Tony La Russa has a chance to come away with his fifth Manager of the Year award -- his first since 2002 -- -- based on his club’s terrific performance in 2009.
The Cardinals, after a 16-7 start in April, scuffled in the following 2.5 months. On July 23, the club stood 52-46 with a precarious 1.5-game lead in the N.L. Central. The Redbirds were a club struggling at the plate and failing to inspire the fan base. Questions 
persisted whether the club had enough to stay in the race and whether ownership would open its wallet to supplement the roster. La Russa certainly wondered if he would receive some help from the front office.
Then Matt Holliday came to St. Louis on July 24.
Since that date, the Cards are a MLB-best 31-11 following Tuesday's 4-3 victory (thanks to Holliday's 2-run blast in the ninth). The Cards are now 12-0-1 in series since July 27, and with a double-digit division lead, the club is now on pace to wrap up the division crown as soon as next week.
Obviously, La Russa has been helped by John Mozeliak’s acquisitions of Matt (Holliday), Mark (DeRosa), Lugo (Julio) and John (Smoltz). But the skipper deserves praise for his early-season work to keep St. Louis in the playoff race. The Cardinals have gone from borderline playoff team to World Series contenders.
La Russa’s primary competitor for the award is Colorado’s Jim Tracy, whose club is atop of the Wild Card standings. The Rockies are 60-32 (.652 winning percentage) since Tracy took charge earlier this year. If the Rockies make the playoffs, Tracy will likely take home the hardware. However, if Colorado falls out of contention, then La Russa will likely win the award.
This season is certainly one of La Russa’s best managerial jobs in St. Louis. How does it rate to past seasons? Here are my rankings:
1) 2002
La Russa earned his first N.L. Manager of the Year award after navigating his grieving club following the sudden death of team leader Darryl Kile (Jack Buck also passed away that season). Propelled by the mid-season acquisitions of Scott Rolen and Chuck Finley, the Cards went 50-27 in the second half and cruised to a 97-win season. Let’s not talk about Tino Martinez and his miserable October performance.
2) 1996
No one knew what to expect from this new-look club with new ownership and a new manager featuring a Journey-inspired haircut, shaded glasses and an icy demeanor. With a collection of Oakland holdovers (remember Rick Honeycutt and Mike Gallego?), free-agent signings and grizzled veterans like Ozzie and Willie, the Cards somehow managed to win 88 games and made their first postseason appearance since 1987. St. Louis pushed Atlanta to the brink in the NLCS before Donovan Osborne imploded in Game 7 at Fulton County Stadium. La Russa also navigated the dicey Ozzie Smith/Royce Clayton situation with an effective platoon.
3) 2006
This could have been a disaster for La Russa if the Cards somehow blew its big lead in 
late September. But the skipper held things together and did some of his best managing in the postseason. The rest is history.
4) 2000
There was a lot of pressure on La Russa to turn around the ship after forgettable 1997, 1998 and 1999 clubs (minus McGwire mania). Inspired by several trades and free-agent signings, the Cards spent 158 days in first place and won the division title by 10 games. A disastrous NLCS performance against the Mets and Rick Ankiel’s postseason meltdown marred what was otherwise a fun season.
5) 2009
As cited above, La Russa deserves credit for keeping this club afloat despite an anemic offense in May and June and an uncertain closer situation early in the season. My list is subject to change if this club goes on to do great things in October.
It’s also worth noting the 2007 season, which was overshadowed by the death of Josh Hancock and the freakish career-ending injury to Juan Encarnacion. Yet, under the circumstances, the Cards were just 1 game out of first place on Sept. 7. The club proceeded to lose 9 consecutive games and finished 78-84. Still, I thought La Russa did some of his best work just to keep this club together and competitive.
Random Baseball Thoughts
1). I watched the 2006 World Series video on Labor Day. It's hard to believe there has been so much roster turnover in just four years. How will we remember the Preston Wilson era?
2) In case you missed it, a NFL touchdown celebration took place in Milwaukee on Sunday at the conclusion of the Brewers-Giants game. Check this out (go to page 2 in the clips section). I want to hate this celebration because, after all, it's the Brewers. But I couldn't help but chuckle at this little routine.
3) Did Tim Lincecum's scratched start on Tuesday open the door for Chris Carpenter's Cy Young candidacy? Lincecum has back spasms, and if the injury results in another missed start or two -- or affects his performance down the stretch -- could Carpenter come away with his second Cy Young Award in four years? The one knock against Carpenter is the lack of innings as a result of his early season injury.
Lincecum has thrown 200 innings; Carpenter has tossed 166.2. If Carpenter continues his torrid pitching and if Lincecum slips up, it will be difficult for voters to not issue first-place votes for Carpenter. Still, at this moment, my ballot (if I had one) would be 1) Lincecum; 2) Carpenter; 3) Wainwright. Stay tuned.
4) Did you know that Brendan Ryan leads the club in triples? He smacked his team-leading 7th triple on Tuesday night. While his defense has been terrific -- far better than we thought -- his offense has also been noteworthy. He's hitting .287 in 329 at-bats, plus he has 12 stolen bases (he swiped 2 bags on Tuesday), which is second most on the club next to Pujols. He's been the breakout player of 2009 for the Cardinals.
Enjoy 9/9/09.
Thanks for reading.
Gabriel Kiley is a freelance sports writer based in St. Louis. Feel free to post your comments below or on my Twitter page.