RIP St. Louis Cardinals

After an arguably "humiliating" sweep at the hands and bats of the Los Angeles Dodgers, I offer a brief post-mortem.

1. Nobody forced Ryan Franklin to implode in Game 2 after Holliday's error. But he did, as he had more than once in September. In hindsight, I am glad the Cards didn't sign Brian Fuentes as a free agent in the offseason.

Follow-up A: That said, in THIS offseason, now that it looks like Franklin's first five months may have been an aberration, the Cards need to address the closer's spot. The young 'uns the team tried at the start of the year flopped, but maybe another year of seasoning helps. Franklin could be a good set-up man, but let's not expect him to close.

2. The Cards looked like they were "pressing" last night. Tony La Russa had a reputation for that in the past, but looked to have gotten rid of that in/after the 2006 World Series. Well, it wasn't just his players who were pressing last night; it was him, from the snatches of the game I saw on TV at work. For example, Yadi trying to go to third on that grounder to SS after his double. He knows better.

3. The Dodgers had had the best record in the league for much of the season. The Cards shouldn't be ashamed of the loss.