Ghost Rider
Footballguy
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/co...AA?OpenDocument
While the rest of the Tigers' traveling party headed back to Detroit after Friday night's fifth game of the World Series, when the Cardinals clinched their 10th title with a 4-2 victory over Detroit, first-base coach Andy Van Slyke was headed home to Chesterfield.
All around him there was celebration and, though a St. Louis County resident for more than 20 years, he couldn't share in it.
"It was kind of weird," Van Slyke said, "I had to walk four blocks to my car through all that."
The former Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates' star outfielder went recognized but he did go unbothered.
"I couldn't believe how nice and cordial everyone was about it," Van Slyke said. "There was nothing derogatory."
The World Series being over before potential Games 6 and 7 in Detroit had its upside for Van Slyke, who got to watch his son Jared play quarterback Saturday afternoon for John Burroughs.
The downside, of course, is that Van Slyke still does not have a ring, having lost as a Cardinal in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series and as a Pirate in three consecutive National League Championship Series from 1990-92.
"I don't know how to describe it," said Van Slyke, who rarely is at a loss for words, and then he found some. "It's like you get to a championship fight and you get knocked out. It ain't no fun."
This isn't at all what Van Slyke, nor his friends, many of them Cardinals fans, had expected.
His friends are "shocked, and happy," Van Slyke said. "From our conversations before this week, it was like, 'Don't beat up on us too badly.' "
But, Van Slyke said, "We were beaten in all facets of the game."
The Tigers, having won seven games in succession from the New York Yankees and Oakland in the first round and the American League Championship Series, had enjoyed a week off before the World Series. And, after being bamboozled by Cardinals righthanded rookie Anthony Reyes in Game 1, they never seemed to recover.
"No one's going to make excuses," Van Slyke said, "We just got beat. But having said that, if we went to six or seven games with Oakland (instead of four), it would have been better for us. That week off was tough for us. It's sort of like you train to run the marathon, and then a week before the race, you don't do any running. And then we hear that we're going to St. Louis and everybody's telling us we're supposed to walk through the Cardinals.
"I knew that wasn't the case. It's just that once we beat the Yankees, everyone thought that we're going to win the World Series. But, like the Yankees were against us, we had a little of that deer-in-the-headlights look in St. Louis."
The Tigers still completed a remarkable turnaround from losing 119 games three years ago and even 91 last year.
"It's really strange," Van Slyke said. "You get this far and get geared up, and then you end up being, not a loser, but a disappointment. You've accomplished so much, yet not enough. But I'm not sure the two best teams were represented from each league."
Asked which were the best, Van Slyke responded: "That's irrelevant. They were the two best at the right time."
Then, with even more candor, Van Slyke said: "I know they're not better than us. If they were in the same division (American League Central) as us, we'd win the division. They'd probably have finished fourth in the division (behind Minnesota, Detroit and the Chicago White Sox). It's the best division in baseball."
But Van Slyke also offered lavish praise to the Cardinals, and especially to manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan.
"It's really ironic that Tony takes one of the worst teams he's had and wins a championship with them," Van Slyke said. "I'm obviously happy for the city and the organization. And I'm happy for those coaches. They and Tony work as hard as anybody in the game."
Van Slyke said he was surprised at how the Cardinals' pitchers handled the Tigers' offense.
"Duncan and La Russa did a good job pitching to our weak areas," Van Slyke said. "Every hitter has a weak area and their pitchers did a very good job of attacking it consistently."
The Tigers batted just .199 in five games, and never really were able to put together anything. They never scored more than two runs in an inning.
"I watched it all year. We have a two-minute offense, with no timeouts," said Van Slyke, meaning that the Tigers generally score quickly, or not at all, in an inning.
"(Cardinals right fielder Chris) Duncan drops a ball and then we hit a home run. Inning over. Commercial. The commercial lasts longer than our two runs," Van Slyke said jokingly.
Staying with a television theme, Van Slyke said it was too bad that there wasn't a Game 6 Saturday night, with the much scrutinized left hand of Kenny Rogers doing the twirling for the Tigers. "That would have been great theater for Fox," Van Slyke said.
The cameras showed Van Slyke between innings early in Game 2 talking to Rogers in the dugout.
"I didn't know what was going on," Van Slyke said, "I told him to go clean up. I wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him after the first inning, but I couldn't get it loose from his."
I never liked this guy when he was a Cardinal, and he has been the king of saying jackass things for years.
That is hilarious that he said the Cards would finish 4th in the AL Central and the Tigers would finish 1st, considering the Tigers couldn't even win it this year without the Cardinals in it!
Van Slyke also said this morning in an interview on KFNS that if not for the two errors by the Tigers in Game 5, Detroit would have won 2-0. Huh? I guess he forgot that Rolen drove in an earned run in the 7th, one of Detroit's runs was unearned, and if you take away the unearned runs, the Cardinals still win that game 2-1. I guess he also thinks the Cardinals would have waved the white flag had they had to bat in the bottom of the 9th, because God knows teams never come back to win games in last innings of World Series. The Mets in '86, the Dodgers in '88, the Blue Jays in '93, and the Yankees in '01, among others, are figments of my imagination.
Awesome parade and rally downtown yesterday, though.
