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 Yes, the series was last weekend but A) I haven't written about it and B) there was a request for it, so here are some random thoughts about the series that the Cardinals won.
- I'm still not sold on the Cardinals in the long-term but right now they look pretty solid. They pitch well, they get on base and, for the most part, they play fundamentally sound baseball. Tony LaRussa is obviously a very good manager that will get the most out of his players and Albert Pujols is the best player west of the Bronx.
Rick Ankiel is having a nice little season so far but I'm just waiting for him to go through a month where he struggles. Then again, he may never struggle and could be one of the best CF's in the National League....he has that much talent. I think that Troy Glaus is washed up and while my colleague, Buck Rampage, thinks that hitting doubles means that homers are coming for him....I think that these doubles mean that the homers have exited stage left. The rest of the lineup is filled with the second coming of the piranhas (from the Minnesota Twins days). These are guys that won't necessarily kill you instantly but if you let them nibble and nibble and nibble....all of a sudden you've lost a lot of blood and are on the verge of blacking out.
The Cardinals pitching staff right now is filled with pure filth, which is a good thing. Most of them don't have great track records so it will be up to LaRussa and Dave Duncan to somehow keep them where they are. They throw strikes and work quickly. I was waaaay down on the pitching staff before the season but after seeing them in this past series I can now see where the optimism comes from. There is some talent there and they have an ace in Adam Wainwright but I still think that they need at least one, if not two, more quality starters in the rotation. Todd Wellermeyer is fine for now but I really don't think he'll keep it up. Although, his key to success is to not walk hitters and he's kept away from doing that this season. He's always had good stuff so as long as he throws strikes....good things might happen.
It's amazing that pitchers haven't really figured this out yet....throw strikes and you are successful. Why they try to blow the ball by everyone or fool them with breaking pitches is beyond me. Throw strikes, let them hit the ball, let your fielders field it and when you need to strike someone out....have the ability to do it. Seems simple enough.
The bullpen for the Cardinals was pretty interesting as they have a bunch of guys I couldn't care less about and are either people who you've never heard of or are retreads. Yet they throw well. Whether they are able to keep up their pace, again, remains to be seen.
- I'm not going to get into the Cubs because this was an atrocious series for everyone except for Ted Lilly. It's now almost a week later since the Cubs called up Chad Fox (seriously?) and he gave up the game winning homer to Skip Schumaker on Friday night. When I read this on Saturday morning while TLD and I were at Au Bon Pan, I nearly threw the paper against the wall. I was able to get some relief on Saturday when Mike Fontenot hit a three-run blast but for the most part the Cubs disappointed the entire weekend. End of Cubs portion of the recap.
If I'm a Cardinals fan I have to be ecstatic with the way the team is playing right now and how they are competing. The team plays hard, they play right and they play to win. Unfortunately, they are about one pitching/Pujols injury away from major troubles and it's doubtful they'll be able to make it through the season unscathed.
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Somewhat agree on your long term assessment, but whose to say they can't keep up this type of play?
Ankiel has had a good year so far at the plate and in the field. After his two assists this week people are even talking "best CF in the NL" talk and possible all-star inclusion. I'm not sure I would go that far yet, but he has the ability. As far as him slumping, he's already had about a 3 week slump going from a .301 BA to .241. He's started to dig himself out of that and is now at .279. So that's one hurdle he's went over thus far.
Despite Glaus' low HR total he is still 2nd on the team in RBI. So those doubles are doing some good. But, he will have to raise that slg. at some point to be effective.
The pitching staff has been a nice surprise. Wainwright is aces. Looper has been good, but we saw last year he'll struggle to keep that up. Wellemeyer has been awesome, but wouldn't count on that the whole season. The Cards made a steal i nteh Lohse deal apparently and it seems that Pineiro is coming around.
The bullpen has been a strength for the Cards the last couple of years, but I'm not so sure this year. Main problem is that Izzy is struggling mightily. If he can't right the ship that is going to be big trouble for the team. He blew his 4th save last night and is sporting a +6 era.
I like to base things on past performance while taking into consideration future expectations and based on that it's tough to say that a lot of the Cardinals players will continue to thrive. It's not an exact science but I like to use it. They could continue to play well....but, in my opinion, they are more likely to regress.
Ankiel intrigues me just because of his athleticism. I still have no idea how no one picked him or Josh Hamilton up off waivers/draft when they had the chance to. He's still raw but the tools seem to be there. Two years from now he's going to be a very, very good CF when he stops throwing over the head of the cutoff man.
Boo to Glaus.
the guy that really impressed me in the Cardinals bullpen was Kyle McClellan. He was just pounding the strike zone and threw very well.
It's definitely going to be tough for the pitching staff, on the whole, to stay this hot. Strong competition and just the general wearing could be an issue, especially since it looks like the injury calvery (Clement, Mulder, Carpenter) aren't exactly over the next hill.
Still, I think the Cards have just as good of a chance to stay in the mix as most everyone else, if they get Izzy figured out/replaced (as VEB says today).