Cardinals’ hitting coach Mitchell Page has been fired and will seek treatment for alcoholism in a California rehabilitation center. Page was let go last Thursday, a day after the Cardinals were eliminated from the World Series in a four-game sweep. Page told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is an alcoholic and believed he was partly responsible for the Cardinals under-performing in the World Series. The Cardinals were the best offensive team in the National League with a .278 batting average and 855 runs in 2004, but that production dried up against the Red Sox, hitting just .190 in the Fall Classic. The Cardinals were 8-for-59 in two games at Busch Stadium. General Manager Walt Jocketty disputes that, he said, “I think that Mitch is taking a lot of undue blame for that. You know, we just didn’t hit and for whatever reason I don’t think there’s any one person or any one situation to that’s to blame for it and it certainly wasn’t Mitch”. The Cardinals have left the door open for Page to return, though Jocketty is unsure if Page will take the team up on the offer.
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