Miklasz: Once-banging Cardinals go out with a whimper

Wear out with purpose! Is the Brendan Ryan era over?

We congratulate the Dodgers and manager Joe Torre for their impressive wipeout, and Torre warrants praise for winning the duel of future Hall of Fame managers.

Truth is the Cardinals eliminated themselves with a showcase of the worst baseball they’ve played all season. They scored six runs in three games. They had one homer and a scrawny .369 slugging percentage. Most damaging of all, they scratched out only four hits in 31 at-bats with runners in scoring position, including a feckless 1 for 17 in the final two games.

“We had higher expectations with the talent we had in this club,” third baseman DeRosa said.

Indeed. How does a team with two legitimate Cy Young candidates and the likely league MVP fail to win a postseason game?

No spin here: This was an epic failure.

..."We didn’t show up,” Cardinals ownership partner Drew Baur said to friends as he stood in the lobby after Game 3.

It is rare to see a La Russa team wilt in the corner, like a boxer who can’t answer the bell for the next round. But so it was on Saturday night. The crowd of 47,296 waved towels, trying to rally their baseball heroes, only to see the Cardinals throw in the towel instead.