St. Louis Cardinals Preview
Get ready for the 2006 season with our Cardinals preview.
The Cardinals 2005 campaign was a disappointment due to the high expectations
that were set by a World Series birth in 2004. The Cardinals had 5 less regular
season wins, with 100, in 2005 than they did in 2004, largely because of winning
just 9 of 19 down the stretch and just 16 of their remaining 30. It’s never a
good idea to be content and say that you can just turn it on come playoff time.
This type of complacency is definitely something to look for down the stretch
with both good and bad teams. Don’t let yourself take too many hits before
backing off in this situation. The better plays down the home stretch of the
season are games with something riding on them. St. Louis putting the remainder
of the regular season on cruise control ultimately cost them as they fell to the
Astros, who finished the regular season 19-11, in last year’s playoffs.
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I’m guessing St. Louis won’t fall into the same trap as easily this season.
You can definitely expect the Cardinals to get off to a quick start right out of
the gates as they are one of the best run-scoring teams in baseball. They
continue to crush right handed pitching, only having one losing season versus
right-handers over the last 7 years. With Pujols, Edmonds, and Eckstein
spear-heading the attack, you can count on another highly productive offensive
year for the Cardinals. Look for your spots to cash in big when these sticks are
up against righties.
Good pitching always beats good hitting, however, and ultimately it was the
Astros pitching staff who kept the Cardinal hitters at bay in the playoffs. The
NL Central is stacked with great pitching and St. Louis probably has the 3rd
best staff behind Chicago and Houston. However, St. Louis’ pitchers tend to over
achieve thanks to great run support. Carpenter, Mulder, and Suppan all had 16+
wins, and I expect Marquis to join that club this season. The St. Louis
Cardinals will be a good team to back this season as their big bats are rarely
asleep and their pitchers don’t make many costly mistakes.
2006 Baseball Previews
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by Jimmy Boyd
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