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2010 Cardinal Blogger Awards Selections

Posted on November 17, 2010 at 4:00 PM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals | United Cardinal Bloggers
For the fourth year running, I am casting my votes in the United Cardinal Bloggers' Cardinal Blogger Awards.  This is one of our signature projects, the one that actually kicked off the UCB. (It's so hard to believe it's been a full three years since we organized this group!)  This is always a lot of fun because not only do we get to take a look at who did what for the Cardinals, but we also get to honor some of the great blogging work that was done during the year.

Of course, some basic rules apply, mainly not voting for yourself (like I would) and keeping your votes to at worst a tie between two instead of splitting a vote three or four ways.  Other than that, all's fair.  With that, after the jump we'll go down the ballot and list out my winners.



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1. Player of the Year

While Matt Holliday and Colby Rasmus were both worthy of nomination, even in a down year it is hard to go against Albert Pujols.  All Albert did was threaten to win the Triple Crown, lead the league in RBI, and likely finish runner-up, again, for the league MVP award.  Love what both of the other guys did, and Holliday did keep AP from winning the team triple crown again, but you have to give the nod to The Machine.

2. Pitcher of the Year

Similar comments as above.  Chris Carpenter would have been the staff ace on a lot of times and Jaime Garcia wins the Rookie of the Year if it was the 2009 rookie class, but Adam Wainwright is again the clear winner.  He got to 20 wins, he threw his first two shutouts, he went into late August with an ERA under 2.00.  If it wasn't for a bit of a fade and a dominant year by Roy Halladay, he's your NL Cy Young winner.  So making him the best pitcher on the team is a no-brainer.

3. Game of the Year

I remember writing late in the season about one game that should have been the Game of the Year because it encapsulated all the discussion points about 2010: bad hitting, late comebacks, good starting pitching, etc.  However, Cards lost that game and you never want that to be your Game of the Year.  So, looking over the nominees, I think you probably do have to give it to the August 10 game against Cincinnati.  The brawl, the home run by Molina, the fact that the Cards tied for first after that win, all of that combined to at least be the most memorable game of the season.  A close second would be that comeback on July 18 against the Dodgers that kept the winning streak alive, though.

4. Surprise Player of the Year

Another award with excellent nominees, and I don't say that because I made up the ballot.  I don't think any of us really knew what we were going to get out of David Freese, and to some degree we still don't know due to his ankle injuries.  Jon Jay came up and tore up the league for quite some time before leveling off.  However, when you have a guy that came to spring training ticketed for Memphis and he winds up third in the Rookie of the Year voting, I think it's safe to say that he surprised.  Jaime Garcia was a revelation to us all and one that we hope will continue throughout the years to come.

5. Disappointing Player of the Year

In a season where the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs when they were expected to, it's not surprising that there were a number of disappointments.  I know I personally noted numerous times when Dennys Reyes would come in and be unable to get the one lefthander that he was asked to retire.  Losing Brad Penny to injury was a disappointment, though I wouldn't put him in this category.  I was disappointed in Brendan Ryan, but I don't know that I expected a ton out of him.  So I think I'll go the write-in route and put in Skip Schumaker.  I know that Skip doesn't give a lot of things, but you'd hope for a high average and reasonable defense.  The average wasn't there and his growth as a second baseman seems to have stalled.

6. Rookie of the Year

At least this year there were some rookies that made sizable contributions.  Again, though, with respect to people like Jon Jay, Allen Craig, and Fernando Salas, you really can't choose anyone else but Jaime Garcia.

7. Acquisition of the Year

This looked like, for a while, that it'd be Brad Penny, but with him not playing half the year and leaving the team in a bind with that injury, I can't really go that route.  That pretty much just leaves Jake Westbrook, who pitched extremely well in his first exposure to the National League.  Hopefully that will continue as he's signed on to do two more tours with the Redbirds.

8. Biggest Off-Field Story

Remember when the season started and we thought that it would be completely overshadowed by Mark McGwire's return and his admission of steroid use?  I credit McGwire's impromptu press conference at the beginning of the spring, when he just answered everything that came at him, as the biggest reason that story fizzled.  Not the case with Colby Rasmus and his issues, real or imagined, with Tony La Russa.  Even though both sides have publicly said that things are OK, still people want to stir it up and other teams start asking to see if Rasmus is available.  It's a story that won't stop until spring training, if then, even though there's more smoke than fire right now.

