What does a REAL fan want from his team?

As my team, the St. Louis Cardinals, currently with 74 wins and 65 losses, 8 1/2 games behind the Central Division leading Milwaukee Brewer begin the last three weeks of regular season play for the 2011 MLB season, one stops for a moment to reflect on what he really wants from his team. In my case, a lifelong Redbirds fan, here is what I came up with:

1. A team that plays EACH game with a REAL desire to win it.

2. A team that plays as a team and not as simply as 25 players each trying to advance their own careers at any cost.

3. A team where each individual member does his best to perform at his maximum effort EVERY day.

4. A team where each individual member truly wants the best for the team.

5. A team where each individual member strives EVERY day to improve.

6. A team where each individual member strives to help the other members reach their potential.

And how does my team, the 2011 Cardinals, rate according to my arbitrary set of criteria? I give this team a B+.

Here’s how I arrived at that score:

1. Tony Larussa’s primary objective for each and every game is to put his team in a position to win. This year I feel like he has done that about 90% of the time. His primary failing occurred early in the season when he stayed too long with Ryan Franklin as the closer, costing the team some very valuable wins. I respect his loyalty to Ryan, who always gave his best in my opinion, but I feel Tony lost sight of what was the best for the team as a whole.

2. The primary reason I rate the team as a B+ is that I don’t feel the team improved defensively as much as it should have, and I feel that our starting pitchers have also failed to improve and carry their share of the load.

Do I still love and ardently follow the Cardinals? YES Do I see signs of hope for this season and the future with this team? YES Why????

SEVERAL REASONS:

1. Skip Shumaker is my idea of what a real Cardinal should be. He always hustles, he takes each mistake hard, maybe a little too hard at times, but he does what is necessary to learn from that mistake. The steady rise of this batting average and his outstanding hitting for the second half of this season is indicative of his great work ethic. Also, his continued improvement as a defensive second baseman, and his willingness to play in whatever position Tony puts him, even as a reliever!

2. Albert Puhols, Matt Holliday, and Lance Berkman are all consummate professions, as is Yadier Molina. Each of them is an outstanding leader as well as a true team player.

3. David Freese, Jon Jay, Allen Craig, and Daniel Descalso are exciting young players who seem willing to to whatever is required to help the team win.

4. Kyle McClellan seems to be most valuable in the bullpen right now, although his heart is set on being a starter. He needs to fully understand that he needs to fill whatever role is best for the team at the time.

5. Kyle Lohse needs to listen more to Dave Duncan and have more heart. A pitcher needs to learn how to put his team into a position to win even when he doesn’t have his best stuff.

6. Jason Motte is becoming an extremely dependable reliever very well may develop into an effective closer.

7.Fernando Salas show great signs of being an effective reliever, as well.

8. Chris Carpenter, although getting older, still has the heart of a lion, and my belief is that he will be very effective in the next few years when supported by Adam Wainwright.

So what do I think we need to do to win this year? Play each game like it’s the 7th game of the World Series, as Tony suggests, and if everything goes just right, we will be successful, whether or not the Brewers choke down the stretch…

 

GO CARDINALS!!!!! IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT WE RESIGN ALBERT, CARPENTER, AND SHUMAKER, AND IT WOULD BE GREAT TO PICK UP RAFAEL FURCAL AND LANCE BERKMAN ALONG THE WAY!!!!!