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P.S.
A big you to the St Louis Cardinal fans at the game.
1. the atmosphere was game 6 vs the pistons esque, pathetic.
2. Booing Jason Isringhausen, for absolutely nothing.
You people suck royally.
Should have been, but the bully was solid.
Young did a great job, congrats to him, not job of Branyan to step up.
Time for Carpenter to impose his will again and be the Cy Young, and finish it off.
P.S.
A big you to the St Louis Cardinal fans at the game.
1. the atmosphere was game 6 vs the pistons esque, pathetic.
2. Booing Jason Isringhausen, for absolutely nothing.
You people suck royally.
Don't know how concrete this is,
but supposedly tommorow's pitching matchups is
Chris Carpenter vs Woody Williams...
Woody Williams is solid
Oh God.
Not Woody. Please not Woody. He's been solid lately, but I'd rather see Peavy get another shot. Especially @ St. Louis with some actual run support.
a's swept mother ers
Yeah, you should try to keep up. Although I wouldn't expect you to know about keeping up with the crowd.
So when the actual players on your JV football team are practicing, do you just stretch your legs and curl your toes to prepare for extra point kicking?
Was curious to see what Woody was at coming in to the playoffs, checked his last ten games....
LAST TEN GAMES....... 7-2, 1.48 era
I really don't care who pitches, not like its my choice. Just glad I get to see another game.
That's why I didn't go into the LCS.
Tigers in seven.
Holy crap. That was impressive.
You're completely wrong there Johnny Blaze. No way that kid is on the JV. It's Freshman team - even if he's a senior...
Bump.
I guess that Cardinals bully wasn't as bad as everyone thought.....
Man, I'm psyched for the NLCS. Mets all the way baby!
PLEASE let the gA'ys get spanked by the Tigers!!!!
They deserve credit. I'm not sure I'm ready to call them world beaters quite yet -- that Padres team looked like a late 90's Astros playoff team at the plate. But, the Cards' pen did pitch well when they needed it. Can't deny that.
good luck to the cards, always liked their fans, but they will get spanked by the mets.
Don't get me wrong, the Pen has been bad, but in September they seemed to get better.They deserve credit. I'm not sure I'm ready to call them world beaters quite yet -- that Padres team looked like a late 90's Astros playoff team at the plate. But, the Cards' pen did pitch well when they needed it. Can't deny that
TJ JKin and Wainer have been HUGE.
Wainwright's curveball was Zito esque yesterday, whew that was nasty.
Thank you, and, Im glad that you along with everyone else is still counting out the Cardsgood luck to the cards, always liked their fans, but they will get spanked by the mets
I understand why, and can't blame anyone.
But like the team has said.
"Get to October and see what happens"
The bully is as confident as ever, Weaver Carpenter are throwing well.
Suppan pitched better than the results showed IMO.
If the Cards can come out and get to Glavine early and Weaver can give em 5 or 6 solid innings again, the team will be right there.
Im also excited to see that ESPN is once again, going right down the line in picking the Mets.
Just like they did with the Padres.
Damned media always hating on the Cardinals.Don't get me wrong, the Pen has been bad, but in September they seemed to get better.
TJ JKin and Wainer have been HUGE.
Wainwright's curveball was Zito esque yesterday, whew that was nasty.
Thank you, and, Im glad that you along with everyone else is still counting out the Cards
I understand why, and can't blame anyone.
But like the team has said.
"Get to October and see what happens"
The bully is as confident as ever, Weaver Carpenter are throwing well.
Suppan pitched better than the results showed IMO.
If the Cards can come out and get to Glavine early and Weaver can give em 5 or 6 solid innings again, the team will be right there.
Im also excited to see that ESPN is once again, going right down the line in picking the Mets.
Just like they did with the Padres.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playof...t&lid=tab1pos1
Cards advance on Carpenter's arm, some good fortune
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
ST. LOUIS -- This wasn't going to be their year. This wasn't going to be their October. This wasn't going to be the St. Louis Cardinals of Octobers past.
But guess which team is heading to Shea Stadium this week, for its third straight tour of the National League Championship Series?
Yeah, it's the Cardinals, all right. This sport just can't assemble a final four without them, apparently.
So what the heck are they doing here, a week and a half after their spectacular '64 Phillies imitation almost made an 8½-game lead over the Astros disappear?