9. Most Anticipated Cardinal

While I love that the Cards went out and got a fellow Razorback in the draft this year, I'm still a big pitching guy and so I'm really intrigued to see Shelby Miller, though Carlos Martinez might also be up there on that list.  Having a young stud like Miller in the fold, one that would be like Tim Lincecum in San Francisco or maybe Josh Johnson in Florida, would be an amazing thing for this franchise.  Pair him up with Wainwright, have Garcia in the mix and I'm a happy guy.

10. Best Individual Blog

This is one of those routine picks.  Every year I pick Pip and Fungoes, because he churns out quality post after quality post, with numbers that blow my mind and ways of thinking about things that don't even cross my mind.  Getting to meet Pip this year in St. Louis was one of the many highlights of that trip.

Don't get me wrong, though.  There are a lot of quality bloggers out there, though the sole proprietor blog isn't as common as it once was.  For example, I read every post Mike at Stan Musial's Stance puts up and I love what some of the new blogs are doing, though that's for another award.

11. Best Team Blog

There are a ton of great blogs out there being written by more than one person.  The Pitchers Hit Eighth guys are great, and the radio show isn't still going without their contributions.  The ladies at Cardinal Diamond Diaries....well, we'll talk about them in a bit.  However, this year I'm going to go with Bill and his team at i70 Baseball.  Bill had some advantages, as this site was an affiliate of Baseball Digest, but he worked hard to use those advantages and put together a solid product.

12. Best Media Blog

St. Louis is really blessed in so many ways.  One of them is that not only are there amazingly qualified and talented guys covering this team, but they are also active bloggers who recognize and support in their way the amateur writers out there.  I mean, how do you pick between Derrick Goold and Matthew Leach?  You take one, I take the other and we'll both win.

All that said, I'll give the edge to Obviously, You're Not A Golfer this year.  Matthew doesn't necessarily update every day like Derrick, but pretty close and I really enjoyed his Note/Stat of the Night and Chess Match features that he added this year.

13. Best UCB Project

We didn't do quite as many projects this year as we did last year, taking a month off here and there. I love our staple projects, such as the Progressive Game Blog and the Top 5 Stories in December, but it's really tough to top the Roundtables, both pre-season and post-season.  Getting to talk baseball over e-mail for a month (as we did this year) and getting all sorts of different perspectives and thoughts is a wonderful thing.  One of these days when someone strikes it rich, we'll all fly in somewhere and do this in person.

However, there's a caveat to this one: something is coming down the pike (and hopefully will be out early next week) that I am personally the most proud of and would go in this slot if it had been released before the polls closed.

14. Most Optimistic Cardinals Blog

If you can walk away from reading a Cardinal Diamond Diaries post without thinking that everything is going to be all right and that the sun is just behind those clouds, you are a more heartless person than I am.  (Which, granted, is fairly possible, but that really ruins my point, so let's just forget I said that.)  The girls over there can always "find the happy" in anything and are always full of positive energy for the boys in red.

15. Funniest Cardinals Blog

I'm sad that Travis has seemingly let Fredbird Follys lapse, because I always enjoyed reading his satire.  That said, in Cardinal Nation, it's tough to top Joe Sports Fan.  Matt and Josh put together quality stuff on a consistent basis, though I do mourn the apparent demise of the video podcast, if only because of the game to see if you can spot the box Matt is sitting on.  (I kid, I kid!)  Ironically, though, the most discussed post of JSF this year was more serious, with Matt's critique of the plans for Social Media Night.

16. Rookie Cardinal Blog of the Year

Since we've started the UCB, I'm not sure that we've had this kind of rookie quality concentrated into one year.  For instance, we only had two rookie blogs last year and the winner had already closed up shop to go work with Erik Manning.  (Yeah, who wouldn't?)  So to have four quality blogs this year is outstanding.  I love what RetroSimba does, tying current events to Cardinal history.  Welcome to Baseball Heaven has good stuff on a regular basis.  We've already talked about i70 Baseball.

However, I just have to go with Cardinal Diamond Diaries again here.  Not only for their attitude, but for the quality and consistency of their posting.  They've had a little turnover in their staff, but you couldn't tell it.  It's always fun to see what the girls have in store on a given day and I salute them for their efforts.

So, there you have it, my picks for this year's CBAs.  The deadline is Friday night, so I expect the results will be posted at the official site sometime this weekend or Monday.  Thanks to all the bloggers that make the UCB so wonderful!


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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jason Motte (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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