Every year the Cardinal Blogger Awards brings together some of the best blogs on the internet to vote on all things Cardinal and this year was no exception. As you can tell from going through the ballots, a lot of hard work and thought was put into these. Now, all the votes from the bloggers have been tabulated as well as the “fan ballot” put together by 30+ readers and followers of the UCB.
Without further adieu, the winners are:
Player of the Year–Lance Berkman
Berkman dominated the voting, scoring 15 nods. Yadier Molina was a distant runner up with four.
Pitcher of the Year–Chris Carpenter
As much as Berkman ran away with his award, Carpenter did even more so. He received 18 votes, with only Fernando Salas (2) garnering more than one.
Regular Season Game of the Year–September 28
The last game of the season, where Carpenter shut out the Astros to pitch the Cardinals into the playoffs, received seven votes and just nudged out September 24, the Carlos Marmol wild pitch game.
Postseason Game of the Year–World Series Game 6
This one was another runaway, as the game that made David Freese a legend got 17 votes, with the only other game receiving votes being the Carpenter/Roy Halladay battle in Game 5 of the NLDS.
Surprise Player of the Year–Lance Berkman
Berkman collects his second award of the evening, easily outdistancing Allen Craig by seven votes.
Disappointing Player of the Year–Ryan Franklin
Franklin, who began the year as the closer only to lose the role after blowing four of his first five chances, received 10.5 points, two better than another player no longer on the squad, Colby Rasmus.
Rookie Cardinal of the Year–Allen Craig
Craig just slid under the rookie requirements and was able to use that to get 13 votes. Daniel Descalso came in second with five nods.
Preseason Acquisition of the Year–Lance Berkman
Berkman gets yet another award, this time in a unanimous manner. Even if the offseason had been better Berkman would have rolled here, but the fact that none of the other acquisitions were worth mentioning didn’t hurt.
Midseason Acquisition of the Year–Rafael Furcal
While all of the pieces of the Rasmus trade (save Corey Patterson) got about equal support, bringing in Furcal from the Dodgers was the pick of 10 voters. Edwin Jackson led the ex-Toronto delegation with five selections.
Most Anticipated Cardinal–Shelby Miller
A large majority (16 votes) want to see the flame-throwing top draft pick take the mound at Busch Stadium. Matt Adams, the slugging first baseman, was a distant second.
Best Individual Cardinal Blog–C70 At The Bat
Since the author of that blog is writing this post, it seems disingenuous to do much discussion of it. C70 was honored with 11 votes, with On The Outside Corner coming in second.
Best Team Cardinal Blog–Aaron Miles’ Fastball, I70 Baseball, Pitchers Hit Eighth
While a few other team blogs also got some support, three of the main pillars of the Cardinal blogosphere wound up in a dead heat. All three of them received five votes, with no other team blog garnering more than one.
Best Professional Blog–Bird Land
Derrick Goold’s blog has won this every time out and this year is no exception. Matthew Leach’s Obviously, You’re Not A Golfer was second, but still some distance behind in the voting.
Best Rookie Cardinal Blog–Aaron Miles’ Fastball
While there was a quality crop of rookie blogs to choose from this year, AMF handily won this award with ten votes. Four other blogs were able to tie for second with two votes each.
Post of the Year–Happily Ever After
C70′s post after the season received 5.5 votes, with I70 Baseball’s stirring Backyard Dreams coming in a very close second.
Best UCB Project–Roundtables
The twice-yearly email discussions among members walked away with this award, with three other projects tying for second eight votes behind.
Most Optimistic Cardinals Blog–Cardinal Diamond Diaries
There was a definite female presence in this voting, as the ladies at Diamond Diaries outpointed another female blog, Aaron Miles’ Fastball, by four votes.
Best UCB Podcast–UCB Radio Hour
The granddaddy of them all was still popular enough to garner 10 votes, almost double of the runner-up (Conversations With C70).
Best UCB Twitterer–gr33nazn
Dennis from Pitchers Hit Eighth edged out Bob of On The Outside Corner (throatwarbler) by a couple of votes. No other member received more than one.
Best Fake Twitter Account–TortyCraig
The account that purported to be coming from Allen Craig’s pet tortoise won over a large chunk of Cardinal Nation, as it handily beat out TrollStrauss by double digits.
Congratulations to all those that won, but there’s no doubt that even those blogs that weren’t mentioned here still put up quality writing day in and day out. The UCB very well may be the best group of team bloggers out there and it’s a joy to read them on a regular basis. Keep up the great work!