While the rest of the Tigers' traveling party headed back to Detroit after Friday night's fifth game of the World Series, when the Cardinals clinched their 10th title with a 4-2 victory over Detroit, first-base coach Andy Van Slyke was headed home to Chesterfield.
All around him there was celebration and, though a St. Louis County resident for more than 20 years, he couldn't share in it.
"It was kind of weird," Van Slyke said, "I had to walk four blocks to my car through all that."
The former Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates' star outfielder went recognized but he did go unbothered.
"I couldn't believe how nice and cordial everyone was about it," Van Slyke said. "There was nothing derogatory."
The World Series being over before potential Games 6 and 7 in Detroit had its upside for Van Slyke, who got to watch his son Jared play quarterback Saturday afternoon for John Burroughs.
The downside, of course, is that Van Slyke still does not have a ring, having lost as a Cardinal in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series and as a Pirate in three consecutive National League Championship Series from 1990-92.
"I don't know how to describe it," said Van Slyke, who rarely is at a loss for words, and then he found some. "It's like you get to a championship fight and you get knocked out. It ain't no fun."
This isn't at all what Van Slyke, nor his friends, many of them Cardinals fans, had expected.
His friends are "shocked, and happy," Van Slyke said. "From our conversations before this week, it was like, 'Don't beat up on us too badly.' "
But, Van Slyke said, "We were beaten in all facets of the game."
The Tigers, having won seven games in succession from the New York Yankees and Oakland in the first round and the American League Championship Series, had enjoyed a week off before the World Series. And, after being bamboozled by Cardinals righthanded rookie Anthony Reyes in Game 1, they never seemed to recover.
"No one's going to make excuses," Van Slyke said, "We just got beat. But having said that, if we went to six or seven games with Oakland (instead of four), it would have been better for us. That week off was tough for us. It's sort of like you train to run the marathon, and then a week before the race, you don't do any running. And then we hear that we're going to St. Louis and everybody's telling us we're supposed to walk through the Cardinals.
"I knew that wasn't the case. It's just that once we beat the Yankees, everyone thought that we're going to win the World Series. But, like the Yankees were against us, we had a little of that deer-in-the-headlights look in St. Louis."
The Tigers still completed a remarkable turnaround from losing 119 games three years ago and even 91 last year.
"It's really strange," Van Slyke said. "You get this far and get geared up, and then you end up being, not a loser, but a disappointment. You've accomplished so much, yet not enough. But I'm not sure the two best teams were represented from each league."
Asked which were the best, Van Slyke responded: "That's irrelevant. They were the two best at the right time."
Then, with even more candor, Van Slyke said: "I know they're not better than us. If they were in the same division (American League Central) as us, we'd win the division. They'd probably have finished fourth in the division (behind Minnesota, Detroit and the Chicago White Sox). It's the best division in baseball."
But Van Slyke also offered lavish praise to the Cardinals, and especially to manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan.
"It's really ironic that Tony takes one of the worst teams he's had and wins a championship with them," Van Slyke said. "I'm obviously happy for the city and the organization. And I'm happy for those coaches. They and Tony work as hard as anybody in the game."
Van Slyke said he was surprised at how the Cardinals' pitchers handled the Tigers' offense.
"Duncan and La Russa did a good job pitching to our weak areas," Van Slyke said. "Every hitter has a weak area and their pitchers did a very good job of attacking it consistently."
The Tigers batted just .199 in five games, and never really were able to put together anything. They never scored more than two runs in an inning.
"I watched it all year. We have a two-minute offense, with no timeouts," said Van Slyke, meaning that the Tigers generally score quickly, or not at all, in an inning.
"(Cardinals right fielder Chris) Duncan drops a ball and then we hit a home run. Inning over. Commercial. The commercial lasts longer than our two runs," Van Slyke said jokingly.
Staying with a television theme, Van Slyke said it was too bad that there wasn't a Game 6 Saturday night, with the much scrutinized left hand of Kenny Rogers doing the twirling for the Tigers. "That would have been great theater for Fox," Van Slyke said.
The cameras showed Van Slyke between innings early in Game 2 talking to Rogers in the dugout.
"I didn't know what was going on," Van Slyke said, "I told him to go clean up. I wanted to shake his hand and congratulate him after the first inning, but I couldn't get it loose from his."
I never liked this guy when he was a Cardinal, and he has been the king of saying jackass things for years.
That is hilarious that he said the Cards would finish 4th in the AL Central and the Tigers would finish 1st, considering the Tigers couldn't even win it this year without the Cardinals in it!
Van Slyke also said this morning in an interview on KFNS that if not for the two errors by the Tigers in Game 5, Detroit would have won 2-0. Huh? I guess he forgot that Rolen drove in an earned run in the 7th, one of Detroit's runs was unearned, and if you take away the unearned runs, the Cardinals still win that game 2-1. I guess he also thinks the Cardinals would have waved the white flag had they had to bat in the bottom of the 9th, because God knows teams never come back to win games in last innings of World Series. The Mets in '86, the Dodgers in '88, the Blue Jays in '93, and the Yankees in '01, among others, are figments of my imagination.
Awesome parade and rally downtown yesterday, though.
