Cardinals’ stay Red Bird hot atop the NL Central

By Jake McCormick

A lot of what I talk about here can also be heard in an upcoming podcast of The Deposit, so if you don’t feel like reading, listen to be talk about it. I’m not sure why anyone would want to listen to me talk, but I won’t fault you for it. Let’s get started with questions about the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals, who are pretty much running away with the division with a seven game lead over the reeling Chicago Cubs.

Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Joel Pineiro all have ERAs below 3.20 and form one of the best 1-2-3 punches in the National League. Unfortunately, the fourth and fifth starter spots, occupied this season by Kyle Lohse, Brad Thompson, and Todd Wellemeyer, have offset a lot of the success of the top three. Lohse is guaranteed a spot, but the other two look destined for Triple A. What should the Cardinals do about the fifth starter and are they done making trades?

Bring on the meatballs!!

After a terrible couple of months debating which NL Central team will suck the least and run away with the division, the Cardinals are the only team that has managed to gel together and win consistently. They tried rookie Mitchell Boggs as a fifth starter, and he looked good for a while, but was just sent back to Triple A after going 0-2 with a snowman ERA in two August starts. In his place, the Cardinals picked up John Smoltz, who may have a better late season/postseason resume than Boggs, but has pitched just about as well with a snowman of his own. I don’t have much faith in the 42-year-old, mostly because he isn’t on steroids like Roger Clemens and isn’t a big lefty like Randy Johnson.

On the flip side, he faced tougher hitters in the American League, and Busch Stadium isn’t much of a home run-friendly park. If Smoltz was a regular hitter, he would be leading all of baseball in batting average, as he has given up a .386 clip as a pitcher. Meatballs anyone?

Of course, don’t sleep on Dave Duncan. After all, we saw he did to Jeff Weaver in 2006. Before their pitching therapy sessions, Weaver looked as bad as Tobey McGuire’s funk dancing in Spiderman 3. Duncan is to washed-up pitchers as AA and Christianity are to drug addicts and alcoholics. I threw that in to keep the religious streak going at TSB.

How long before Albert Pujols actually does win a Triple Crown? Do the Cards have enough pitching to win the NL — they obviously have enough offense with the DeRosa and Holliday deals, but is the pitching strong enough/healthy enough to make hay in the playoffs?

I’m glad you bring up the Triple Crown question, anonymous person. I wrote an article a month back or so pertaining to Pujols’ chances this year of doing it and comparing his season to Carl Yastrzemski’s 1967 campaign. I’ll let you go back and read that for the progression of the game and why it works against Pujols.

If the Terminator is going to do it, he’ll crest that hill within the next three years at most. Pujols is 29 and has demonstrated Hank Aaron-like consistency since his rookie year. My guess would be that he continues that pace until he’s 40 unfettered by steroid allegations, and he’ll probably lead the league in home runs and RBIs more than a couple of years in that span. But the Triple Crown plays out like a Texas Hold’Em game, where batting average acts like a crushing river card in that there are simply too many guys that will hit above .330 for Pujols to take that category.

As far as the Cardinals’ pitching depth, in the past 27 starts from Carpenter, Wainwright, and Pineiro, the team is 24-3. That makes dealing with the inevitably bad fourth and fifth spots a little easier to stomach.

Kyle Lohse will keep the fourth starter spot, but has been shakey coming back from injuries. If he starts finding his 2008 form, the Cardinals will have four legitimately dangerous starters going into the home stretch. As of now though, having three dominant pitchers is easily good enough for a strong playoff push. We’ve seen teams with less offense do it with two ace pitchers.

What are you guys feeding Matt Holliday? Any chance Milton Bradley can have some?

Haha…that would defeat the purpose of picking up this season’s Manny Ramirez, minus the steroids, and showing up the Cardinals’ archrivals. I think Holliday is drinking vodka mixed with milk after every game, which is the secret recipe for achieving Nirvana as a hitter. Enjoy the two more years of booing his terrible fielding, low BA (although his OBP is almost .400), and hilarious antics. I’m surprised T.O. got a reality show over Bradley. I’d actually watch that.

Holliday is batter above .400 since joining the Red Birds, and a lot of that can coincidentally be attributed to his rejection of a Cardinal steroid hero in Mark McGwire. Holliday brought back his high leg kick into his swing after McGwire convinced him to get rid of it in Oakland. He’s also a lot more comfortable in the National League on a winning team with fans who are extremely supportive.

The Phillies and Dodgers seem to be the class of the NL (at least by buzz standards), how can the Cardinals put themselves in position to beat those teams in October?

Taking two of three from the Dodgers this past week, including two gems by Carpenter and Wainwright (as if we should expect anything less), and that’s a good start. I think the team needs to continue beating the teams they’re expected to beat as upper class citizens. That will allow them to focus more on their better opponents and keep their confidence going strong as they pull away from the Cubs, Brewers, and Astros like a Marine playing that carnival water gun game against children.

Add in the experience Carpenter and Wainwright have in the playoffs and World Series, and the Cardinals are a dark horse candidate to take the National League pennant. Throw in that same experience from their best hitters (Pujols, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina), and I’m surprised the Cardinals are still considered an under the radar team. Sometimes the Coastie bias can work in the Midwest’s favor, and Tony La Russa always finds a way to spoil someone’s party if given the chance.

Speaking of La Russa, is it just me or does he seriously look like an awkward grandpa walking around in stretch pants? He’s not pudgy enough like Lou Piniella, so he doesn’t fill out his uniform too well, but I absolutely love the fact that he’s got chicken legs. I’ll leave you with that thought, but if you have any questions for a future Cardinals update, don’t hesitate to email me at mccormjw@gmail.com. I’d even be satisfied with a little hate mail, which I’m really missing from my college newspaper days.

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