Friday, September 7, 2007

Take the good with the bad

Or so they say. And the Cardinals have had their fare share of "bad" this year. Beyond the injuries, the Cardinals have faced some crazy stories during this year, from Tony's DWI, Hancock's passing, losing their ace for the year, Encarnacion's freak season (and potentially career) ending injury.
All that, yet the return of Rick Ankiel has seemed to bring SO much joy and excitement to Cardinal nation that a lot of that bad stuff seems like forever ago. The 28 year old is having a stellar year even though it's only a month old. And on what could be considered a "career day", news comes out that he might of used HGH back in 2004. Now granted this article says NOTHING about him taking it after it was banned, and it was also well after his phenomenal 2000. But this couldn't have come out at a worse time. This team has been so resilient all year. And if by some miracle they are able to make the playoffs, I would venture to say it would be Tony's greatest managing yet....even over last year!!! How this team has overcome the injuries and stories that have happened to them this year is beyond me. They have two everyday players who have not been on the DL at some point during this year, and they will have to play the rest of the year without 3 starters and their ace. I don't care how bad the central is, it's an amazing story that they are still in this thing. And I think that no matter what happens, Cardinal fans need to step back and think about that for a second before they complain about the "off" year (that's if they miss the playoff's).
On a side note, one of Tony's better friends, Jim Leyland, said the other day that he fully believes that not only will Tony be managing next year but he thinks that it will be in St. Louis. Take it for what it's worth.

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