who clearly had no chance of sticking around here, but Glaus' medical history did give me pause nonetheless.

Or how about in the middle of April, when Glaus hadn't hit a home run yet? We all wondered where his vaunted power had gone. The spectre of PEDs was even raised a time or two.

Well, it's pretty clear now that the Cardinals came out on the better end of that deal, big time. Glaus had an excellent season for the Cards, by pretty much any measure you care to use. For one, his glove was far, far better than I was expecting, and I think he should probably win the Gold Glove in the NL this year. I don't think he will, but I think he should.

He'll end the season with 25+ home runs, a number that very well could have been higher if not for that odd early season outage, and close to 100 RBIs. I will say, he has to be the streakiest player I've seen since Jim Edmonds back in his glory days.

In the end, it was about as good a season as you could have hoped for from the Cards' new third baseman. Certainly a long way from where he was at the end of last season to the end of this one.

Reliever of the Year- Russ Springer

I considered Kyle McClellan for this one; I really did. Heck, I believe I said earlier that K-Mac was probably the best reliever the Cards had this year. Still, though, when you're looking for that one guy who, night after night, came in to put out the fires started by his bullpen brethren, you just have to acknowledge the year that Russ Springer has had.

For starters, how about a 2.37 ERA? I don't care what sort of measure you go by; that's awfully good. All season, Springer was the guy who came in to get the last out in an inning that was rapidly going bad. For the season, he allowed only eleven of forty five inherited runners to score, probably a more meaningful statistic, honestly. There's a very nice preview of the 2009 Bill James Handbook over at SI.com that shows Springer to be among the elite relievers in the game this season, in pretty much every category imaginable.

I will freely admit it; I was against the resigning of Russ Springer when it happened. It was too much money for a guy who was too old and just wasn't as good as his salary and the Cards just gave the guy the extra money because Russ wanted to play here, and blah blah blah. Well, can you imagine now where the Cardinal bullpen might be without Russ Springer? Personally, I don't even really want to consider it. Was his performance worth the $3.5 million that the Cards paid him this year for his services? Well, that's a much tougher question, and one that ends up having a lot to do with your philosophy on how to construct a successful relief corps.

What I do know is that the Cardinals should have an excess of righthanded relievers to choose from for next season. Of the three veterans in the 'pen, Izzy, Franklin, and Springer, Springer is the only one I want to see in a Cardinal uni next season. Trade Franklin and give Izzy a gold watch, but I would really like to see Springer again. Particularly in a 'pen that could be really, really young, the Cards could do a whole lot worse than to bring back Russ.

Okay, everybody. Those are my season awards. Probably not too very many of them are all that shocking, but I like taking the time to acknowledge the contributions of those players who helped to make this such a gratifying season in so many ways. It may not have turned out quite like we had hoped, but the players here did everything they could to make it better than most of us thought.

Game 158 Open Thread- 24th September, 2008

the red baron — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:02:46 -0000

Scherzer A.D.A.M.

A prodigal son

A chance missed by the home team

Now returns a man

Second Thoughts

the red baron — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:20:47 -0000

Well, that was nice to see for a change, wasn't it? A Cardinal team on the field that didn't include anyone playing wildly out of position, and a victory to boot. It was also nice, for me at least, to see the Cards beat up on Randy Johnson. Not for any reason related to the team itself, mind you, but simply because I don't really like Randy Johnson. No, I'm not really sure why. I don't have a particularly sound reason; the guy just bugs me. Maybe it was having to watch him in an Astros jersey and then having him come back and torment us some more in a DBacks uni in '01.

Anyhow, a lot of the talk this whole season has centered on the middle of the Cardinal infield, and with good cause. With no real exaggeration, it's pretty safe to say that the Cards' middle infield corps has been one of the worst, if not the worst, in all of baseball this year. Wait, let me qualify that. The Cards' MI has been one of the worst offensive units in all of baseball. Defensively, Kennedy and Izturis have both been quite good. Miles is eh at second and badly out of his depth anywhere else, and Felipe Lopez as a fielder is a pretty good hitter. Still, overall, it has been an extremely sore spot for most of this year.

Not too long ago, Lb looked at Brian Roberts of the Orioles, and what it would take to get him. Roberts certainly would represent an upgrade, at least on paper. The question, of course, as is always the case when looking at a potential trade, is whether or not the size of the upgrade would be worth the cost. The jury is still very much out on that, but something struck me while the debate over Roberts was going on. Most of us here have focused on second base as an excellent spot to upgrade offensively for the coming season; the rest of the field is manned by players who, for the most part, are quite adequate and usually better than that with the bat in their hands. We look at a guy like Roberts, project his performance into the Cards' lineup, and begin drooling copiously over what could be.

