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Calm Before The Storm

Posted on October 18, 2011 at 6:38 AM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals | Texas Rangers
Gotta make this quick today, but being that it's World Series week (continue to get a kick out of saying that) and there are some new Twitter followers (and hopefully, by extension, new readers of the blog) due to being included in this list yesterday, I figured it best to have something up.  Regular readers, don't worry--it'll be the same drivel you are used to.

The biggest news would have to be Chris Carpenter's elbow.  Apparently he had some soreness there after his last outing, sending waves of concern around Cardinal Nation yesterday.  Reports are now, though, that everything is fine and it's not a big deal, which is either a load off of your mind if you are an optimistic Cardinal fan or, if you are one of those "cloud in every silver lining" folks, you wonder if the organization is just feeding you a line and hoping to calm fears.  I don't think the Cards would take a gamble sending him out there for Game 1, though, if they really thought something was wrong.

I see a lot of the national media is predicting Texas will take the Series, and that's fine.  I'm not claiming bias or anything of that sort.  Texas is a very strong team and probably should be the favorite.  That said, I'm glad to see that some of the media are going with the Cardinals.  The Cardinals have more going for them than an underdog, "team of destiny" vibe.  That bit of intangible, the way this team has come together and played the last two months, can't be overlooked, but there are still plenty of weapons on this squad.

In fact, there's a pretty good path to winning this series.  That plan would be win Game 1 behind Carpenter, especially as CJ Wilson has struggled some in postseason play.  Win Game 2, because that gives you a happy flight.  Win Game 5, which gives you another happy flight (and it's a Carpenter/Wilson rematch), then win one of the last two at home.  Simple, huh?  We'll see if the Cards can do it just the way we drew it up.

Cards are going to have 12 pitchers on the World Series roster, which is no surprise given how successful that was in the NLCS, but they've not announced if there would be any changes.  The only one that I could imagine, as I've said before, is to remove Kyle McClellan and replace him with someone.  The club might go with Jake Westbrook.  I'd lean toward Eduardo Sanchez.  Whatever the case, I figure that'd be the only difference in the rosters, especially if they aren't sure about Skip Schumaker's health.

There are a few housekeeping things before I wrap this entry up.  First off, if you aren't subscribing to Conversations With C70 via iTunes, you may have missed a couple of episodes as I failed to mention them in a main post.  (If you are using iTunes, might I request you rate and/or review the show over there?)  You can always find them over on the podcast page, but the discussions with Christine of Aaron Miles' Fastball and Bob of On the Outside Corner were definitely worth highlighting.

One of the members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is Seedlings To Stars, which is a blog dedicated to the minor leagues.  They recently did a number of features on Cardinal minor leaguers, so check out their writeups on Maikel Cleto, Brandon Dickson, and Trevor Rosenthal.

Also, if you are in the Fayetteville, Arkansas area (home of my alma mater, Go Hogs!), you'll be able to hear me on 92.1 FM tomorrow afternoon around 1:30 to talk about the Cards and the Series.  If you aren't in that area but want to hear me ramble on, you can listen live right here.

We'll try to look more at Game 1 tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy all the Cardinal talk on Twitter and everywhere else!

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2 Comments

2 Comments | Leave a comment

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WilliaminMaine | October 18, 2011 10:44 AM | Reply

I'm not really big on momentum or intangibles. The Cardinals have won on the field. At least that's my take anyway. And they have a 50/50 chance this series based on the players they have to put on the field. They have few holes in their arsenal right now and neither do the Rangers. Should be a great series.

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Author Profile Page Cardinal70 replied to comment from WilliaminMaine | October 18, 2011 2:20 PM | Reply

I'm not usually either, William, and I agree it's wouldn't be enough if the Rangers heavily outclassed them. But there is something about this team, something about what they've been through and how they've been through it, that I think will be tough to be denied.

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Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


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