The Lost Cardinal Titles

Going into 2005, the Cardinals areagain stacked. The MV3 is still in top form and the rotation isimproved with additions of Marquis and the full-time use of Haren. Chris Carpenter wins the Cy Young, Albert Pujols wins his first MVP. Renteria, not burdened with switching leagues and comfortable in hissurroundings, puts up a quality year. The team handily wins the NLCentral.

Haren's breakout year meant that hecould have slid into the second slot in the NLCS, meaning that theCards take a two games to none lead in the series when he outduelsRoy Oswalt in a game for the ages. Pujols's home run proves thedifference, and the Cardinals never relinquish the Series lead.

A dynasty is brewing in St. Louie asthe Cards have taken two in a row.

Jeff Suppan, who had built hispostseason reputation in St. Louis, is not resigned at the end of theseason as the Cardinals concentrate on the home-grown Matt Morris. They also make a push to sign Roger Clemens to a one year deal tomake one final run while the window is open, but are turned away bythe price tag and Clemens's desire to wait until the season starts toactually begin getting into shape. Instead, they push AdamWainwright into the fifth starter role.

The Cardinals also dip into the freeagent pool to grab outfielder Johnny Damon, as their entire outfieldis turned over for the '06 season.

With the rotation continuing to be astrength and the MV3 still showing signs of life with Damon settingthe table, the Cardinals win their third straight NL Central title bya handy amount. There's no trade for Jeff Weaver, no pickup ofRonnie Belliard.

Which means that the 2006 NLCS is theend of the road for the Cardinals. After Jason Isringhausen goesdown during the latter part of the season, there is no one to pick upthe slack. The club even tries the novel approach of moving AnthonyReyes into the late innings and letting him dial it up with hisfastball. This move works for most of September, but in Game 7 ofthe NLCS, Carlos Beltran hits a bases-loaded double in the bottom ofthe ninth to send the Mets to the playoffs and clinch his reputationas one of the biggest postseason heroes of all time.

Still, things aren't all bad in St.Louis. Scott Rolen has his differences with Tony LaRussa, but twotitles and coming inches short of a third has a way of burying thosethings under the rug. The Cardinals flirt with Kerry Wood in theoffseason before remaining with Isringhausen, causing a portion ofthe fan base considerable grief.

The thrill is gone, though, and thoughthe Cardinals make the playoffs in 2007 and 2009, there are no longruns left in them.

Still, if only that plane hadn'tcrashed.....