But a certain point was brought up several times in the discussion over Mr. Roberts that got me to thinking. His age. Roberts is not old, by any means, being thirty one, but the aging curve for second basemen, as several people pointed out, is a brutal one. I was curious as to whether or not that was as true as I thought it was. It's one of those things that just instinctively makes sense, honestly; second baseman are often- I don't want to say 'fringy'- sort of in between players. Often, second basemen are players that used to be shortstops, but lacked the range or the arm. Sometimes they're third basemen didn't fit the power profile most ML clubs look for at the hot corner. Whatever the reason, second basemen as a group are often defined by what they can't do, tools-wise. And any time you have a group of players with less than overwhelming tool sets, you would expect age to rear its ugly head in a big way. (see: Eckstein, David, circa 2007)

But is that really true? Or is it just one of those things that we've all thought for so long that no one even notices anymore that it really isn't true?

So what I wanted to do was to look at some of the better second basemen who have ever played the game, and see if there was any sort of pattern that emerges. I purposely didn't look at strictly average players because, honestly, it would have been much tougher to research. This way, all I had to do was go down the list of the top 50 second basemen of all time over at the Baseball Page (which is a lot of fun, by the way), pick a couple handfuls of them out, pretty much at random, and then look them up. I was going to put the whole shebang in table format, but I didn't, because, to be honest, I simply don't like tables that well. So I didn't.

First, a word about my methodology. As I said, I simply went down the Baseball Page list and picked out several names of players whom I was a little familiar with, at random. I didn't look at any of their bios or stats ahead of time. For offensive performance, I'm simply using OPS+ for this. It's simple, easy to read, and makes an outstanding comparative stat. Yes, there are more in depth ones, but for the purposes of this exercise, OPS+ is pretty much ideal, I believe.

Eddie Collins- Collins is the greatest second baseman ever on the list, which is absolute BS. Just wanted to get that out of the way. He played his entire career with two teams, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Sox. He played from 1906-1930, being one of the few players who escaped the taint of the Black Sox scandal.

Sadly, Collins does nothing to support my hypothesis. He played all the way up to age 43, though his last season as anything resembling a full time player came at age 40 in 1926, when he appeared in 95 games and amassed 226 at bats. That season, he posted an OPS+ of 124, so even at 40, playing probably somewhat intermittently even then, Collins was still a very good offensive player. Of course, that could also be why he's in the Hall of Fame, and all that. The three years before that, Collins posted OPS+ numbers of 134, 135, and 139. His career OPS+ was 151, so those years are pretty well in line with what he accomplished, with very little age related fall off.

Rogers Hornsby- Hornsby is the real best 2bman ever. Just saying.

Most of us know the story on Hornsby, for the most part, since he was a Cardinal great, so I won't give you all the history. He played with the Cards and Cubs primarily, with a little time spent with Boston and the New York Giants. He also finished out his career playing with the Browns.

Hornsby did have a fairly significant age curve. Through age 30, Hornsby was a holy terror. He posted an OPS+ better than 185 six years in a row, from 1920-25. Then, at age 30, he suddenly had a big time down year, with an OPS+ of 124. Still a good year, obviously, but not a Rogers Hornsby sort of year. He rebounded and made that season look like a blip, posting OPS+ of 175, 200(!), and 178 the next three seasons. At that point, age really started to kick in. In 1930, at age 34, Hornsby appeared in only 42 games with 104 at bats and an OPS+ of 96. It was the lowest he had posted since his cup of coffee as a nineteen year old back in 1915. He was better in '31, with 100 games played and an OPS+ of 163, but then received only 58 at bats in '32. He was 36 that year.

Hornsby never again took more than 92 at bats in a season as he played for five more years, serving mostly as player coach of the St. Louis Browns. He was still relatively effective the few times he did step to the plate, but for our purposes, Hornsby's career was mostly over at age 35, maybe 36.

Ryne Sandberg- Sandberg was a Cub. Eewww. He played from 1981-'97, with a career OPS+ of 114. He went into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

At age 24, Sandberg won the NL MVP award with an OPS+ of 140 in 1984. He also put up a 132 the next season, but mostly posted league average offensive numbers his first seven years in the bigs. Some years he was a little above, some a little below, but he was within 10-15 points most of those seasons.

Beginning at age 29, Ryno reeled off four consecutive seasons of 134 or better OPS+. At 33, he posted a 108. He went 83, 96, 83 from ages 34-37 and retired after his age 37 season. He was largely the victim of knee injuries, which probably cut his career short by about two or three years. He was an outstandingly consistent producer even after his body started to wear out, but even so, he was done at 37.

Roberto Alomar- Alomar had his best season in a Blue Jays uni, though he also played for the Padres, Indians, Orioles, Mets, and White Sox. He played 17 seasons, with a career OPS+ of 116.

