There were a few things that were immediately apparent after the Cardinals 6-2 win over the Padres on Thursday evening:
1. The Cardinals are a much better and more experienced team than San Diego.
2. The Cardinals are the most fundamentally-sound team in the game.
The Cardinals' veterans gave the young Padres a tutorial on how to play playoff baseball. They showed all of baseball what the difference is between an 82-win team and a 100-win team.
The Red Birds' win today exemplified everything that the Cardinals have worked for all season long. They made smart decisions on the field with the bat, the glove, on the base paths, and in the dugout. The Cards let the Padres make inexperienced mistakes, then they capitalized on those mistakes.
You would think being on a team that hit 175 home runs this season that the Cardinals would be knocking the cover off of the ball, and scoring runs with the long ball. But that hasn't been the case. Yes, Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders did hit homers in game one (Sanders' homer being a grand slam). But in Game 2, the Cards played small ball to perfection.
Little giant David Eckstein worked his magic yet again for a squeeze play in the fourth, and had another RBI on a fielder's choice groundout when Xavier Nady couldn't throw out Abraham Nunez at the plate. The Cards would score twice more on a bases loaded walk by MVP candidate Albert Pujols and another RBI fielder's choice poorly executed by Xavier Nady and Ramon Hernandez. The Cardinals hitters showed that even when they have an off day hitting the ball they can still score runs.
The Cards didn't stop the lesson there. They tied a NLDS record by turning four double plays, and they have now turned seven in the series. They didn't commit an error and have committed only one in two games. They ran the hit and run and the squeeze play to perfection. And they scored two runs by the aggressive base running Tony LaRussa has been pushing for all season.
A lot of St. Louis' success in the fundamental aspects of the game can be attributed to the coaching staff Tony LaRussa has assembled. LaRussa has 2,214 career wins, he's won the Manager of the Year award four different times with three different teams. His teams have won two AL pennants, one NL pennant, and one World Series championship. He is an excellent coach, a meticulous student of the game, and seems to control every aspect of the proceedings with a single sign.
His other members of the coaching staff command similar respect. Pitching coach Dave Duncan is one of the most revered men in the game, and should be considered in the same realm of Leo Mazzoni and Mel Stottlemeyer. Hitting coach Hal McRae is the former Kansas City Royals manager and father of former major leaguer Brian McRae. Through McRae's work this season, the Cardinals' strikeouts are down considerably from a year ago. Only one player, Jim Edmonds, was above 100 strikeouts for the season. And former Cardinal fan favorite and third base coach Jose "The Secret Weapon" Oquendo, is putting the aggressive running style of his Whitey Herzog Cardinal era into practice.
But the Cardinals' front office also deserves a lot of credit for putting this group of fundamentally sound talent into their organization. Walt Jocketty has done an outstanding job at filling the Cardinals' needs every season in an economical manner. The Cardinals don't have the most money in the league. They don't have the capital to spend as much as the Yankees and Red Sox. And yet the Cardinals always seem to have a stacked lineup.
Jocketty has brought some great talent into St. Louis in his tenure since coming over from Oakland. He was responsible for getting Mark McGwire into St. Louis, insert jeer and sneer here. He got Jim Edmonds into a St. Louis uniform, and it only cost him Kent Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy. And this season, he picked up what the Cardinals have lacked in the playoffs in years past: a playoff-proven, ace caliber pitcher in Mark Mulder. And he did so at the cost of Dan Haren and Kiko Calero.
He has assembled four other starting pitchers that are all capable of performing at a high level in the playoffs, and he hasn't sacrificed a huge portion of his payroll in doing so. The Cardinals' staff made $17.5 million this year. Compare that to the Yankees' staff. Mike Mussina alone makes $19 million and the entire staff makes $64 million.
The difference is in making good gambles. While the Yankees took a $5 million dollar chance on Jaret Wright and a $15.7 million dollar gamble on Kevin Brown, Jocketty chose to take a chance on Chris Carpenter.
Carpenter was coming off of arm surgery and hadn't picked up a baseball in two years. Carpenter turned out to be the steal of a lifetime. In 2004, he made $300,000 and won 15 games before going down just before the playoffs. In 2005, he cost the Cards a measly $2 million and he's had a Cy Young-caliber season while winning 21 games and striking out 213 batters.
But to me, the most impressive move Jocketty has made came this summer. When Edgar Renteria was lured away to Boston by bigger money, and Orlando Cabrera went to Anaheim for a similar figure, I thought the Cardinals would be in trouble at short. Boy, was I wrong. And I'm sure most of you were too. David Eckstein and the Cardinals appear to be the winner in the shortstop carousel.
Although he hit well enough (.276, 8 homers, 70 RBI), Renteria had 30 errors and a .954 fielding percentage, both career lows. Cabrera didn't exactly bash the ball this season (.257, 8 homers, 57 RBI), but he did have a good year in the field.
But neither Renteria nor Cabrera have made an impact like Eckstein. Eckstein has brought the throwback art form of small ball into the forefront of the playoffs. In much the same way he did in 2002 with the Angels championship squad, Eckstein is an igniter for this St. Louis team. And people are beginning to notice his abilities. Eckstein was voted the starting shortstop for the NL in the 2005 All-Star Game. He was the only one of the big three shifting shortstops from this summer that made the all-star team.
Eckstein is everything you want in a player. He works hard, he never gives up, he's scrappy and tenacious, and he loves to play. He does everything for the Cards. He laid down a walk-off squeeze bunt one night and then he came back another night and hit a walk-off grand slam. He plays great defense, he runs well, and he hardly ever strikes out.
Eckstein's infectious winning attitude is nothing out of the ordinary in the Cardinal clubhouse. The team's sense of pride and determination towards the championship has been seen this season in every player from their superstar, Albert Pujols, to some of their rookie and platoon players.
No one can discredit what Pujols' MVP production has meant to this team. However, without the clutch performances of a few of the Cards' reserves, St. Louis would never have won 100 games again this season. The Cards sustained injuries throughout the season to all-stars Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, Reggie Sanders, and Jim Edmonds. But with the help of So Taguchi, rookie John Rodriguez, Abraham Nunez, and John Mabry, St. Louis never missed a step.
The Cardinals are a complete team and are playing their best baseball at the most important time of year. They have a formidable lineup, a solid pitching staff, gold gloves throughout the field, and they could have the NL's MVP and Cy Young. The memories of their 2004 World Series embarrassment are behind them and they're poised for another go. No one wants to run into this team in the playoffs and it's unfortunate for the Padres that they stood in the middle of the train tracks. Because this train is headed for the World Series.
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