Why Won’t the Cardinals Go Away?
It’s more than halfway through the season, the Cubs are 16 games over .500, and have a 2.5 game lead in the NL Central. So why am I not happy? It’s because the Cardinals won’t go away. The smiling man pictured below (probably because he is drunk) and his right hand man, pitching coach Dave Duncan, have taken a team comprised of Albert Pujols and a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of and led them to the 2nd best record in the NL at 48-37.
Here is a list of names of pitchers who have started for the Cards so far this year: Kyle Lohse, Braden Looper, Adam Wainwright, Todd Wellemeyer, Joel Pineiro, Mitchell Boggs, Brad Thompson and Mike Parisi. If you knew more than 2 players on this list you either live in the St. Louis area or have played fantasy baseball for more than 5 years. This group of no-names has combined to go 38-23 this year, and that record would probably be better if it wasn’t for the 18 blown saves from the St. Louis bullpen this year (thank you Boxer). The Cardinals have Mark Mulder, Chris Carpenter and Matt Clement on or ready to return from the DL as well, which would have scared me 2-3 years ago.
Aside from Pujols, the only other player on the team batting over .300 is journeyman Aaron Miles, and tied for 2nd place (behind Pujols who missed 2 weeks) in HR are Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel, the former pitcher. Nobody on their team has stolen more than 6 bases, and their bench is full of players that even the most die hard fans must be asking each other where they came from.
So how are they in 2nd place? How do they contend year after year? My natural reaction would be to say they cheat, or that they play Kansas City 6 times per year, but due to stringent steroid testing and a 3-game sweep by the Royals this year, those arguments really don’t make much sense. Looking over this team again and again, I just keep waiting for them to hit the wall and start giving up 10 runs per game, but it doesn’t happen. So I’m stumped.
Games 4,5,6 of the 15 game season series begin on Friday, with Big Z making his triumphant return from the DL to start Game 1. The outcome of this series could really have an impact on the rest of the season, as a 3 game sweep by StL could put them in first place, while a sweep by the Cubs will put some major distance between them and the Cards, meaning StL and the Brew Crew will be fighting for the Wild Card. Of course, it will probably end up 2-1.
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