From age 20 through age 33, Alomar was a model of consistency. He posted an OPS+ of better than 100 every year except one, his age 22 season, when he put up a 98. His two best years were in 1993 with Toronto, at age 25, when he put up a 141 OPS+, and in 2001 with Cleveland at age 33, when he posted a 150.

After that, though, Alomar's career took a turn for the worse. He played only two more full seasons and one partial after age 33, posting OPS+ numbers of 89, 80, and 81. He retired following the 2004 season at age 36.

Frankie Frisch- Another Hall of Famer, Frisch played 19 seasons with the New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals. The career OPS+ for the Fordham Flash (by the way, why do we not have great nicknames like that for players anymore? My kingdom for a sportswriter from the 30s!), was 111. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947.

Frisch broke into the league at age 20. Beginning at 22, he reeled off eleven straight seasons of better than 100 OPS+ ball, through age 32. At 33, he slumped to an 85 OPS+. He rebounded the next season to 111, but failed to crack 100 his remaining four seasons. He was a part time player the last two years and retired after the 1937 season, at age 38.

Eddie Stanky- Stanky was a big part of Dem Bums, the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the mid to late 1940s and on into the 50s. He played only eleven years of major league baseball, mostly with Brooklyn, though some with Boston, the Giants, and the Cards. Career OPS+: 109.

Stanky didn't make it to the bigs until age 26, making him a bit of a rarity here. I believe it was partially because of the war, though I don't honestly have the time to fully research his bio at the moment. He put up OPS+ numbers of better than 100 from age 27 through 34, with the exception of his age 30 season in 1947. At 35,
he joined the Cardinals and posted an 83 OPS+ in part time duty. He put up an 80 at age 36 in even more limited duty, then retired after the season. I don't really know if this was a case of a player who simply fell off very quickly healthwise or if there were issues between the player and his new team, but Stanky still was out of the game at 36.

Red Schoendist- We know him. We love him. 'Nuff said. Red played 19 seasons, mostly with the Cardinals and Milwaukee (the Braves at the time), and posted a career OPS+ of 93. He went into the Hall of Fame in 1989, for his career as both a manager and player.

Red was a bit of a late bloomer offensively, posting OPS+ figures mostly in the 80s for the first seven years of his career. He did have a career high of 97 at age 28. Beginning at age 29, Red put up numbers of 113,135, and 106. At age 32, he fell to an 85, then rebounded to a 97 at 33. He had an excellent year at age 34, with a 116 OPS+, before dropping to a 77 at 35. He played five more seasons, until age 40, but was never a full time player after 35. His last really good season came at 34.

Bill Mazeroski- Mazeroski hit perhaps the greatest home run ever; the homer that won game 7 of the World Series against the Yankees for the Pirates. He broke into the bigs at 19 and played seventeen seasons, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His career OPS+ was 84, He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.

The thing about Mazeroski is that he was never much of a hitter. He never once posted an OPS+ over 100, with his best season coming in 1958 at the age of 21, when he put up a 98 OPS+. Still, he was pretty consistent in his performance, sitting primarily in the 80-90 range most years of his career. At age 32, though, Mazeroski suddenly dropped off, getting only 227 at bats that with a 72 OPS+. He played three more years with OPS+ numbers of 65, 69, and 33 while receiving less and less at bats. He retired at age 35 after the 1972 season.

Manny Trillo- Manny Trillo played seventeen seasons in the big leagues with Oakland, the Cubs, and the Phillies, among others. The Baseball Page has him as the 32nd best second sacker ever. His career OPS+ is 81.

Trillo is another guy who just wasn't much of a hitter. He posted OPS+ numbers better than 100 only twice in a full season, at ages 29 and 30 in 1980-81, respectively. What is more pertinent is that his last season as a full time player came at age 34 in 1985, when he posted a 66 OPS+. He played four years after that and had some success as a part timer for the Cubs, but again, we have a player who was essentially done as a full time starter by age 34.

Tom Herr- Ah, yet another name from our collective Cardinal past. Herr played 13 seasons in the bigs, the first eight and part of a ninth with the Birds. He was traded early in the 1988 season for Tom Brunansky. Not so good.

Herr was a pretty decent hitter, but nothing that was going to set the world on fire. He did have the best year of his career in 1985, posting a 123 OPS+ in almost 600 at bats. Other than that, he was mostly a high 80s/ low 90s player. He had a very nice year for Philly at age 33, with a 107 OPS+. He bounced around his last two years, at ages 34 and 35, and retired after the 1991 season. His OPS+ the last two years of his career were 77 and 86. Again, out of baseball at 35.

I honestly considered Chuck Knoblauch, but I'm not really sure we could learn anything from his career arc.

