The Cardinals season didn’t end how they (nor Cardinal Nation) wanted it to. But it was a hell of a ride, full of triumph, turmoil, the loss of a legend, and the kick start to a pitcher’s bright future.
Let’s turn time back a little bit. First to January. It was in January the most beloved member of the Cardinals, and one of the greatest players of all time, Stan Musial, passed away at the age of 92. After a funeral along with a marvelous eulogy by Bob Costas, thousands were on hand throughout St. Louis, despite the freezing cold weather, to pay their final respects to the man that put St. Louis on the map with his smile, charm, and amazing baseball skills, as his casket rode down to Busch Stadium, where the family laid a wreath at his statue by the Third Base entrance, as Redbird Nation sung the song Musial loved to sing and play: Take me out to the Ballgame. The entire funeral and procession were aired on local St. Louis stations as well.
Before the season started, back in March, injuries plagued the Cardinals. Shortstop Rafael Furcal was lost for the season due to a bone spur in his elbow requiring Tommy John surgery, and later, closer Jason Motte, who was recently re-signed to a new contract, also underwent Tommy John surgery, ending his season as well.
Now, we come to April. Most sport “analysts” and “experts” did not even predict the St. Louis Cardinals to make the playoffs, as many believed the Cincinnati Reds would take the division. Granted, some believed the Cardinals would win the NL Central, but, in typical media fashion, the chances were listed as “slim”.
As for coaching, Mike Matheny returned as manager, and John Mabry, who played in MLB for 14 years, mostly with the Cardinals, was promoted to hitting coach. The new assistant hitting coach became Bengji Molina, one of Yadi’s brothers who also played catcher in MLB.
In a 13-4 loss to the Reds on opening day, Busch Stadium had the largest opening day attendance in it’s history with 47,345. The Cardinals finished the month of April with a 15-11 record, good for first in the NL Central, which in time, would become the most competitive division in baseball. However, the Brewers, Pirates, and Reds all only trailed the Redbirds by a game heading into May.
May was a major turning point for the Cardinals, as the slew of rookies the Cardinals had been building up and developing over the years began to rise to the big league level. In the same time period Motte went down for the year, new rookie pitchers Carlos Martinez and Seth Maness pitched in a win over the Brewers, and eventually, both pitchers would make names for themselves: Martinez because of his 95+ MPH fastball, and Maness for becoming a double play machine, forcing over a dozen batters to hit into double plays, topping the majors.
Rookie Shelby Miller pitched a near-perfect game, with only the first hitter getting on base, and pitching perfect the rest of the game on May 10th against the Rockies. Because of his one hit game, Miller won the May “Pitching Performance of the Month” award.
Also in May, for the 39th time, the Cardinals graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. The featured athletes were Adam Wainwright, Miller, Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn and Jake Westbrook, mirroring the famous 1968 Cardinals’ SI cover (with Roger Maris, Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, Mike Shannon and Lou Brock.
The Cardinals ended the month of May with a 35-18 record.
The month of June showed off the true talent that was on the Cardinals’ roster. Hometown hero David Freese, who struggled in the beginning of the season, had a NL-top 20-game hitting streak continue from May into June, but ended June 12th against the Mets.
Heading into the All-Star Game in July, five Cardinals’ were selected to be on the NL team: Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Carpenter, and Craig.
With the month of July ending, the Cardinals held a strong lead in the NL Central, and possessed a 62-44 record, and also were leading the MLB with a .333 BA with RISP. Although not evident in the postseason, St. Louis dominated many games throughout the season because they had a high RISP BA.
On August 6th, against the Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw, St. Louis ended L.A’s 15-game road winning streak, the fourth longest in history. On August 30th, the Cardinals acquired John Axford, a relief pitcher, from the Milwaukee Brewers.
The month of September showed off the true loyalty of Cardinal Nation, as for the 10th straight year, attendance reached the 3 million mark, and throughout the season, an average of over 41,000 would partake in Cardinals’ games.
On September 21st, closer Edward Mujica was removed from the closer role due to increasing fatigue, although he remained in the bullpen.
