UCB Cardinal Blogger Award Picks
Posted by JE Powell
It’s that time of year again when members of the United Cardinal Bloggers get to make their picks for for the Cardinal Blogger Awards. This year, however, readers get to vote for the Awards, too! Readers can vote here. So here’s your chance to make your voice heard. Well, not really your voice, but you get to make your picks known.
There are twenty categories and I have gone through and carefully determined who I feel is the best choice and why. So gather ’round and let me tell you the tale of the SS Minnow and its three hour tour…er, I mean let me tell you my picks:
Cardinals Player of the Year
Lance Berkman
This felt like an easy choice to me. Albert Pujols had more home runs and more RBI, but had trouble the first half of the season and grounded into a lot of double plays. Berkman was consistent all season long and filled in for Pujols while Pujols was on the disabled list. Berkman had 31 HR and 94 RBI, so he was pretty close to Pujols’ numbers and had a slightly better batting average at .301 (compared to .299 for Pujols). With Matt Holliday injured on an off all season, Berkman had to carry the team the 1st half and had some big hits in the playoffs.
Cardinals Pitcher of the Year
Chris Carpenter
Like, Pujols, Carpenter struggled the first half of the season, but turned it on the second half of the season and was huge in late August and all of September and October. Carp pitched a shutout on the last day of the season and, coupled with an Atlanta Braves loss, helped the Cards secure a playoff berth. He also pitched a 1-0 shutout in Game 5 of the NLDS and pitched on 3 days rest in Game 7 of the World Series to ensure the Cardinals 11th Championship.
Regular Season Game of the Year
September 7th vs. Milwaukee
Carpenter pitched a 2-0 complete game shutout of the Brewers and struck-out Nyjer Morgan, which caused Morgan to have a temper tantrum. That was the Cardinals fifth win in that last six games against the Brewers and Morgan’s temper tantrum may have been a sparking moment that sent the Cardinals onto the playoffs and World Series.
Post Season Game of the Year
World Series, Game 6
This game could probably win Cardinals Post Season Game of the Decade without much effort. This was one of the best games I have ever seen in my life, period. The Texas Rangers took a 4-2 lead and the Cards tied it. Texas took a 7-4 lead and the Cardinals tied the game when they were down to their last strike. Texas took a 9-7 and the Cardinal tied it, again down to their last strike. David “Absolute Zero”** Freese hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 11th to win the game. The Cards may not have officially won the WS until winning game 7, but in reality, they won the World Series in game Six.
Surprise Player of the Year
Lance Berkman
Berkman had a disappointing season in 2010 and was traded from Houston to the Yankees where he continued to disappoint. However, he signed a one year deal with the Cardinals and ended up winning Comeback Player of the Year and had 31 HR and 94 RBI while batting .301. There was quite a bit of speculation that he probably wouldn’t be able to play the outfield any longer or that he had lost his swing or whatever. He proved them all wrong.
Disappointing Player of the Year
Colby Rasmus
Rasmus had a strong first couple of weeks, but then began to slowly taper off and after 94 games played he was only batting .246 will 11 HR and 40 RBI. Not necessarily bad stats, but when a player whines and complains that he isn’t getting enough playing time when it seems obvious that he just isn’t trying very hard out in the field on defense, it’s disappointing. He had a lot of potential, but his maturing needs some work.
Rookie of the Year
Allen Craig
I think it’s fitting to pick Craig here, because this category follows Rasmus. Craig also had 11 HR and 40 RBI for the Cardinals, but did it in only 75 games. He also hit .315. Craig came up huge in the playoffs, especially off the bench in the World Series.
Pre-Season Acquisition
Lance Berkman
Sensing a theme here? I don’t think I can add much to what I said the last two times a picked. He was just very important to the Cardinals run this year.
Mid-Season Acquisition
Marc Rzepczynski
To steal a line from Mystery Science Theater 3000, Rzepczynski “isn’t a name, it’s a bad scrabble hand.” But this left hander really helped to solidify the bullpen and got some huge outs against left handed hitters in the playoffs.
Most Anticipated Cardinal
Shelby Miller
Jake Westbrook has really not worked out that well for the Cardinals. In fact, they only used him for one inning during the entire playoffs. He will be the 5th starter in the Cardinals rotation, but if he is struggling in late July or early August, I think the Cards will call up Shelby Miller. Miller has some maturing to do, but I think he will be a very important piece in the Cardinals rotation. Even if it’s not in 2012, I think he will be a starter in 2013.