Del Pratt- Alright, last one. Del Pratt is probably the best second baseman you've never heard of. The Baseball Page has him as the 15th best 2B ever. Pratt played 13 season in the majors, beginning with the St. Louis Browns (mostly why you've never heard of him), then going to the Yankees, Boston, and finally Detroit. His career OPS+ was 112.

Pratt broke in at age 24 in 1912 and did so in style, posting a 125 OPS+. He continued his fine offensive showing over the next four years, averaging a 122 OPS+. He dropped below 100 for the first time in 1917, at age 29. He moved on to the Yankees after the 1917 season and produced OPS+ numbers generally in the 100-110 range, never below 100, for six more years. In 1924, at age 36, Pratt appeared in 121 games, posting an OPS+ of 94. He hung it up for good that winter. We have no real age curve for Pratt, but yet again, a player done at 36 years old.

So what do we really see here? Well, it appears that the conventional wisdom on this one is pretty well correct. Even using just some of the best second basemen of all time, who are certainly by and large exceptional individuals, we have players who mostly were out of the game or seeing quite limited action by right around age 35. Like I said, I used the list of the best to draw from, not only because it was easy, but also to see if the top players at the position aged well. For the most part, it doesn't appear that they did.

What does this mean for the Cardinals? What it means is that if they plan on trying to go out and get a significant upgrade with a player in the middle infield, specifically at second, they should probably pay attention to some history and be cautious. When looking at a guy like Roberts, for instance, the Cards need to weigh his age and everything very carefully. If you're going to target that sort of player, you have to be aware that a four or five year deal that the team might look to get done with this player that they just spent so much in talent on may include a year or two at the back end that isn't up to par. Age 34, 35, and 36 seasons are not good to second basemen historically.

Buyer beware. Or, just go out and find a guy in his mid 20s. Either way. I'll bet I know which one Tony would prefer.

See, now that was just an unprovoked shot. You were so good today.

I know. Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Game 154 Open Thread- 20th September, 2008

the red baron — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:25:19 -0000

Jo-El Lilly

6-6, 5.24 15-9, 4.13

Destroy Ted Lilly

I ask for so little, men

Please do this for me

Until the Real Thing Comes Along

the red baron — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:38:00 -0000

That was fun. We got to see the Cubs beaten, quite badly, and enjoy the Cards put up a big number. Even better, it was against Zambrano. Now, I would never wish ill on any baseball player personally, but watching Big Z get knocked around isn't, shall we say, exactly unpleasant.

And that's what we're really left with at this point in the season. Small victories, tiny packets of happiness even as the ship of the season sinks around us. We may contend next year; then again, we may not. None of us truly know until we get where we're going what we'll find there. So perhaps the time has come to appreciate what we've had, rather than try to diagnose where it went wrong.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not generally the most optimistic of people. I have a very, very tough time looking on the bright side of much of anything, much less something so very disappointing as the latter bits of this season. It's turned out to be a very tough time to follow the Cardinals, even as they've probably still overachieved a little bit, at least relative to what we all thought we were going to look at this season. A slow slide into oblivion? Hey, Aaron's totally into that sort of thing!

Surely, Dylan Thomas had the right of it when he instructed us all to rage, and yet also there is joy, even nobility, to be found in the acceptance of loss, the resignation to fate. To walk forward, sans illusions, to an ignoble end, is the ultimate expression of free will. In the end, we have the choice to accept, to give in, and to find the beauty even in our sorrow.

Thus, as the Cardinals', and by extension, our, season comes to an end, let us sing in our chains, rejoice in our bonds. Rather than raging at the onrushing darkness, let us meet it calmly, with the smile of greeting for an old friend we've met so many times before.

Our season in the sun may be coming to a close, yet the joy still outweighs the sorrow. All beginnings are but the beginnings of endings; the journey to reach the end is the only reward any of us can ever truly hope to achieve.

What will you take from this season? What single moment, among all the good and the bad, will stay with you as the autumn closes in on another summer?

What will stay with me from this season? The fourth of July. The Cardinals lost the game that night to the Cubbies, 2-1. You may remember the game; the Cards were badly, badly hosed on a couple of late inning calls that night against Kerry Wood. Troy Glaus, in particular, struck out looking on two balls clearly out of the strike zone. The next day, in fact, I wrote a piece called "Tangled Up in Blue" here all about the umpiring, as well as my grilling problems.

But what I'll take from that game isn't the game itself, it was everything that went along with it. I remember running back and forth from the fireworks to the game, trying not to miss a pitch or an explosion. I remember being among friends, and the joy of just being able to spend the time with people I care about. The outcome of the game was secondary; that running from place to place, that thrill of anticipation, was the real point. The joy of being there.

So what will it be for you? What memory of the summer now gone will you bring out in the dark months to catch the reflected glow?

It's been a frustrating season, to be sure, in many, many ways. But it's our frustrating season. What has it meant to you?