Well, they still have Albert Pujols. (You might have noticed that.) They still have their 46,000 red shirts in the stands. And after the way their 3-1 NLDS wipeout of the Padres unfolded, nobody should ever forget that they still have Chris Carpenter.
You know, it's a funny thing about this team. When we talk about it, we tend to start and end about 98 percent of those conversations with Pujols. But as much as any other reason -- Sir Albert included -- Carpenter is the reason the Cardinals will be allowed to continue playing baseball this week.
Actually, it all also stems from one of Tony La Russa's more brilliant decisions -- a decision that set Carpenter up to pitch two of the first four games of the NLDS.
The manager had the kind of choice men like him get paid to make: start his ace on the final day of the regular season, with his division still not clinched. Or spin the roulette wheel, start somebody else and pray the Cardinals could clinch without him.
La Russa decided to spin that wheel. Looking back, he said Sunday, it "wasn't a tough call." But all that mattered was that it was the right call -- a call that may have changed the course of his team's safari through another October.
"I'll tell you one thing," said backup catcher Gary Bennett. "I'm sure the San Diego Padres wish Chris Carpenter would have pitched the last day of the season."
"Yeah, it worked out perfect for them, didn't it?" said Padres center fielder Mike Cameron.
Right. Perfect. Because Carpenter didn't pitch that final Sunday, he was ready to stomp to the mound on Tuesday to start Game 1 of the Cardinals' postseason.
And because the Cardinals lucked into the one Division Series with two off days instead of one, La Russa was also able to march his ace back out there Sunday -- on regular rest -- to start Game 4.
With a team that has been accused by some scouts of having essentially a one-man starting rotation, it couldn't have lined up any better. And Carpenter then held up his end, just the way the manager scripted it.
It was Carpenter who restored the Cardinals' equilibrium -- not to mention their sanity -- by dominating the Padres into the seventh inning of Game 1.
Then, on Sunday night, back home in the always-euphoric Busch Stadium, it was Carpenter who finished off this NLDS by rolling another of his seemingly unlimited supply of two-runs-in-seven-inning starts off his personal assembly line.
So do the math. The Cardinals needed to win three games in this round to move on. Carpenter won two of them, without having to pitch on short rest, and without forcing everybody to jump on a plane to San Diego for a sweat-it-out Game 5. Pretty good deal.
"You know what?" said Cameron. "We knew, if we were going to beat them, we were going to have to face him twice anyway -- unless we swept them or something. But it worked out real good for them. He pitched two good games when he had to. Tonight, he wasn't as sharp as he was the first game. ... But he still got guys out."
In this game, Carpenter actually threw an unforeseen twist into the regularly scheduled plot line, with a first inning so harrowing, it scared the crimson out of everyone around him.
It wasn't just that he got his team behind, 2-0, so fast. It was how he did it.
With three walks in one inning. (He hadn't even issued three unintentional walks in a whole game since June 13.)
With his first force-in-a-run, bases-loaded walk in more than five years (against a team that had gone 1 for its first 25 with runners in scoring position yet).
With a 35-pitch first inning that made you wonder if he would even make it through four innings on this night, let alone seven.
But somehow, he left those bases loaded and wriggled out of it. And it was "two runs, not four or five," said La Russa, heart still pounding three hours later. Then the Cardinals, naturally, bounced back in the bottom of the first to score two off their old friend Woody Williams. And for the rest of the night, the real Chris Carpenter was back in control.
Over the next six innings, no Padre made it farther than first base. And when the Cardinals offense finally mugged Williams and his bullpen for four game-breaking runs in the sixth, you could feel the city of St. Louis exhale -- for the first time in two weeks.
"You know, everybody always says that once you get to the playoffs, you never know what's going to happen," said Isringhausen. "We're kind of proving that. So we'll just keep playing. You never know what's going to happen the next round, either."
The next round, of course, will match them up with a Mets team that has had that World Series look since it burst into its first spring training stretching session in Port St. Lucie.
That Cardinals team on their menu, on the other hand, hasn't had that look for a long, long time now. This team was 34-21 -- the best record in the National League -- the day Pujols got hurt in June. It had virtually the same record (49-57) as the Royals (49-58) the rest of the season.
This club's legacy will show that it became the first team in history to make the playoffs despite three losing streaks of seven games or more. And there was a time, not much more than a week ago, when you wondered if this group would even win a game in this postseason, let alone a series or three.
