2010 Cardinal Blogger Awards Ballot

Each year the United Cardinal Bloggers put out postseason awards. Since there were four of us voting, of course we had to make it into a little roundtable back and forth between the four of us, if for no other reason than because it gave us an excuse to chatter about the boys together for a couple days over email!

So without further ado, here is our ballot for this year...

Cardinal Bloggers Awards

2010 Ballot

1. Player of the Year
–Matt Holliday - Erika surprised no one with this vote, saying, "Holliday, because I love to watch him.  More reasons? Because he rallied back after a dry spell and played like every out mattered to the bitter end.  Everyone is going to say Albert because he is Albert.  But I think Matt gets a nod here too."
–Albert Pujols - Erika was outvoted. Jacqueline said it best, "Best player in the game from Opening Day to Oct. We are blessed to watch him play. Doesn’t take him half a season to 'warm up'."
–Colby Rasmus
–Write-in: _______________

2. Pitcher of the Year
–Chris Carpenter
–Jaime Garcia
–Adam Wainwright - Did you even have to ask? Now that he has officially taken home 2nd place in the Cy Young voting, it's a no brainer who the best pitcher was for the Cards this year... and no, I'm not saying that just because he's my favorite. This one was unanimous! The announcement yesterday also tripped a clause in his contract that will most likely (provided he does not end 2011 on the DL - please no!!) keep Adam in the birds on the bat through 2013. Consider this our CDD happy dance of the day!
–Write-in: _______________

3. Game of the Year
–April 5 at Cincinnati–Opening Day, 2 HR from Pujols, slam from Molina
–May 30 at Chicago–Pujols three home runs
–July 18 vs. Los Angeles–Five runs in eight and ninth to win
–July 19 vs. Philadelphia–Four home runs
–August 10 at Cincinnati–Brawl, home run from Molina - Well now you know what gets our blood boiling! Erika chimed in with, "Finally we played with real passion and it finally looked like it would propel us into first and keep us there…..Not exactly." I think all of us in Cardinal Nation had our blood boiling during that series, and to fall flat and not ride that adrenaline high or whatever you want to call it right through to October was a definite letdown after the smackdown the Cards laid on Cincy that weekend.
–Write-in: _________________

4. Surprise Player of the Year - One of the bummers with having 4 votes is that we completely split. While I tried to be the deciding vote in most of these, I couldn't make it happen here. So here's our tie!
–David Freese - Erika and Jacqueline sat firmly in this camp, with Jacqueline saying, "Complete player. Hot bat, good glove, bad ankles."
–Jaime Garcia - Cadence echoed my thoughts with this one, "Although I knew he would be good, I wasn’t expecting Jaime to come out like this.  Awesome to watch." I absolutely felt the same way. Every time I saw Jaime pitch this year was awesome! I'm looking forward to see him and Waino taking turns shutting down the opposition for many years to come.
–Jon Jay
–Write-in: ________________

5. Disappointing Player of the Year
–Kyle Lohse - Jacqueline
–Dennys Reyes
–Brendan Ryan
–Write-in: Brad Penny - Cadence says, "I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from Penny, but not seeing him again after the Grand Slam was a surprise to me.  Did anyone know the injury would be that bad?  Even Kyle Lohse had surgery and came back (while not necessarily good, he came back).  Even better, we hear in the offseason that Penny spent his “hard earned” Cardinal cash on an engagement ring."  Disappointing. Ang agrees, and that became the deciding vote.
Erika did not vote in this one, hysterically (predictably?) saying, "I can’t even answer this one!  Calling any of them disappointing would be too mean!  Haha  Help!!" Don't worry - we got your back on this one!

