Postseason? Egh...I'm not feelin' it.

No champagne party this year.  :(
Photo Credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch

It’s likely many of you might feel differently than I do, but I am hardly looking forward to the postseason. I know, as a fan I should be excited for baseball to continue until the end of October, but I am depressed and I just don’t have that desire to follow games. I have felt this way for about a week or so now. I made up my mind before the Cardinals were eliminated. Of course I will still watch the postseason, and I will be rooting for Ryan Ludwick and the San Diego Padres if they make it in (and I think I have decided to cheer for the Tampa Bay Rays on the AL side as well). But for some reason I am just not feeling it. I have felt for several weeks that I am definitely over the 2010 season, so maybe that has something to do with it. I am ready for 2010 to be over so we can move on from this mess. So many depressing things have happened with our Cardinals this season that it has made it almost impossible for me to be excited about watching some other team play in the postseason. How can I really be excited to see someone else win when I know my team’s season was a disaster?

Ah, the happier times.  Feb 19, Yadi & Waino after
their first throw in Spring Training 2010.  Yadi said
"That was fun!"  Where did that go?  What happened?
Photo Credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch

I know that Cardinal Nation will forget all about 2010 as soon as 2011 Spring Training is underway (if not before then – most cards fans are probably going into the postseason just looking forward to Opening Day 2011, kinda like the Royals do every year), but I just can’t seem to get past feeling stuck…like this year almost didn’t even happen. I mean, the National League FINALLY won the All-Star Game – with the help of Cardinals Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols & I’m gonna go ahead and say Chris Carpenter helped too – but we don’t get to even share in the benefits that have come from it. I have to see the Cincinnati Reds potentially get home-field advantage in the World Series…gross. We had star-power, we had a promising team, we had 3 solid starting pitchers, the 3-4 duo in the lineup, the personalities…and what are we left with? Nothing.

I hate feeling this way. I hate having to be negative. But this year has really done it to me. The worst part about it is that I have finally gotten to the point where I think it is time for the Cardinals and TLR to part ways. I have never wanted someone to leave (ok, maybe Chris Duncan), but I just don’t think it is working anymore and it is time to try something else. As Aaron Hooks mentioned in his blog, it has been one disappointment after another with this team, and I think that TLR is a big part of that. Where is the enthusiasm? Where is the calling-out of guys who aren’t doing their jobs? Why is he taking it out on the media – Why is he being so short with them? I don’t hate Tony (I met the guy in December 2007, and he was pretty cordial) and I don’t want things to end on a bad note, but I just kinda feel like it’s time to move on. I definitely do not blame everything on him; I just have an “egh” feeling about him returning. But, I don’t make those decisions, and no one is going to take my opinion for worth, so I will just leave it at that.

Remember when the biggest worry was how big the
 McGwire media circus would be? (ST, 2010)
Photo Credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch

Something else that has bothered me a little bit is that people (media, fans, etc) are upset with how little reaction the players are giving us to their poor season. Ok. They deserve it…they have played poorly and they did not live up to their potential and expectations. Fine. But, does it really surprise anyone that they don’t want to fess up to being terrible? These are grown men, they get paid tons of money to play this game and yet they can’t get it together. They play sub-.500 baseball against crap teams and play to the level of the competition for teams above .500. So when reporters are constantly asking “What’s the deal?” and their only answer is that they are “disappointed”, does it surprise you? Not me. Sure, I want more from them…I want them to give me an answer and I want to know why this team has been so bad. I want them to tell me if there are issues in the clubhouse. I want them to say they are sick of themselves. I want a reason. But, we honestly aren’t going to get it. Would you want to admit how much you suck if you played professional baseball? While most of them don’t have outwardly stuck-up egos, they are grown men, pro baseball players, and they do have egos. So, to be astonished that there isn’t an answer or a reaction more than “we are disappointed” would be naïve. I am not surprised at all.

So, what’s the answer to this season? Maybe it is simply, “it wasn’t meant to be.” That is the easy way to look at it. And with the list of things we can pinpoint that were wrong or terrible, it seems pithy, but that is the only thing I can come up with. If they won’t tell us, we shouldn’t have to worry about guessing. I think I am over the fact that 2010 was a tragedy and all I need to do is look forward to 2011.

I want to know how you feel about the 2010 postseason?  Who are you rooting for?  Share your thoughts with me, cause I know I might be the minority in my thinking here.