Cardinals Flying High towards the Finish Line
By Editorial Staff
On Saturday, August the 27th, the St. Louis Cardinals were waxed at home by the Pittsburg Pirates 7-0. Chris Carpenter got lit up for six runs in defeat, and the Cards were shut down buy the 26-year-old right-hander Brad Lincoln. Who? At that juncture, the red-birds were 10 games behind Atlanta in the wild card, and probably ready to head back to their nest till next spring.
Well at least to my surprise, the Cardinals have decided to make things interesting. Since the 27th of last month, the St. Louis Cardinals are the hottest team in baseball, posting a 17-5 mark in that time.
Heading into their game today with the Mets, The Cards find themselves a 1.5 games back in the wild card with seven games left.
After their game today, things shape up quite nicely for St. Louis. They remain at home for a three-game set Fri-Sun against the Chicago Cubs, a team they are 8-4 against this year. They will finish up their regular season with three games in Houston. They are also 8-4 against the Astros this year.
Meanwhile in Atlanta, the team St. Louis is in direct competition with for the final NL playoff spot, things aren’t going quite as well. Since 8-27, the Braves are scuffling, going 9-14 in that time frame. The Braves last stretch of games is going to be tough, as they have to go into Washington, where they face a Nationals squad they are only 8-7 against. Then they finish up with the NL’s best team the Philadelphia Phillies, who they are 6-9 against this year.
The road back has most certainly been a tough battle for St. Louis, as they have had to win a bunch of these games against the NL’s strongest competition. During this hot-streak, they are 5-1 against the Brewers, 3-0 against the Braves, and 3-1 against the Phillies.
The pitching has been solid of late, giving the Cardinal bats the ability to take control of games. In September, St. Louis has the fourth best team ERA in the majors at 3.06, despite having one of the higher team WHIPs at 1.31.
Chris Carpenter has definitely chipped in, as he threw a complete game shut-out against the Brewers on the 7th, and threw eight innings of scoreless ball on the 18th against Philly. The often under-rated Jamie Garcia has also been great in September, going 3-0 in the month with a 1.69 ERA.
The big guns are also tearing it up on offense, such as Albert Pujols, who is hitting for a .381/.451/.598 clip with five homers and 20 RBIs in the last month. Lance Berkman is continuing his crazy 2011 campaign, hitting .341/.444/.462 in the last month. And other guys like Yadier Molina and Jon Jay have also stepped it up hitting over .300 in last 30 days as well.
The Atlanta Braves may hold off the Cardinals for the wild card, but fans in St. Louis should still find a way to appreciate the incredible effort this team has shown in the season’s final stretch. If the Cardinals do find a way to get in, momentum may definitely be on their side.