June 28, 2004
Break Up the Cardinals
The Cardinals have jumped out to a five game lead in the NL Central with the help of an excellent record in interleague play. The Cardinals have gone 8-1 against the American League so far, while the Cubs have posted a 5-4 record and the Reds have only won 3 of 9. In between their sweeps of Oakland and Kansas City, the Cardinals managed to take 2 of three from both the Cubs and the Reds. They've won 11 of their last 13, outscoring their opponents almost 2:1 (81-43; average score 6.2-3.3). What appeared to be a close race not too long ago is starting to turn into a rout.
Correction: The Cards are in the NL Central.
Just a quick note about a typo....the Cardinals are not in the NL East.
I am pleased to see the Cards taking charge. Their defense hasn't been spectacular, but their offense has been consistent and solid, especially Scott Rolen. What a season he is having.
I don't understand the title of the post? Am I missing something?
The Cards have a five-game lead in late June. While this is magnified by the fact that before the last two weeks, nobody had a lead bigger than three, it is far too early to call this a rout. The Cards still have the same pitching that was not good enough last year.
Yo, Steven, the Cardinals have a much different pitching staff in 2004. Only two starters--Matt Morris and Woody Williams---remain from 2003, but, more significantly, the bullpen has been completely revamped.
Whereas in 2003 the Bird 'pen was one of the worst in all of baseball, allowing something like 55 runs more bthan an AVERAGE bullpen, the 2004 unit is hugely improved, and is probably one of the top 4 or 5 in the NL. The difference? No Jeff Fassero, no Esteban Yan, no Russ Springer, no Lance Painter, no Pedro Borbon Jr., no Jason Simontacchi. Ray King has a 1.29 era in 39 appearances, Julian Tavarez has a 3.09 era in 37 appearnces, Steve Kline has seemingly regained the effectiveness that eluded him in 2003 and Jason Isringhausen and Kiko Calero are healthy.
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Nope. Half of the current Cardinal pitchers weren’t with the team last year, so it’s certainly not “the same” pitching, and the results are far different: Overall staff ERA is down 13 percent (4.00 vs. 4.60), starters’ ERA is down a modest 6 percent (4.23 vs. 4.53), and most importantly, the bullpen ERA is down a huge 27 percent (3.47 vs. 4.74). On a more subjective note, this year’s bullpen doesn’t have any of the gasoline-on-the-fire guys that the ’03 pen did—Yan, Fassero, Borbon, etc., the kind of guys that made me cringe in fear behind the sofa when I saw them trot in to the mound.
In fact, if you were to look for reasons the Cardinals might fade in the second half, I don’t think the pitching would be the likely culprit. A more likely breakdown would be a return to (mediocre) form by Tony Womack, who has performed far better than anyone expected at leadoff, plus a general lack of pop on the bench, especially from the right side.
My beloved Brewers have been playing great ball (just ignore those Rockies losses) yet because the Cardinals are playing REALLY GREAT ball the men in red are pulling away from everyone else.