cubs v cards, round 1
the cardinals so thoroughly whipped the cubs in the standings last year that it’s easy to overlook how close the teams played each other head to head. altho st. louis took the set 11-8, the cubs outscored the cardinals 94-92 — this despite getting just three starts from prior and wood. stl played some of its tightest (ie, most error-free) baseball vs chicago last year, while the cubs displayed the same train-wreck sloppiness that characterized the rest of their schedule. still, many of the games could have gone either way; had the cubs not f**ked up so reliably in game situations, the summer might have had a much, much different tenor in mid-america. with a card-cub dogfight looming in 05, a close look back at 04 might be instructive — and even if it isn’t, there are worse ways to wait out the exhibition season.
SERIES 1: APRIL 30-MAY 3, at ST LOUIS
CONTEXT: cubs enter the series in 1st place at 13-8 (7-3 over prev 10); this without mark prior, on the shelf since spring training. fifth-place stl is a cipher, its various new parts still trying to mesh — 11-11 overall record (5-5 prev 10) includes 2-5 showing vs lowly milwaukee and an 0-3 sweep at home vs houston, but a gaudy 7-2 mark on the road. cardinals have many questions and few answers — with the biggest question being, can they stay on the field with the cubs?
SERIES SUMMARY: cub pitchers dominate — 4 bb, 33 so in 30 innings pitched — but bullpen gives two games away in cards’ last at-bat. tied 3-3 in bottom 9 of the opener, the relievers issue four walks, the last to mike matheny with the sacks jammed to force in the winning run. tied 0-0 in bottom 10 of game 3, they walk the sacks full again, then finally get a strike over with scott rolen batting; he whacks gwh to warning track. despite outhitting stl in three of the four games (and tying in the fourth) and besting stl in ops by 100 points, the cubs still only manage a split.
PIVOTAL GAME: 1st game foreshadows the two teams’ divergent paths for ‘04. cubs get 8 strong innings from wood, outhit the cards 10-5, but piss the game away with little lapses. in the top of the 4th, with cubs leading 2-0, mike barrett misses a two-run hr by inches (foul ball); tho he doubles a few pitches later, matheney pegs a basestealer in the interim, spoiling the rally. in the bottom of the 6th an errant throw from wood sails down the right field line, putting womack on third base with nobody out (he scores on a sac fly — unearned run). in top 9 with the score tied, cubs get leadoff walk but alex gonzalez bunts into a dp (catcher short first), negating the two singles (barrett and hollandsworth) that immediately follow; todd walker grounds out to 2b to end the threat. bottom half, after leadoff walks to pujols and edmonds, la russa takes bat out of hands of red-hot scott rolen (27 rbi in 22 games) by ordering the bunt; successful execution puts winning run at third but (predictably) costs the cards’ ed renteria’s bat as well, as baker orders him intentionally walked to restore the force play. sanders obligingly pops up for the 2d out, and when latroy hawkins gets ahead of mike matheney 0-2 it appears the cards will blow the opportunity. instead hawkins throws four straight balls and gift-wraps the win for st louis.
so it will go for these two teams all season long — the cards defense taking runners off the basepaths at key junctures, the cubs’ head-case bullpenners generously giving away bases, runs, and victories.
BY THE NUMBERS:
runs: chi, 14-10
hits: chi, 35-26
hrs: chi, 4-3
rc: chi, 17.8 - 12.6
ops: chi, 738 - 634
der, stl 736 - 698
dp, stl 5-3
cub starters: 30 ip, 20 h, 6 er, 4 bb, 33 so
cub bullpen: 6 ip, 6 h, 4 er, 11 bb, 4 so
WHAT IF . . . the cubs had swept the series, as they had ev’y opportunity to do? such would have left the cards in last place, 7 games behind chi in the loss column and lower still in morale. woulda made for a far diff’nt season . . . . instead the teams parted as they convened, chi now tied for 1st w houston at 15-10, stl still 5th, still 2.5 gb, still trying to establish an identity.
