Introducing Your 2011 Playoff Cardinals: Bullpen

This is the Cardinals bullpen. I feel like there are a lot more guys hiding in there somewhere but every other familiar name I double-checked now pitches for another team. At the beginning of the season there was a lot of criticism leveled at the bullpen (*cough*RyanFranklin*cough*) but, after considerable wheeling and dealing the Cardinals have put together a respectable group of pitchers.


This is Kyle McClellan. He was left off of the NLDS roster due to a recent bout of arm fatigue. He says he's fine, so maybe he will show up later if when the Cardinals advance. Just thought you should know.


This is Mitchell Boggs. Like a lot of guys in the Cardinals' bullpen he has experience starting games, finishing games, and showing up somewhere in the middle. The past four seasons his won-loss record has been 3-2, 2-3, 2-3, 2-3. This isn't relevant to anything, it's just a minor statistical oddity.


This is Mark Rzepczynski (pronounced zep-CHIN-skee). YES HE HAS A WEIRD NAME. There aren't many people named Mark anymore. A former starting pitcher in Toronto, the Jays converted him to the bullpen before trading him to the Cardinals halfway through the season. As a left-handed pitcher he is often brought in as a specialist for specific match-ups, although he has pitched as many as three innings in relief. Since coming to the Cardinals he has averaged 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings, which is quite good.


This is Octavio Dotel (rhymes with Hotel). He has played for 11 teams in the past 8 seasons, which either means he is not terribly desirable, or he is the king of one-year contracts, or it means he is an excellent bargaining chip. Since coming to the Cardinals mid-season from the Blue Jays (just like half the dang team) Dotel has pitched effectively and has been used recently as the eight inning set-up man.


This is Arthur Rhodes. He is old. He was playing Minor League baseball in 1988. In 2007 he underwent Tommy John surgery, so really he is only pitching with a four-year-old arm. A lefty specialist, he will only face one or two batters at a time, some of whom weren't even born when he signed his first contract. Rhodes has done well as opponents have only batted .207 against him since he came to St. Louis in August.


This is Fernando Salas. He was born in Huatabampo, Mexico, which is infinitely fun to say out loud. This is only his second season in the Majors and for a while the Cardinals used him as their regular closer. They never announced that he was THE closer, he just frequently found himself pitching the final inning of tight ballgames. Last month his role was less defined as he was brought in to pitch as early as the seventh inning. Regardless he is consistent, reliable, and Mexican.


This is Jason Motte. He is a relief pitcher. Less a pitcher, more a throw-the-living-crap-out-of-the-ball-er. As they'll remind you during every broadcast Motte was a former catcher. You can tell this in his delivery as it looks like he is trying to throw every pitch through a brick wall. Despite throwing the ball so violently he walks surprisingly few batters. Last month he was used as the closer despite the fact that, again, the Cardinals never announced an official closer. He was simply their guy who finished close games.

Introducing Your 2011 Playoff Cardinals: Infielders

Game 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies started off promising enough (three runs off of Roy Halladay? Holy cow!) but a bad inning, followed by a bad inning, followed by a bad inning put the victory out of reach. But with Halladay out of the way, the Cardinals can look forward in Game 2 to beating up on... Cliff Lee? Aw, nuts.

Let's look at the Cardinals' infield. Apart from Albert Pujols and, to some extent, Yadier Molina, the regular infielders are quite anonymous outside of St. Louis. Tony LaRussa is always shuffling them around anyway, so how are we supposed to keep track? Here are the guys you should at least make an effort to remember.

This is Albert Pujols (pronounced POO-holes, tee-hee). He plays first base, except for those weird seven games when he played third. Despite having the worst offensive season in his Major League career, he still led the team in home runs, hits, RBIs, runs, and total bases, among other things. Pujols is so dominating with his bat people forget he is also an excellent fielder and a smart baserunner (his stolen base success rate is always surprisingly high despite the fact he is not at all fast-legged). In 57 post-season games (including last night's Game 1) Pujols is batting .322 with 13 home runs and 37 walks, 12 of them intentional, so as this series progresses expect some Pujolsian damage.


This is Skip Schumaker. You could probably figure out everything you needed to know about him by simply looking at his name. Scrappy player under 6ft tall? No home run power, .290 career average? Check, check and check. In addition to competently fielding his second base position Skip can also be seen playing the outfield when Tony LaRussa gets a case of the late-inning switcharoos. Fun fact: Earlier this year Tony had him pitch (with permission, I'm sure) the last inning of a blowout game. Of the five batters he faced, he struck out two. He also walked a batter and gave up a homer. There is no reason to think Tony won't try this again next season.


This is Ryan Theriot (like "stereo," but without the letter S). He also plays second base. Theriot was actually the regular starting shortstop until Rafael Furcal was acquired in July. Since then he's been platooning with Skip and filling the position for the late innings. Theriot has also shown himself to be an effective pinch hitter.


This is Rafael Furcal. The Cards picked him up from the Dodgers in a mid-season trade. Although he is a little error prone, Furcal has great range and a cannon arm. He missed the final two games of the regular season with a hamstring injury but felt well enough to start Game 1 last night. After singling in his first at-bat the announcers said his base running could be hindered by the injury. Then he went ahead and stole second.


This is David Freese. He splits third base time with Daniel Descalso (which unintendedly sounds like some sort of innuendo). The Cardinals acquired him before the 2008 season by trading away an old broken Jim Edmonds to San Diego. Freese is a good hitter... and this concludes all I know about David Freese.


This is Daniel Descalso. He is a utility infielder playing his first full season in the Majors. Although not a regular starter, his versatility has allowed him to appear in 148 of the Cardinals' 162 games. He is always around, but you forget about him later.


This is Yadier Molina. He is the catcher, one of the best in the Major Leagues. Although he as always been regarded as an excellent fielder, the 2011 season was his best offensively. Usually regarded as a relatively quiet guy, this year Yadier got himself some tough tattoos and then later spat on an umpire. If this new scary Yadier continues to improve his hitting then I'm all for the radical image change. It is important to note that Molina is a post-season stud, batting .313 in 33 games and always there for the critical hit.