6. Rookie of the Year
–Jaime Garcia - Another unanimous vote for us. I was pulling for Jaime in spring training to snag that fifth spot in the rotation. I wasn't exactly expecting him to hold down the third spot for most of the year! It would have been unfair to have such lofty expectations for the 24 year old who was rolling out of Tommy John surgery rehab, so we've chalked him up as a "pleasant surprise"... one that we hope to see again in 2011!
–Jon Jay
–Fernando Salas
–Write-in: _________________

7. Acquisition of the Year
–Aaron Miles
–Brad Penny
–Jake Westbrook - Jacqueline took the words right out of my mouth when she responded with, "Is this question for real? Brad Penny won four games and spent the rest of the season Dancin with a Star. Miles really didn’t do too badly, just wasn’t a huge game changer. Westbrook could be a good acquisition if he stays a Card." Guess what? We win!
–Write-in: ________________

8. Biggest Off-Field Story
–Jaime Garcia’s shutdown without him knowing - I'm pretty sure that I knew Garcia had been shut down before he did. That's pretty impressive. Erika's got a point here, "Hard to pick between this and the Colby story.  But the Garcia shutdown was fascinating because it involved how social media and twitter can directly affect  the communication (or lack of) within a professional sports team.  The fans knew before Jaime?  That still amazes me.  Do the players like or loathe twitter?  A curious question."
–Mark McGwire’s return to baseball
–Colby Rasmus’s trade request
–Write-in: _____________

9. Most Anticipated Cardinal - Shoot, another split vote. Daniel's going to be maaaaaad...
–Zack Cox - Cadence and Jacqueline went for this year's number one draft pick, saying, "Supposed to have a major league ready bat. 3rd baseman who might be moved to 2nd. Bring it on!"
–Lance Lynn
–Shelby Miller - Last year's number 1 draft pick spent the year at high A Quad Cities, and Erika and I are waiting to see if he lives up to the hype, but I know we both realllllly want him to.
–Write-in: ________________

10. Best Individual Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: C70 - The first blog that comes to mind, and Jacqueline was just kidding when she added, "Very informative-great writing. I could be sucking up."

11. Best Team Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: PH8 - Each one of the guys over at Pitcher's Hit Eighth gives a different point of view. Sounds kind of like us!

12. Best Media Blog
–Bird Land - Derrick Goold is probably our collective favorite scribe for the Cardinals, and his depth of research makes every piece worth the read.
–Cardinal Beat
–Obviously, You’re Not A Golfer
–Write-in: _______________

13. Best UCB Project
–Cardinal All-Decade Team
–Progressive Game Blog
–Roundtables - Far and away the winner here. Cadence said it best, "While I couldn’t participate every time, I really enjoyed the banter.  Cool way to get a lot of bloggers in one place."
–Write-in: ______________

14. Most Optimistic Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: C70 - We were basically unanimous here, although Jacqueline chipped in with, "We’re Card fans. Even when we’re discouraged or angry, we know it’ll get better. We ain’t the Mets or God help us…the Cubbies." In that case, we all win this award!

15. Funniest Cardinal Blog
–Write-in: Joe Sports Fan - Is there something amusing going on in the sporting world? Do you need amusing photoshop pictures to brighten a strange situation (the Colby/Tony spat comes to mind)? Are you entertained by people obsessed with mustaches? Matt and Josh have you covered. Trust us - you'll laugh daily!

16. Rookie Cardinal Blog of the Year
–Cardinal Diamond Diaries
–i70baseball - We've obviously got a lot of respect for all the hard work that goes into i70 on a daily basis, from the writers to the editors to the *cough* photo gal *cough*. Those of you that read us but not i70... umm... where have you been???
–RetroSimba
–Welcome To Baseball Heaven

–Write-in: _______________

Girl Talk - The Best Part

Oh, dear Cardinal Fans, our season has come to an end.  Our Redbirds played 162 games.  The good, the bad and the ugly all combined for a final 86-76 record. The Cardinals ended the 2010 season winning 5 straight games, including a sweep of the Rockies to finish in 2nd place in the National League Central.  It was not the most glorious of seasons, but we certainly had some fun along the way.

It is Monday and we are sticking with our 'Girl Talk' round table format for another week. Today we are looking for those golden moments of the 2010 Cardinal season.

This week's topic:
  What one event/game/player was the highlight of the 2010 Cardinal season (for you)?

Cadence:  I have enjoyed plenty this season – yes, hard to believe with the not-so-stellar season but I believe there have been plenty of good things too. I could repeat my first post with CDD saying my favorite thing this season was fan photo day and getting pics with all those players, but I won't.

Instead, I will say, quite simply, that Jaime Garcia has been the best part of the 2010 Cardinal Season for me.

