The Cardinals are Red ........ WHITE Hot

[OFFNY]

O

After going 2-8 from September 5th through September 15th, the Cardinals have reasserted themselves as favorites for the final playoff spot in the National League by going 8-1 in their last 9 games ...... and are just a hair and a Fernando Salas bad pitch from being 9-0.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/2012-schedule-scores.shtml

[Migrant Redbird]

The Cards still have this strange problem with Bud "Cy Young" Norris who, despite having a 6-13, 4.82 ERA overall this season, managed to shut out the Cards 2-0 last night.

For his career, Norris has a 2.74 ERA in 95 innings pitched against St. Louis (I don't think B-R has updated for last night yet) and a 4.47 ERA overall.

The Cards have 6 games left -- against the 2 best teams in baseball! They begin a 3-game series with the Nationals tomorrow night, followed by 3 games with the Reds to close out the season. At least, both series are in St. Louis.

Magic number remains at 4, with 6 games to play. Both the Brewers and Dodgers won last night, so they're only 3-1/2 games back. That ought to be a safe lead, but 2011 should have taught us never to count anyone out until they're mathematically eliminated.

[PaulFolk]

The Cards have 6 games left -- against the 2 best teams in baseball! They begin a 3-game series with the Nationals tomorrow night, followed by 3 games with the Reds to close out the season. At least, both series are in St. Louis.

I don't think it's as daunting as task as you say. The Nats and Reds have already clinched their divisions, right? (Maybe the Nats haven't yet, but it's a foregone conclusion.) So I think you'll see them resting their regulars or pulling them out of games early.

[Migrant Redbird]

I don't think it's as daunting as task as you say.

I'm not really worried about it. If the Cards blow a 3-1/2 game lead with 6 games to play, they don't belong in the post season anyhow.

... The Nats and Reds have already clinched their divisions, right? (Maybe the Nats haven't yet, but it's a foregone conclusion.)

Nats have a 4 game lead with 7 games to play. In 1964, the Phillies blew a 6-1/2 game lead in 7 games.

... So I think you'll see them resting their regulars or pulling them out of games early.

I think Dusty Baker is old school on that. I don't know about Chris Speier, but ESPN said yesterday that Dusty would be back for the series in St. Louis.

I don't think it will make that much difference. The games might not mean much to the Nats or Reds, but there's little that's more satisfying to a team than to throw a monkey wrench into another team's chances, and there's no love lost between the Nats or the Reds (especially) and the Cards.

I said on a Cards forum a couple days ago that it's not impossible the Cards might lose the last 7 games of the season. I think that's highly unlikely, but I won't rule out any team unless they're mathematically eliminated.

[OFFNY]

O

And now, the Cardinals are white hot again.

Can they close out the series today ???

[Migrant Redbird]

O

And now, the Cardinals are white hot again.

Can they close out the series today ???

If I interpret the Las Vegas odds correctly, they rate today's game as EVEN. With the Cards #1 pitcher (Lohse is 5th in the league in ERA, behind Kershaw, Dickey, Cueto, and Cain) going up against the #4 pitcher for the Nats (only because Strasburg was shut down), I think the Cards have enough of an edge to overcome the home field advantage. But, we'll see. The Braves were heavy favorites in the wild card game and the Nats were favorites for the NLDS, so I don't put much stock in the odds.

The Cards have a potent scoring attack (lead the majors in post season scoring by a wide margin, even after subtracting the 6 runs against the Braves), but it's inconsistent. They also have the lowest staff ERA among post season teams. There's good reason not to take them for granted.

[OFFNY]

And now, the Cardinals are white hot again.

Can they close out the series today ???

Sizzling.