Infante’s Impact on the World Series?

Over the next few weeks of the off-season, I will be going over some of my favorite plays of the 2011 Florida Marlins season. My first post today will be about someone who should be directly linked to the World Series Champions of 2011.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series with excellent play in September and then followed that up with a great October. They pulled one of the most amazing comebacks in September to win the wild card. David Freese was named the World Series MVP for the Cards after they won it all.

However, the St. Louis Cardinals owe a lot to Florida Marlins second basemen Omar Infante. The Marlins acquired Infante in a November trade with the Atlanta Braves along with Mike Dunn for Dan Uggla. At the time it seemed like the Braves had won the trade and were going to put together a team that could challenge the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East and even be a championship contender.

The Braves may have gotten the first laugh, but Infante and the Marlins got the last one. This home run was amazing to watch in real time. I live in Alabama, so I got the Braves commentators reaction. They were devastated and I was enjoying it quite a lot. You see, the Braves are an NL East foe of the Marlins and therefore, I feel a strong passion of hate towards them. And of course they have Fredi Gonzalez and Dan Uggla, enough said. My friend, who is a Cardinals fan, has credited Infante with getting the Cards into the playoffs.

I think the St. Louis Cardinals should follow his lead and award the World Series MVP Freese got to Mr. Infante. It is the right thing to do. I leave you guys with this:

And then the end result of that swing:

If you are not capable of reading lips, the Cards players are all screaming “THANK YOU INFANTE!!”