"Jaime Garcia celebrates his 3-hit complete game shut-out
 on August 22nd against the Giants."
St. Louis Post Dispatch

Not really a surprise that he was as good as he was. When we saw him briefly in 2008, I thought he had some good potential. Now, to see what a great job he has done – coming back strong from Tommy John surgery and stepping up as the #3 starter – I have been blown away! Garcia has definitely been a bright spot in a dismal 2010 Cardinal season; going 13-8 with a 2.70 era (ranking 4th among starters behind Johnson, Waino & Halladay) and putting up his first-career complete game shut-out (which I was in attendance for). One moment in particular that I felt he stepped up was August 10^th in Cincinnati; being the starting pitcher during the game of the infamous brawl, he was able to compose himself and pitch like a veteran as the Cardinals went on to win. The kid is good, and I can't wait to see more from him in 2011. 

Erika:  Matt Holliday.  Last year during the offseason I spent far too much emotional energy hoping and fretting about the chances that Holliday would be a Cardinal in 2010.  A slugging, handsome Oklahoma boy like that was destined to join my dear Cardinals.  He signed.  I was in heaven.  

After watching Holliday struggle to find his groove early on, it was a pleasant relief to see his bat catch fire in the 2nd half.  So many impatient fans were disappointed when ol' Matty was struggling offensively at the start of the season.  Shoot, even Holliday himself was frustrated.  But since the All Star break he has been the more consistent powerhouse we were hoping for.  

Hunky Swing - photo by Erika

Since mid July Holliday has hit .331 with a .413 on-base percentage and a .541 slugging percentage.  In interviews Matt has frequently referred to the baseball season balancing itself out, stating every player goes through phases.  Personally, I really savored Hunky's hot phase here at the end.  Without a doubt, Holliday has been my bright spot.  He played with 100% hustle in the outfield all the way to the final out, and (the gals knew this was coning...) watching Matt 'Hunky' Holliday dig in at the plate has been the highlight of my 2010 Cardinal season!

Jacqueline:  Nobody does it bettah, or as I like to say he’s like buttah! Albert Pujols is simply the best player I will ever watch play the game. In 2010 he was without a doubt the best part of the season. Yes, we have grown to expect it. Yes, we are spoiled by his stellar play. But I refuse to hold that against him. 

photo Credit: Chris Lee, St. Louis Post Dispatch

Since I grew up hearing about Stan the Man and Gibby, I cling to the miracle that I have Albert Pujols to watch every day. But ya don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s the individual stats that matter. I’m not gonna bore you non stat heads with a lot of numbers. I’m just gonna tell you his ranking in the National League in those categories that make him an MVP year in year out. Albert ranks 1^st  in HRS, RUNS, RBI and is tied for 1^st in SLG and WAR. He ranks 2^nd in OBP, OPS,  and WPA. He ranks 6^th in BA and 19^th in CLUTCH. All these stats are courtesy of our friends at FanGraphs. Here’s the link http://bit.ly/dmTSn8 if you want to peruse them or need a description of what WAR, WPA and CLUTCH mean. We all know Albert is so much more than numbers. As I watched the Stand for Stan ceremony yesterday, there is no doubt in my mind, there will be one just like it for Albert one day. He is now and forever a Cardinal. I’m verklempt. “Discuss amooangst yooaselves”.

Angela:  Get ready for something really sappy (this doesn't happen very often), but for me, the best part of the 2010 season was the people. I'm sure that I'll remember the players and I will probably remember the disappointment of the season overall, but this season I got to attend eight Cardinal games (a personal high) in three different cities with people that are closer than close (family members), friends that I hold dear to my heart, and thanks to the miracle of Twitter and this blog, fans that I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise. I saw some fun games (Stavinoha's HR off Trevor Hoffman in MIL), some unexpected games (Hawksworth's nice start in the sweltering KC heat), and a laugher or two (18-4 on CDD night at Busch). In just those three examples I met or spent time with 8 different Cardinal fans to the core. 

The players might be the ones that make the games happen, but the fans make it the experience. Thank you for sharing it with me. I hope to meet more of you in 2011!

Those are our 2010 highlights.  Add your own in the comments below!  We'd love to read 'em... reliving the good stuff helps ease the pain of *gulp* the reality that the season is over.  =)

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

The Cardinal Diamond Diary Gals