"Those last couple of weeks of the season, while the whole collapse thing was going on, one week seemed like it lasted a month," said Isringhausen. "So it's been fun to see these guys pull together the way they have."
Well, you don't have to be a descendent of Red Schoendienst to know exactly when things changed. You just have to look back to last Tuesday, and Game 1 of the playoffs.
One thing that jolted them back to life that day, said Bennett, was just the posting of the lineup card.
"When we saw that lineup, it was our regular lineup," Bennett said. "I don't know how many times we played that lineup this year, but not much. You know, we had Albert going down with his oblique [strain]. Scotty [Rolen] was sick for a couple of weeks. Jimmy [Edmonds] was hurt. So in Game 1, seeing those guys all out there, that was the team Tony, and all of us, envisioned having out there most of the year."
But a second thing also happened that day.
"The guy's unbelievable. … He's a horse, man. There are only a select few, and he's one of them. He's one of those guys you just feed off."
-- Jeff Weaver
Chris Carpenter happened.
More than any team in the NL half of the playoffs, the Cardinals needed something or somebody to grab hold of the steering wheel and get their runaway bus back on the highway. That somebody was Chris Carpenter.
"It all started with him in Game 1," Isringhausen said.
Carpenter's breaking ball was so untouchable that day that by the time the Padres finally scraped a sixth-inning run together, all it did was pull them within four runs. And by then, the Cardinals looked like the Cardinals again.
Not that Carpenter wants the credit for all that, you understand. But he conceded Sunday night that Game 1 "all of a sudden sent a message to us that, you know, we can do it."
It wasn't the only message, though. The other message -- one his teammates have been deciphering all year -- was: They couldn't do it without Chris Carpenter.
"We knew that's what he'd do that day," said the pitcher who won Game 2, Jeff Weaver. "He's the same way every time out. The guy's unbelievable. … He's a horse, man. There are only a select few, and he's one of them. He's one of those guys you just feed off."
And Sunday night, when they needed another feeding session, Carpenter rose up to set the table again.
You may not have noticed, but the Cardinals were able to do something in this game that they don't do a whole lot -- win on a night when Pujols, by some miracle, didn't get a hit.
Think that's no big deal? Guess again. The Cardinals went 14-21 this season in games Pujols started but went hitless. They'd also lost five consecutive postseason games in which Pujols unfurled an 0-for. They hadn't won one of those, in fact, since Game 2 of the 2002 NLCS.
But it was no coincidence that they finally won another one on a night when Carpenter started.
"It just seems like, day after day, this guy gets it done," Weaver said. "He's got everything you'd want in an ace. He's got the velocity. He's got the pitches. He's got the stamina. He's someone you can count on, each and every time he goes out there."
The bad news for the Cardinals, though, is that he may not be able to go out there again until Game 3 of the NLCS. Carpenter hasn't ruled out trying to come back on three days' rest to start Game 2. But however it plays out, it will be a lot tougher for him to dominate the next series the way he dominated this one.
The question, however, is whether he'll need to. This may not be as talented a team as the 2004 and 2005 juggernauts that won 100 games. But it's still dangerous this time of year -- now that Chris Carpenter has gotten out his tool kit, repaired the franchise GPS system and gotten them all back on their usual October course.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
Make your predictions.
Tigers vs. A's: Tigers in Six
Mets vs. Cards: Mets in Seven
God, I ed these up pretty badly last week.
Mets in seven.
Tigers in six.
Yeah they havent ripped the Cardinals horribly lately.Damned media always hating on the Cardinals
And everyone of their experts is NOT picking the Mets in 5.
Nah.
Don't get me wrong guys, this will be an uphill battle no question, but if there was one batting order to I guess prepare for the Mets? Thats the Padres.
Heavy leftys hitting for good average and semi to good power.
Not saying they are the same, but its the same looks so to speak.
Plus they just played the Mets in New York a couple weeks ago with Weaver Mulder and Marquis.
Marquis and Mulder obviously won't pitch, but it looks like game 1 its Jeff Weaver who really was pitching well in that game till the 6th inning, and the Cardinals had a 6 run lead on them in that game as well.
Suppan goes game 2, Carp game 3, and it looks like Anthony Reyes in game 4.
OH LOOK
Guess the media loves the Cardinals still right Johnny?
Cards can't contain Mets' offenseBy Keith Law
Scouts Inc.
Archive
The best team in the National League faces the team that barely slid under the playoff garage door before it slammed shut. The Cardinals' pitching looked a lot better against the Padres last week than it did for most of September, but the Mets' offense was one of the best in the NL this year.
