Introducing Your 2011 Playoff Cardinals: Outfielders

Tony La Russa switched up his starting pitchers again. We still have Kyle Lohse starting Game 1, but now Chris Carpenter is starting Game 2 on three days rest. He has never pitched on anything less than four days rest. SCARY. Jaime Garcia will start Game 3, and Edwin Jackson is bumped to Game 4. It wouldn't surprise me if this all changes fifteen minutes before game time.

Now lets talk about the outfield. Ten different people at one point or another started a game in Tony's outfield this season, so you'll be forgiven if you can't recall everybody. They look so tiny out there anyway. Here are the need-to-know names and faces.


This is Matt Holliday. Apparently his nickname is "Big Daddy," which disturbs me more than a little bit. He is the left fielder, and every once in a while he has trouble catching baseballs lined directly at him. He more or less lost Game 2 of the 2009 NLDS all by himself when he attempted to field a line drive with his crotch, so hopefully there will be some sort of Matt Holliday redemption story this go-round. As ineffective as he can sometimes be in the field, he more than makes up for it with his bat. Holliday can hit for average, maintains a good on-base percentage, and is always a home run threat. However, he currently has a bum finger and will miss Game 1.


This is Jon Jay. He has, as far as I can tell, the shortest name in baseball history (right up there with Mel Ott). Raise your hand if you knew Jay played in 159 of the Cardinals' 162 games, more than anybody else. Now put your hand down because I can't actually see you. Yes, Jay weaseled his way into nearly every game by starting a few games here, pinch hitting there, replacing Lance Berkman over yonder, etc. Following the Colby Rasmus trade in July, Jay became the regular center fielder. He's reliable, he's durable, he's young (only his second MLB season), and the kids love him.


This is Lance Berkman. His nicknames are, and I'm not making this up, "Big Puma" and "Fat Elvis." After a disappointing 2010 season a lot of people decided that Berkman was old and broken. Eyebrows were raised when the Cards signed him during the off season, and eyebrows were raised even higher when it was announced he would play the outfield (something he hadn't done since 2007). He managed not to tear up his leg muscles in the field, and surprised everybody at the plate by becoming one the Cardinals' best offensive producers. He led the team in OBP, SLG, and (by extension) OPS.


This is Allen Craig. In only his second Major League season he has been surprisingly effective with the bat. As far as fielding goes he can play nearly every position, infield and out. He's usually been used to fill in for injuries or guys taking a day off or late-inning outfield substitutions. If he keeps performing this well he will have a regular starting gig someday.


This is Corey Patterson. He came over from the Blue Jays in that super deal in July that sent everybody everywhere. About the only thing going for him right now are his speedy legs, but he has zero stolen bases since coming to the St. Louis, so that shows you how much Tony cares about that. And having seen him play in Toronto I can tell you he is not a great base runner anyway. He has had bat problems too, hitting just .157 since the trade. What is Patterson good for? He can catch a ball. Most of the time...

Introducing Your 2011 Playoff Cardinals: Starting Rotation

We continue our reacquaintance with the St. Louis Cardinals, this time taking a look at the starting rotation.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is reporting that Tony La Russa's chosen starters for the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies will be Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson, and Chris Carpenter... in that order. Jaime Garcia will be saved for Game 4. Once again I cannot tell if La Russa is an insane genius or just insane. I'll call you back after the fourth game.


This is Kyle Lohse. Lohse pitched well in April and May, not at all well during the summer months, and sparkled in September. He may just be a mild weather kind of guy. This season Lohse was one of those few guys who actually pitched better on the road. He also did very well in his two appearances against the Phillies, holding them to 3 earned runs in 15 ⅓ innings, walking only 1 and striking out five. This may help to explain La Russa's decision to make him the Game 1 starter against Roy Halladay. It helps to explain, but does not fully explain.


This is Edwin Jackson. The son of a military cook, he was born in West Germany and can thus technically be referred to as a Bavarian. Jackson has played for five teams (if we don't count the two hours he belonged to Toronto) in the past four seasons and can thus also technically be referred to as a journeyman. In 2010 he threw a no-hitter, but it was a sloppy no-hitter as he walked eight batters and drilled another.

Jackson has only pitched against Philadelphia once. It didn't go too well.

(I didn't mean for Edwin's blurb to be so negative. His game should be an interesting one.)


This is Chris Carpenter (not to be confused with the Chicago Cubs rookie who is also a right-handed pitcher, also about the same physical size, and also shares the same first, middle, and last name). He is the "ace," at least until Adam Wainwright's arm is firmly reattached. Carpenter has the most experience of all the starters and even has one of those nifty Cy Young awards. His numbers were down this season, but he had a strong September. Carpenter is not a man you would expect to be laden with tattoos, but he is.

