The St. Louis Cardinals ended its great playoff run by claiming its first World Series Championship in 24 years. They secured the title with a win Oct. 27 by defeating the Detroit Tigers 4-2.
Pitcher Jeff Weaver, the starter for the Cardinals, continued his outstanding playoff performance by pitching eight strong innings. Weaver gave up only four hits and two runs, one of which was earned.
Shortstop and World Series MVP David Eckstein provided the offense for the Cardinals with a RBI double in the fourth inning. The Cardinals capitalized on Detroit’s mistakes as they’ve done in the past. The Tigers committed two errors in the game that contributed to three of the four runs by the Cardinals.
“It’s a great honor, but I feel like I was trying to do what I usually do. I just got very fortunate and found some holes,” said Eckstein on being named World Series MVP, according to a press release on MLB.com.
Detroit Tiger first baseman Sean Casey provided the only production from the Tigers all night, hitting his second home run of the World Series.
The Cardinals won its 10th World Series in 17 attempts. They are second only to the New York Yankees who have won 26 World Series titles.
The Cardinals added to the record books in two categories. They had the second worst record (83-78) in baseball history to win the World Series. Secondly, Busch Stadium became the first ballpark since Yankee Stadium (1923) to host and win a World Series title. Also it was the first ballpark since Fenway Park (1912) to clinch the World Series at home.
“Now I can say I have a World Series ring in my trophy case,” said first baseman Albert Pujols. “And that’s what you play for. It doesn’t matter how much money you make or what kind of numbers you put up in the big leagues. If you walk out of this game and you don’t have a ring, you have not accomplished everything.”
“We were bad at the end of the season, there isn’t any doubt about it,” said Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen. “A lot of people said we backed into the playoffs, and I have no resentment for that. But we didn’t have to prove anything to anybody. We barely made the playoffs, and we turned around and played as good baseball as we could play and ended up being world champions.”
Many writers and fans would criticize Detroit Manager Jim Leyland’s decision with starting pitcher Justin Verlander in Game 5. Reasons go in the favor of the fans and writers and also with the manager’s decision. When there’s a situation of possible elimination, the best pitcher should start the game. Looking at postseason performance, pitcher Kenny Rogers has the numbers to prove the case. When the manager writes the lineup card, the best players are put out on the field to win.
Leyland made the right decision, because if Detroit wins with Verlander, then Rogers could pitch Game 6 back in Detroit to give them the best shot to force a Game 7.
It goes to show that baseball always will be a game of numbers. It is more in baseball than in any other sport. Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals as they are the 2006 World Series Champions.
