Buster Blog - Optimism In St. Louis

Despite losing Albert Pujols Buster Olney thinks the St. Louis Cardinals have a chance to be better than last year.

And you know what? I agree.

And we're not saddled with a quarter of a billion dollars for the next 10 years so we're much more flexible for the next decade. We signed a similar player (not as good of course) for 2 years only for half the per year price. That's smart in my book.

David Freese Surprises Fans

David Freese has been all over the place since leading my Cardinals to a World Series win and scoring himself 2011 NL Championship Series MVP Award and the 2011 World Series MVP Award in the process, and I think it's great because I love this guy.

The dude grew up in the greater St. Louis area. I mean what kind of story is that? He graduated in 2001 from Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri (.533 batting average and 23 home runs during his senior season) and then played at St. Louis Community College-Meramec (before going to South Alabama).

And for the record, yes I saw him play in the minors. He spent the 2008 season in Triple-A with the Memphis Redbirds, where he batted .306/.361/.550 with 26 home runs and 91 RBI. I usually catch several Memphis games every year and saw him a few times there that season.

Anyway, check out this cool moment on the Ellen show yesterday with the man who had a record 21 RBI in the post-season this year.

"After Ellen sent two Cardinals fans to the World Series, they came on the show to tell her about their incredible day! But the surprises didn't end there! They were met by the MVP of the World Series, David Freese of the Cardinals. He told Ellen about his incredible game, and what it's like to be on top of the world."

Here We Go Again

Sure, I could say that I thought my St. Louis Cardinals would make it back to the World Series this year all along. I mean I could say that, but honestly I went into off season mode and wrote them off about the end of August when things looked bleak. Yet here they are again. Oh don't get me wrong, I jumped right back on the bandwagon when they started to fire things up and play well. This has been a blast.

I've been a fan since the early 80s and saw them win it all in 1982 and 2006 and also saw them get to the World Series and get beat in '85, '87 and 2004. So here's to hoping they go 3-3 in my fandom in the big series this year. And also I'm hoping these aren't the final games we see Albert Pujols in a Cardinals' uniform.