2008 Woodie Awards
Cardinals flounder down the stretch
Brendan Block
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Baseball is a crazy game, plain and simple. I do not know any other sport on earth where the mental aspect of the game affects a player's ability to perform even the simplest tasks e.g. throwing a strike, or getting a hit. It seems to me there is no other sport where an individual can so enormously affect a team, whether positively or negatively. Just like a single break in a metal chain ruins everything.
Rick Ankiel, the catalyst for the Cardinals' midseason resurgence, became on Friday Sept. 7 the cause for a nine game losing plague. Adding insult to injury, the Cubs are in first place. Getting to the heart of the matter, as of this printing, the Cards have lost 11 out of their last 13, and the odds are nearly impossible for a playoff berth. The team seemed to have a chance three weeks ago, when the Cards were only one game out of the pennant.
Since then, Mark Mulder went 0-3 in his first start after shoulder surgery. Rick Ankiel hit with a .069 batting average, in one of the strangest slumps after a story broke in the New York Daily News revealing HGH in his past. The normally stellar Ryan Franklin blew two games from the bullpen with a 13.50 earned run average the 13 game stretch. The Cardinals were winning many times going in to the later innings and lost games by one run.
I honestly think the New York Mets have earned their revenge on the Cardinals this year. They knew how Ankiel was affected by the media. Their paper ran a story with some shock value but nothing incriminating on Ankiel. Looking back, Ankiel let an irrelevant accusatory story become his undoing. Human growth hormones after all were banned after Ankiel stopped using them. To further exculpate the slugger, he had a prescription to use them from his doctor and used HGH for rehabilitation purposes.
Lately his scant batting average may suggest there is more to the HGH story than we suspect. In doing so, we would be committing a post hoc fallacy by assuming simply that since Ankiel's average and the Cardinals season has gone to the dumps is because Ankiel is guilty of violating Major League Baseball's illegal substance rules by possibly being a recent user.
What does seem to be the most viable explanation is that knowing Ankiel's past with mental breakdowns, a negative story from the press affected him and ruined his confidence up at the plate. Steroid accusations, whether true or false, are incredibly hard to shake off, especially for a rookie.
The Cardinals need to empty their pocket book and spend some money to add a dominant starting pitcher. They also must hope that Mulder becomes an effective starter again and that some of the long time veterans in their batting order can be easily replaced. It was very possible for the Cardinals to make the playoffs this year, but our spunk ran out and the floodgates of losses opened in the final stretch before the end of the season.
Editor's Note: The HGH information used in this story in regards to Rick Ankiel has not been completely confirmed or denied by any governing body.
Rick Ankiel, the catalyst for the Cardinals' midseason resurgence, became on Friday Sept. 7 the cause for a nine game losing plague. Adding insult to injury, the Cubs are in first place. Getting to the heart of the matter, as of this printing, the Cards have lost 11 out of their last 13, and the odds are nearly impossible for a playoff berth. The team seemed to have a chance three weeks ago, when the Cards were only one game out of the pennant.
Since then, Mark Mulder went 0-3 in his first start after shoulder surgery. Rick Ankiel hit with a .069 batting average, in one of the strangest slumps after a story broke in the New York Daily News revealing HGH in his past. The normally stellar Ryan Franklin blew two games from the bullpen with a 13.50 earned run average the 13 game stretch. The Cardinals were winning many times going in to the later innings and lost games by one run.
I honestly think the New York Mets have earned their revenge on the Cardinals this year. They knew how Ankiel was affected by the media. Their paper ran a story with some shock value but nothing incriminating on Ankiel. Looking back, Ankiel let an irrelevant accusatory story become his undoing. Human growth hormones after all were banned after Ankiel stopped using them. To further exculpate the slugger, he had a prescription to use them from his doctor and used HGH for rehabilitation purposes.
Lately his scant batting average may suggest there is more to the HGH story than we suspect. In doing so, we would be committing a post hoc fallacy by assuming simply that since Ankiel's average and the Cardinals season has gone to the dumps is because Ankiel is guilty of violating Major League Baseball's illegal substance rules by possibly being a recent user.
What does seem to be the most viable explanation is that knowing Ankiel's past with mental breakdowns, a negative story from the press affected him and ruined his confidence up at the plate. Steroid accusations, whether true or false, are incredibly hard to shake off, especially for a rookie.
The Cardinals need to empty their pocket book and spend some money to add a dominant starting pitcher. They also must hope that Mulder becomes an effective starter again and that some of the long time veterans in their batting order can be easily replaced. It was very possible for the Cardinals to make the playoffs this year, but our spunk ran out and the floodgates of losses opened in the final stretch before the end of the season.
Editor's Note: The HGH information used in this story in regards to Rick Ankiel has not been completely confirmed or denied by any governing body.
Be the first to comment on this story