Goin' Bohlen: The Agony of Defeat

For Mike Volonnino's sake, even I, a St. Louis Cardinal fan, have to admit that it's a good thing Volonnino's New York Mets won the National League Championship Series.

I didn't want to see him cry.

I can take it, though, even after watching the Cardinals fall apart more times than an Edsel, crashing and burning in five games.

The Mets ran more like a Ferrari, but then again, you'd expect that when a team spends at a Ferrari-like pace.

Granted, the Cardinals have also spent a lot on players, but it's also hard to rely on a car without a consistent starter. Cardinal pitching Coach Dave Duncan is normally a great mechanic, fine-tuning his pitchers into well-oiled machines. But this postseason, I wish he would have spent a little more time on Rick Ankiel's mechanics.

Speaking of starters, Darryl Kile starting three of the seven games (seven games...sigh) was a mistake. Cardinal Manager Tony LaRussa's gamble was like nearly any bet made in Vegas: a losing one. Of course, the odds always look good when you're approaching the table.

The only bright spot in the starting rotation came from Andy Benes in the Cardinals' only win. Benes, who didn't pitch in the Cardinals' three-game domination of the Atlanta Braves, gave up just two runs over 8 innings in Game Three.

St. Louis rookie right-hander Britt Reames did show promise out of the bullpen, pitching 4.1 innings of one-run relief in Game Two after Ankiel started the game wilder than Ricky Vaughn.

First baseman Mark McGwire, with arms bigger than mountains, was 0-for-2 in the series. When LaRussa sent him to bat in Game Two, first base was open and the Mets had sense enough to walk the biggest slugger in baseball since at least Willie McGee.

But perhaps the biggest problem the Cardinals had was the constant re-shuffling of its lineup and pitching rotation. Trying to combat the Mets' southpaw squadron, LaRussa tried to spread out his right-handed batters. With McGwire relegated to pinch-hitting, the most powerful right handed batter was third baseman Fernando Tatis, who hadn't been playing consistently since the dog days of summer. Granted, Tatis did his best, but his glove was too costly.

The rotation, which had five double-digit winners in the regular season, could not overcome LaRussa's pitching jumble, and their NLCS performance showed what role the Cardinal offense played in all those regular-season wins.

Credit should be given where credit is due, and the Mets, much like the hitters they sent to bat each inning of the series, are due. Their no-name outfield now has the names of Timo Perez, Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton. Well-adjusted Mike Bordick picked up in Rey Ordonez' shortstop position, even after arriving in Flushing as a late-season carpetbagger.

The Mets' left-handed pitching was also on message. NLCS MVP Mike Hampton, a hired gun from the former Colt 45s, threw 16 scoreless innings, allowing nine hits and four walks against 12 strikeouts. He pitched a three-hit shutout in the clinching game.

Al Leiter gave up just three runs in seven innings in Game Two, striking out nine.

The Cardinal lineup did its part to shell the New York right-handers, Bobby J. Jones and Rick Reed, but it was too little too late.

For the Cardinals, the silver lining to this blue-and-orange cloud is the fact that they are better than 26 other teams this year.

Of course, that's like trying to tell a car-losing "Price is Right Contestant" that he should be glad that he won that year's supply of Palmolive.

In fact, Palmolive may be exactly what the Cardinals need. Let's wash everything from this NLCS clean and start fresh next year.