Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Season in Review- St. Louis Cardinals
Their regular season record might have been 83-79, but what will be remembered most is how they did in October. After stumbling through the last week of the season, the world champion St. Louis Cardinals left it all behind and went on a roll at the right time. They easily got by the Padres to advance to the NLCS for the 4th time in 5 years, where they took the Mets all the way to Game 7, and ended up winning 3-1 thanks to a great performance by Jeff Suppan and a 9th inning home run by Yadier Molina. Their World Series opponent was the Tigers, who had won 7 in a row and were predicted to win the series. The Tigers problem may have been the week of rest they had before the series, or it may have been the 5 errors their pitchers made in the 5 games of the series, but in the end, it was the Cardinals winning their first World Series in 24 years.
As could be expected, Albert Pujols was the key to the team’s offense. In 2006, he had career-highs in home runs, with 49, and RBI, with 137. He also hit for a .331 average, 7th in the major leagues, and scored 119 runs, tying 3 others for 6th in the majors. The offense was also benefited by 3B Scott Rolen, who hit 22 homers and drove in 95 runs while hitting .296 this season. At the all-star break, he had a .331 average, 14 homers, and 57 RBI, but significantly slowed down throughout the second half. Also hitting 22 home runs in 2006 was Chris Duncan, although he accomplished it in half as many at-bats. He had a batting average of .293 to go along with his home run total, showing that he has a possibility of a great future.
The pitching was more of a problem than the offense. Once again, Chris Carpenter was the clear leader of the pitching staff, posting a 3.09 ERA and finishing 3rd in Cy Young voting. Carpenter’s 5 complete games tied him for 2nd in the major leagues, and his 3 shutouts tied him with Cy Young winner Brandon Webb for the major league lead. Following Carpenter was Jeff Suppan, who proved to be an important part of the Cardinals success, in both the regular season and the post-season. Suppan finished with a 12-7 record, and a 4.12 ERA, but eliminate his starts on April 18th, May 26th, and July 5th, and his ERA is 3.18.
The problem with the Cardinals pitching staff wasn’t Carpenter or Suppan, however. Mark Mulder, in his second season in St. Louis, was involved in many losses, with a surprising 7.14 ERA. In 2005, he allowed more hits than innings pitched for the first time ever, allowing 212 in 205 innings pitched. In 2006, he took that to a whole new level, allowing 124 hits in 93.1 innings. Mulder is a left-handed pitcher, meaning right-handed hitters likely had a better chance of hitting against him. Right-handed hitters did indeed hit better against him, as Mulder had an ERA of 8.27 against right-handed batters. Things became even worse when he had to pitch on the road (10.93 ERA), at night (7.78 ERA), or in any month other than April (5.50 in May, 12.71 in June, 27.00 in two August starts).
Besides Mulder, there was Jason Marquis (14-16, 6.02 ERA) and a combination of Jeff Weaver (5-4, 5.18 ERA as a Cardinal) and Anthony Reyes (5-8, 5.06 ERA). If the Cardinals are to repeat as World Series champions, their number one priority should be upgrading the starting rotation.
For most of the season, the Cardinals had Jason Isringhausen as their closer. While he may not appear too bad, with 33 saves and a 3.55 ERA, he needed 43 save opportunities to get those 33 saves. Even more, he spent most of September on the DL because of a need for hip surgery. While he was sidelined, however, rookie pitcher Adam Wainwright took the closer spot, and showed great potential. Wainwright’s overall ‘06 stats consisted of a 3.12 ERA in 61 appearances, 72 strikeouts in 75 innings, 3 saves, and 17 holds. Other valuable pieces of the bullpen were veteran Braden Looper (3.56 ERA in 69 appearances), Josh Kinney (3.24 ERA in 21 games), and Brad Thompson (3.34 ERA in 43 appearances).
Overall, it was a great season for the Cardinals, as they won their first world series since 1967 despite nearly losing a 7 game lead in the last week and a half of the season. If they are planning to defend their title in 2007, though, they will need help in their starting rotation.
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