Possibly one of the most known games in the month of September for the Cardinals came on September 24th. Facing the Washington Nationals, rookie sensation Michael Wacha, who was drafted 19th in 2012 with a draft pick given from the Angels in the major Albert Pujols deal, was one out away from throwing the first Redbirds no hitter in 12 years, but Ryan Zimmerman hit a ball off Wacha’s glove and reached base. The Cardinals did win the game, and it was only a foreshadow to the amazing run Wacha would soon have.
In September, Shannon returned to the KMOX broadcast booth after taking time off due to a valve replacement surgery.
Three days later, St. Louis clinched the NL Central for the first time since 2009, and soon would win home-field advantage, having the best record in MLB (tied with Boston) at 97-65.
But when the postseason rolled around, the Redbirds had to face Pittsburgh once more, and on the brink of elimination in Game 4, Wacha pitched 8 innings allowing one hit (a home run) and with a two-run homer by Matt Holliday, the Cardinals sent the series home for Game 5, where Wainwright shut Pittsburgh down to win the NLDS.
Wacha’s dominance in the postseason continued into the NLCS, where, in a tough series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he out-dueled potential Cy-Young winner Clayton Kershaw not once, but twice, including the clinching Game 6, winning NLCS MVP and just like that, the Cardinals were heading to their second World Series in three years against the Boston Red Sox, a team that nine years prior, had swept St. Louis ending the “Curse of the Bambino”.
St. Louis was not going to let that happen this time. They would head into Fenway confident about their chances.
When they got there, however, aside from strong pitching from St. Louis most of the series, the team struggled. Boston took Game 1 in dramatic fashion, 8-1 aided by ace Jon Lester. The Cardinals’ struggled with RISP throughout the entire series, something they had done considerably well in during the regular season. In Game 3 of the World Series, for the first time in MLB history, the game ended on an obstruction call: Will Middlebrooks, who was the Red Sox third baseman, fell down trying to grab a ball thrown wide away from him, but at the same time, an injured Craig was trying to score. Middlebrooks’ legs tripped Craig as he limp-ran his way home, but the umpire saw the obstruction and awarded the run to St. Louis, winning the Game. Unfortunately, that would be the last win St. Louis would have in the World Series.
And ultimately, the Cardinals magic had run out, at least for the current season, and in six games, they lost the World Series to the Boston Red Sox, in the fourth meeting between the two teams in the World Series.
The 2013 season was notable for the Cardinals because so many rookies played a role in some way helping out the team win the NL Central, and make the postseason. Veterans such as Molina and Beltran provided mentoring and leadership to the younger stars, and despite an injury, Matt Holliday‘s production proved very important in the Cardinals’ success throughout the season, especially in the final months, including the game winning home run in Game 4 of the NLDS on the brink of elimination.
St. Louis had called up many new and developing stars throughout the year, including Kolten Wong, an infielder with tremendous speed and good hitting prowess, and second-year player Matt Adams, despite struggling against off-speed and curveball pitches, actually hit nearly as many home runs as Beltran despite playing in less than 90 games. Other younger players such as Pete Kozma provided key holes needing to be filled when injuries hurt the team before and during Spring Training.
Beltran won the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award, Carpenter (Matt) was one hit shy of 200 in the regular season, Craig finished third in MLB history with a .454 BA with RISP, Molina won his sixth consecutive Gold Glove Award, and Wainwright won his second. Waino also tied Washington’s Jordan Zimmerman with 19 wins, leading the majors.
It was an up-and-down season for St. Louis, with plenty of highs, and a slew of lows. But through every injury, every loss that pushed them out of the Central lead, and lack of production from the bottom part of the lineup, the Cardinals persevered and fought through it all, winning the division, having the best record in baseball, beating two highly competitive teams in the playoffs, and stuck with Boston so much it took six games for the World Series to be decided. While winning it all would have been nice, they not only are the 2013 National League Champions, but seeing the amount of young stars in the farm system and the current MLB roster, mixed in with veteran and experienced stars, shows that St. Louis is not only the best run organization in baseball, but also one that has many World Series’ wins in their future.
It’s been a great ride so far, Cardinal Nation. A ride that has only just begun.
Let the countdown to 2014 commence….