Reyes
When the Mets are up
• When Chris Carpenter's not the starter for St. Louis, look for lots of Mets circling the bases. None of the Cardinals' other three starting pitching candidates, all of whom are right-handed, has a solid weapon to get left-handed batters out. St. Louis can't use Carpenter for three starts because they started him on regular rest on Sunday in the clinching game against San Diego, meaning that Jeff Weaver (who allowed a .669 slugging percentage to lefties this year) and Anthony Reyes will both have to get starts. Even Carpenter has some weakness against lefties, but not to the degree of his rotation-mates. The Mets' lineup can have three of its first four hitters and six of its eight hitters hitting from the left side, which gives them a huge advantage.
• If it comes down to matchup baseball in later innings, the Cardinals will have at least two lefties in the pen to use as specialists, while the Mets did not carry a right-handed-hitting outfielder on their NLDS bench.
• Yadier Molina vs. Jose Reyes. 'Nuff said.
Glavine
When the Cardinals are up
• This is suddenly an impatient lineup, with Albert Pujols standing like an island of hitting competence among a number of hackers and slap-hitters. The Mets' only real strike-throwers among their starters are John Maine and Tom Glavine, so the unstoppable force of Steve Trachsel and Oliver Perez will meet the immovable object of Preston Wilson and Juan Encarnacion.
• Expect some run-manufacturing from Tony La Russa, especially if Scott Rolen is relegated to spot duty due to his sore shoulder. Look for more attempted steals, sacrifices, and hit-and-runs as part of an effort to jump-start the depleted offense.
• Pujols may not get much to hit if his only protection is Jim Edmonds. Right or wrong, teams are increasingly pitching around Pujols, and Edmonds' performances since returning have made it appear that he's not fully recovered from his concussion. Willie Randolph might decide it's better to put Pujols on first and face Edmonds than risk letting Pujols go yard.
Keys for the Mets
• Getting four good innings from their starters every night. The Dodgers' offense was better than the Cardinals' offense this year, and if the Mets could beat them with four or five good innings from each starter (or even not-so-good, in Trachsel's case) and a Johnny Wholestaff approach from the bullpen, they can also beat the Cardinals that way.
Heilman
• Keeping the bullpen rolling. The Mets got great performances from Aaron Heilman, Billy Wagner, and Pedro Feliciano, and mostly good work from Guillermo Mota. Those four guys will be called on repeatedly in this series, so they'll need to pitch well and be able to pitch often.
• Executing on offense. The Mets have a strong offense, and the platoon advantage favors them heavily when the Cardinals' starters are on the mound. They need to score early before the Cardinals' resurgent late-game bullpen gets involved.
Keys for the Cardinals
• Deploying the lefties. The Cardinals carried two lefties in their NLDS pen; they should consider adding lefty Chris Narveson for the NLCS, although if the lefty-heavy Padres lineup didn't convince them to carry Narveson, the similarly lefty-heavy Mets lineup probably won't. The Mets are slightly less scary against lefties, with Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green most vulnerable. La Russa loves matchup baseball; he needs to have the weapons.
Spiezio
• Contributions from unexpected sources. Someone besides Pujols has to show up at the plate; the Mets are too good for Pujols to beat them by himself. It could be Edmonds or Rolen, but it could easily be Scott Spiezio or Ronnie Belliard, too. Someone has to have the unexpected good series, the way Sean Casey did for Detroit against the Yanks.
• Avoiding the blowout. Obviously avoiding a blowout is a goal for any team, but there's a heightened risk of a blowout for the Cardinals in this series because of their weak starting pitching, the Mets' good lineup, and the already-discussed platoon disadvantage for St. Louis' arms. The Cardinals must keep games started by Suppan-Weaver-Reyes close, because any or all of the three are at risk of an implosion against the Mets' offense.
Prediction
This matchup really favors the Mets, as the Cardinals don't have the left-handed starter to serve as Kryptonite for New York's Superman one-through-five hitters. The Cards' offense is mostly limited to Pujols, with Edmonds clearly not 100 percent and Rolen also not healthy. Carpenter can beat any team on any night, but he can only start twice in this series, and beyond him, the Cardinals are at a disadvantage in any pitching matchup. Mets in five.
No doubt -- man, I wish you'd learn something about picking the winners of baseball playoff series.
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