Best Individual Cardinals Blog
Daniel is the Godfather of all Cardinals bloggers. He started the UCB (United Cardinal Bloggers) and the BBA (Baseball Bloggers Alliance), but his blog is more than that. He is insightful and puts a lot of time and effort into his blog. His blog post Happily Ever After is one of the better Cardinal posts I have read in quite some time and when I got done reading, I went back and reread it. It was that good.
Best Team Cardinals Blog (A blog with 2 or more bloggers)
Nick, Dennis, and Josh run an insightful, funny, witty, and enjoyable blog. I often find myself laughing out loud or nodding my head in agreement with something they have written.
Best Professional Cardinals Blog
Derrick Goold is a blogger and journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His blog updated regularly and he often has inside information on trades, rumors, or anything Cardinals related.
Best Rookie Blog (Started after December 1st, 2010)
I had the pleasure of meeting Christine during the UCB Event at Busch Stadium the third game of the season and Tara and I interviewed each other for the Get to Know A UCBer monthly project in August and I had quite a bit of fun with that one. I have only read posts by Miranda, but I enjoy her upbeat writing style. AMF is a great site and I really do not see them having a sophomore slump.
Post of the Year
This blog post gave me goosebumps. It was just that damn good. I am not going to defend this pick. It can defend itself. Read it. Now! Go!
Best UCB Project
Get to Know a UCBer
Most Optimistic Cardinals Blog
Honestly, just check out the site. You will feel better about yourself and life in general. Trust me on this.
Best United Cardinal Bloggers Podcast
UCB Radio Hour
Best Cardinal Tweeter
@greenazn
Best Fake Twitter Account
@BuschSquirrel
I gotta be honest and say that I rarely tweet and I haven’t checked out any of the fake twitter accounts. I was listening to the MLB Network on XM and heard someone mention that an account had already been created just after the squirrel ran over home plate. That’s why I picked it.
Those are my choices for the Bloggies. You can read all the picks from the other bloggers at the UCB Official Site and don’t forget to vote for yourself, dear reader, the link is all the way back at the top of this post. There are many, many wonderful Cardinals bloggers and blog sites out there, so make sure that you hop over to the UCB site and check them ALL out.
**I call David Freese “Absolute Zero” because when he was up to bat twice during game six of the World Series and again in game seven he didn’t have ice running through his veins, he was so cool that all molecular activity ceased.
3 Responses to “UCB Cardinal Blogger Award Picks”
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- - November 11, 2011
While I know we are a team, I have to disagree with a couple of your picks, JE. Best postseason game, in my opinion, was the Halliday v. Carpenter game 5 duel! One of the most incredible pitching matchups I’ve ever seen (and that’s saying a lot, as I saw Kenny Rogers throw a No Hitter).
Also, biggest disappointment player: Not Colby! Colby added so much value by leaving, that he is almost MVP worthy. I would say the biggest regular season disapointment was Jake Westbrook. I can’t remember a single game, where I felt comfortable with him in the game.
The Carp Vs. Doc Game 5 was in the running for me and it was a hell of a pitchers duel, but WS Game 6 had a hundred lead changes, late inning heroics, and many historical moments. Despite the tension (and bouts of anger from yours truly) WSG6 was a much more “fun” game than DSG5.
Westbrook wouldn’t be a bad choice, but he won 12 games and pitched 183 innings. No, it’s not a performance worth $8 Million, but not bad for a 5th starter, which is basically what he is and based on career stats, that’s about what would be expected. After all, he is 85-84 in his career and has 4.34 ERA. For me, personally, it’s hard to be a disappointment when Westbrook has performed at or near career expectations.
Rasmus, on the other hand, was once an “untouchable” player and thought to be the Cardinals center fielder of the future. But then he started acting like a spoiled brat and threw a temper tantrum when he didn’t get as much playing time as he felt he deserved. In the LaRussa system, young players have to earn the playing time over the course of the season. It seems that Rasmus felt it just should be given to him. I absolutely agree that the Rasmus trade is what helped the Cardinals win the WS, but I was disappointed in Rasmus for acting like a little kid and stomping his feet. It was almost like a kid saying “Daddy, if you don’t give me that chocolate bar, I am going to run away!” And run away he did. Like most kids, he will probably realize now how good he had it.