Yes, it's that time of year already: the end of 2006, and what a year it was. Heck, it couldn't have been any better. All the frustration and angst of an ugly, 83-win regular season for the Cardinals were wiped away with a dramatic run to the World Series championship. The words "improbable" and "unlikely", among others, have been thrown around plenty, so I won't use them to describe what happened. I'll just say it was simply an amazing thing to be a part of - even the small part of a fan. I admit with zero shame that I was screaming like a madman for a good five minutes straight after Yady hit the home run that beat the Mets. And being part of the celebration in St. Louis after Game 5 was truly special. At least three hours after the game ended (i.e., about 2:30 a.m.), I wandered down into the 8th and Pine MetroLink station to the sounds of people screaming and car horns honking. It was the first St. Louis championship of my lifetime that I was able to celebrate properly - in '82 I was a year and a half old, and in '00 for the Super Bowl I was away at college - and I'll treasure that memory, as well as the rest of the memories of this year, forever.

So, cheesy intro aside, I figure I'd at least divulge the purpose of this post. First, it's to try and make up for the lack of, well, anything that's going on on the site, and second, it's to provide the best ending for 2006 that I possibly can. I don't think much of myself as a writer; that's partially why I hardly ever post here. Actually, I don't think much of myself as a photographer, either, come to think of it. But taking a picture is a lot more repeatable with a lot less effort than posting a blog, so you can afford to screw up a lot more pictures than blog posts in an effort to get the perfect one. Thus, I've decided to post my year-in-review with a collection of pictures I've taken at ballgames. I live equidistant from Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia, so I saw the majority of my games in those three cities this year - but I also made trips to see the Cards play in San Diego, and at home at Busch during the regular season, in addition to a few other games on these trips. (Unfortunately, my camera was stolen after the Cards' opening week series in Philadelphia, so those pictures are in somebody else's scrapbook.) These pictures aren't professionally done, using expensive equipment or anything relating to the word "f-stop". They're taken with a cheap digital camera and are from a fan's perspective, which I'd say is appropriate for the purpose of this site. So, enjoy yourselves - the photos are, as Will on Deadspin likes to say, after the jump.

Warning: if you have a dial-up connection, you might want to go run around the block or something after you click the link.

Friday, May 26: Albert Pujols bats against Clay Hensley of the Padres at Petco Park. The Padres won the game 7-1.

Saturday, May 27: Jason Isringhausen pitches against Mike Piazza of the Padres at Petco Park. Several batters later, Yadier Molina picked off Brian Giles - a runner who didn't even matter since the bases were loaded in a 4-3 game - at first base to end one of the more exciting games of the year.

Saturday, May 27: New Cardinal Adam Kennedy, in his Angels days, bats against Adam Loewen of the Orioles at Angel Stadium. The Angels hammered the O's 10-1 on this particular evening. However, I was able to fulfill a crazy dream of mine by seeing two games in two different ballparks on the same day on May 27, and even better, those games involved my two favorite teams.

Sunday, May 28: A group of uniformed military personnel salute during the national anthem before the Cardinals-Padres game at Petco Park. The Padres won 10-8, signaling the beginning of the end for Mark Mulder.

Sunday, June 4: The sold-out crowd makes its way down Eutaw Street sometime during the Orioles-Yankees game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Sunday, June 18: The Nationals take on the Yankees and their hordes of fans at sold-out (for about the only series all season) RFK Stadium. The Nationals won 3-2 on a Ryan Zimmerman 2-run walkoff home run off Chien-Ming Wang.

Saturday, June 24: Brett Myers of the Phillies pitches to Mark Loretta of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. This game, in addition to being a Fox broadcast, gained national attention since Myers had been arrested two nights earlier for striking his wife in the face outside their hotel in Boston. The crowd let Myers hear their displeasure throughout the game.

Saturday, June 24: Red Sox players mob David Ortiz outside the dugout after Ortiz hit a walkoff home run in the 10th inning. Between the walkoff home run and the Myers saga, my first trip to Fenway was a very exciting one.

Saturday, June 24: The Fenway Park press box, after the game. The Sox won 5-3.

Thursday, August 31: Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins pitches to the Cards' Ronnie Belliard at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals couldn't solve Willis, but won the game off the Fish bullpen, 5-2.

Friday, September 1: The Cardinals shake hands after their 3-1 victory over the Pirates at Busch Stadium.

Sunday, September 3: Anthony Reyes of the Cardinals pitches to Freddy Sanchez of the Pirates on a glorious Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium. Albert Pujols hit home runs in his first three plate appearances of this game (and nearly hit one in his fourth) as the Cards won 6-3.

Tuesday, September 5: Pedro Astacio of the Nationals delivers a pitch to the Cards' Albert Pujols at RFK Stadium.

Tuesday, September 5: To the delight of the crowd at RFK Stadium, most of whom were Cardinals fans on a rainy evening in D.C., Jason Isringhausen strikes out the Nationals' Felipe Lopez to end the game in a 2-0 victory for the Cards. It turned out to be Izzy's last save of 2006, as he came in the next afternoon after a dramatic home run by Preston Wilson, and walked the bases loaded before giving up a game-winning hit to Jose Vidro. Isringhausen disclosed shortly thereafter that his arthritic hip prevented him from pitching effectively. (No, really?) So, he gave way to Adam Wainwright as closer, and the rest is history.

Friday, September 22: The Phillies' Ryan Howard, a St. Louis native, rounds the bases after hitting his 58th home run of the season as the Citizens Bank Park crowd goes nuts. With a week and change left in the season, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be his last. But the two intentional walks he received later in this game proved to be a sign of the times; he was given many more over the final week. The walks, and the pressure of carrying the Phils, caught up with him and he ended the season with a Philadelphia record-tying 58 home runs. The Phillies won this particular game over the Marlins, 5-2.

Thursday, October 26: The pep rally at Kiener Plaza before Game 4 (the second one) of the World Series.

Thursday, October 26: Fans at Busch Stadium celebrate after the Cards finished off their victory in Game 4 of the World Series, 5-4.

Friday, October 27: The Cards' Jeff Weaver pitches to Carlos Guillen of the Tigers in Game 5 of the World Series at Busch Stadium.

Friday, October 27: Busch Stadium erupts as the Cardinals celebrate their World Series championship after beating the Tigers 4-2 in Game 5.

Friday, October 27: The Cardinals ownership is presented with the World Series trophy on the confetti-covered Busch Stadium field, while the scoreboard states the obvious overhead.

Here's to a 2007 that ends the same way.