Carpenter pitched twice against the Phillies this season. In 15 innings he allowed only 1 run, walked two, and struck out 12. This is a very, very good thing.


This is Jaime Garcia (pronounced HY-may gar-SEE-ya). He was born in Reynosa, Mexico. He is the only left-hander in the starting rotation. 2010 was his first full season and he came third in Rookie Of The Year voting. His 2011 numbers were down a bit, and he threw 12 wild pitches (2nd-most in the NL), but his strikeout-to-walk ratio was much better. One day everything will click and there won't be anything you can do about it.

Garcia also did exceptionally well against the Phillies this season. In 15 innings he allowed only 1 earned run, walked 3, and struck out 9. The splits indicate Garcia is better at home than on the road and great after a ton of rest, and that may be why Tony is holding him until the series comes to St. Louis.


This is Jake Westbrook. His middle name is Cauthen. I don't know why his head seems so much bigger than everybody else's. Acquired from Cleveland in 2010 as part of a three-team trade the Cardinals are so fond of, Westbrook is an exceptionally good fielder. Pitching-wise, the second half of the season was better than the first, although he did bomb his last start.

And guess how he has done against Philadelphia this year. Fairly well! In 10 ⅓ innings he allowed only 2 earned runs (although he walked 8 and only struck out 2 -- yikes!).

Introducing Your 2011 Playoff Cardinals: Coaches

The St. Louis Cardinals have spent most of the season flying below the radar. Then suddenly, BAM, they're in the playoffs. Since you wrote them off at the All-Star break it is therefore understandable if you've forgotten who's who or why we should care about particular players. So, to reacquaint yourself with the team, I've compiled this handy-dandy bare-bones Cardinals roster guide.

Today we will start with the coaches.


This is Tony La Russa. He's the manager. (Some people call managers "skippers." Those people are dumb.) Tony is known as a strategist. He will do silly things with his batting lineup, pull-and-push pitchers in-and-out of the game like yo-yos, and generally make you think he is suffering from advanced senility. But his team is in the playoffs now, so the joke is on you.

Other fun Tony facts:
- He really likes animals. He likes animals more than he likes most people.
- He missed a few games this season after coming down with a morbid case of face shingles.
- His post-game interviews are quite amusing, especially after a rough game. The Cardinals had a lot of rough games this year.


This is Dave Duncan. He is the Cardinals' pitching coach. He has been teaching pitchers how to pitch since forever ago. He is unnaturally good at it and can take virtually any old awful pitcher and shape them into something considerably less awful. (See Bob Welch and his 27 wins in 1990.) He has been Tony's right-hand man since the 1980's, and they will both probably be buried in the same casket together.


This is Mark McGwire. He is the hitting coach. As a player he once held the single-season home-run record. After he retired he became a steroid scapegoat, taking all the blame for the pervasiveness of "enhanced" play in baseball. As a result he brings a lot of baggage to the team, and nobody is really convinced that his hitting advice extends beyond saying "Just hit some dingers and you'll be fine," but they love him in St. Louis so it doesn't really matter.


This is Dave McKay. He is the first base coach. The first base coach is quite possibly the easiest on-field gig in baseball. He reminds his base runner to pay attention to the signs, and if the base runner forgets the signs then McKay just makes something up for him. McKay has been with La Russa since the mid-80s, doing whatever imperative coaching duties Tony lets him do. McKay is also Canadian, for whatever that's worth.

These four people, you might notice, were with each other in the Oakland Athletics' organization in the late-80s and early-90s, as well as the Cardinals' organization in the late-90s and, well, today. They all went to the World Series together in 1989. I'm sure it was fun, except for that whole earthquake thing.


Other Coaches


This is Jose Oquendo. Despite what his profile picture might imply, he does not eat children. He does coach third base where he waves his faster players to home plate, holds his slower players to third base, and yells at Yadier to just stay at first base for a while. Oquendo's claim to fame is that he played every position in 1988, including pitcher and catcher, and that is completely insane. La Russa did not manage that team, but I'm sure he wanted to.


This is Joe Pettini. He is the bench coach. I don't have any good idea as to what he actually does. Dave Duncan is usually the backup manager when Tony gets ejected, but I suppose it would be Pettini's time to shine if Duncan also gets ejected. I don't know that I've actually ever seen this man before.


This is Derek Lilliquist. He is the bullpen coach. When that bullpen phone rings, he freaking answers it. Then he says, "YOU there, start warming up," or "YOU there, sit back down." Sometimes he will even say, "YOU there, Tony wants you to pitch to two batters, then hit the showers."