HEARTBREAK

Throughout the past decade I have been blessed to be able to watch the Cardinals play in the postseason on a fairly regular basis with 7 division titles in the past 10 years. That has created a mentality as a Cardinal fan that winning the division is just what we expect but winning the division is not what satisfies a Cardinal fan. We expect deep playoff runs. We expect to make it to the NLCS and we expect to be a force to be reckoned with for all our opponents.

2009 appears to be vastly different.

2009 appears to be the year where we can’t put it together when it matters.

2009 appears to be the year when Cardinal fans will get a glimpse into the pain that Cub fans have had to endure.

Here is the Cardinals playoff history for this decade.

2000 Cardinals: 95-67, Division Champs, Won NLDS over Atlanta (3-0), Lost to New York in NLCS (4-1)

2001 Cardinals: 93-69, co-Division Champs w/ Houston, Lost NLDS to eventual WS Champion Arizona (3-2)

2002 Cardinals: 97-65, Division Champs, Won NLDS over Arizona (3-0), Lost to San Francisco in NLCS (4-1)

2004 Cardinals: 105-57, Division Champs, best record in MLB, Won NLDS over Los Angeles (3-1), Won NLCS over Houston (4-3), Lost to Boston in WS (4-0)

2005 Cardinals: 100-62, Division Champs, best record in MLB, Won NLDS over San Diego (3-0), Lost to Houston in NLCS (4-2)

2006 Cardinals: 83-78, Division Champs, Won NLDS over San Diego (3-1), Won NLCS over New York (4-3), Won WS over Detroit (4-1)

2009 Cardinals: 91-71, Division Champs, ????

When looking at all those numbers you would see that the Cardinals have had plenty of disappointment (2004 WS) and heartbreak (2001 NLDS) in the playoffs. They have played like unstoppable forces (2006 WS, 2004 NLCS) but also like hopeless fools (2000 NLCS).

It is very possible that 2009 can be added to the heartbreak or fool category.

As of this morning the 2009 Cardinals seemed poised to make a very quick exit from the playoffs. Not two days ago I was singing the praises of mid season acquisition Matt Holliday and this morning I can’t stand the sight of him.

Now I admit that is a tad irrational but when your favorite team is in the playoffs one tends to not be rational. There is just too much raw emotion in the playoffs.

Many would think that losing the 2004 World Series to Boston after that magical season and the thrilling NLCS would have been the ultimate heartbreak but for some reason it wasn’t. I was extremely sad for my favorite Cardinal team of all time that they didn’t win it all but they were never in that World Series at all. It never seemed within grasp. For me personally, one of the most heartbreaking exits was the 2001 NLCS to Arizona. Matt Morris and Curt Schilling battled pitch for pitch in that series and it was eventually lost in the bottom of the 9th in Game 5. A series as close as that was is crushing to lose but someone has to lose, as the Mets came to learn in the 2006 NLCS.

I know I am talking like they have already been eliminated but that blunder made by Holliday is looking like our Bill Buckner, Bartman moment in history. Most teams not called the Yankees seem to have them but that doesn’t make it any less crushing.

Matt Holliday catches that ball, today is a different day. I wouldn’t be in a terrible mood this morning, the Cardinals would be returning to STL tied 1-1, and Wainwright’s brilliant effort would not have been wasted.

So Matt Holliday could very likely bolt for New York, Boston, Los Angeles or Chicago and the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cardinals fans will be left with that searing image of the ball hitting him in the stomach and there would lie Holliday’s Cardinal legacy.