how close did stl come to getting swept? compare their numbers for this 4-game set vs what they compiled while getting swept out of the world series:
v chi: 10 r, 126 ab, 26 h, 42 tb, 15 w, 37 k
v bos: 12 r, 126 ab, 24 h, 38 tb, 12 w, 32 k
APRIL 30
chi 3 10 1
stl 4 5 0
w: kline 1-1
l: farnsworth 0-1
hr: sanders 8
MAY 1
chi 4 9 0
stl 2 7 0
w: clement 4-1
l: suppan 2-3
s: borowski 6
hr: ramirez 7
MAY 2
chi 0 5 0
stl 1 5 1
w: isringhausen 2-0
l: farnsworth 0-2
MAY 3
chi 7 11 1
stl 3 8 0
w: maddux 2-2
l: marquis 1-2
hr: pujols 8, edmonds 6, t. walker 3, lee 3, sosa 6
SERIES 1: APRIL 30-MAY 3, at ST LOUIS
CONTEXT: cubs enter the series in 1st place at 13-8 (7-3 over prev 10); this without mark prior, on the shelf since spring training. fifth-place stl is a cipher, its various new parts still trying to mesh — 11-11 overall record (5-5 prev 10) includes 2-5 showing vs lowly milwaukee and an 0-3 sweep at home vs houston, but a gaudy 7-2 mark on the road. cardinals have many questions and few answers — with the biggest question being, can they stay on the field with the cubs?
SERIES SUMMARY: cub pitchers dominate — 4 bb, 33 so in 30 innings pitched — but bullpen gives two games away in cards’ last at-bat. tied 3-3 in bottom 9 of the opener, the relievers issue four walks, the last to mike matheny with the sacks jammed to force in the winning run. tied 0-0 in bottom 10 of game 3, they walk the sacks full again, then finally get a strike over with scott rolen batting; he whacks gwh to warning track. despite outhitting stl in three of the four games (and tying in the fourth) and besting stl in ops by 100 points, the cubs still only manage a split.
PIVOTAL GAME: 1st game foreshadows the two teams’ divergent paths for ‘04. cubs get 8 strong innings from wood, outhit the cards 10-5, but piss the game away with little lapses. in the top of the 4th, with cubs leading 2-0, mike barrett misses a two-run hr by inches (foul ball); tho he doubles a few pitches later, matheney pegs a basestealer in the interim, spoiling the rally. in the bottom of the 6th an errant throw from wood sails down the right field line, putting womack on third base with nobody out (he scores on a sac fly — unearned run). in top 9 with the score tied, cubs get leadoff walk but alex gonzalez bunts into a dp (catcher short first), negating the two singles (barrett and hollandsworth) that immediately follow; todd walker grounds out to 2b to end the threat. bottom half, after leadoff walks to pujols and edmonds, la russa takes bat out of hands of red-hot scott rolen (27 rbi in 22 games) by ordering the bunt; successful execution puts winning run at third but (predictably) costs the cards’ ed renteria’s bat as well, as baker orders him intentionally walked to restore the force play. sanders obligingly pops up for the 2d out, and when latroy hawkins gets ahead of mike matheney 0-2 it appears the cards will blow the opportunity. instead hawkins throws four straight balls and gift-wraps the win for st louis.
so it will go for these two teams all season long — the cards defense taking runners off the basepaths at key junctures, the cubs’ head-case bullpenners generously giving away bases, runs, and victories.
BY THE NUMBERS:
runs: chi, 14-10
hits: chi, 35-26
hrs: chi, 4-3
rc: chi, 17.8 - 12.6
ops: chi, 738 - 634
der, stl 736 - 698
dp, stl 5-3
cub starters: 30 ip, 20 h, 6 er, 4 bb, 33 so
cub bullpen: 6 ip, 6 h, 4 er, 11 bb, 4 so
WHAT IF . . . the cubs had swept the series, as they had ev’y opportunity to do? such would have left the cards in last place, 7 games behind chi in the loss column and lower still in morale. woulda made for a far diff’nt season . . . . instead the teams parted as they convened, chi now tied for 1st w houston at 15-10, stl still 5th, still 2.5 gb, still trying to establish an identity.
how close did stl come to getting swept? compare their numbers for this 4-game set vs what they compiled while getting swept out of the world series:
v chi: 10 r, 126 ab, 26 h, 42 tb, 15 w, 37 k
v bos: 12 r, 126 ab, 24 h, 38 tb, 12 w, 32 k
APRIL 30
chi 3 10 1
stl 4 5 0
w: kline 1-1
l: farnsworth 0-1
hr: sanders 8
MAY 1
chi 4 9 0
stl 2 7 0
w: clement 4-1
l: suppan 2-3
s: borowski 6
hr: ramirez 7
MAY 2
chi 0 5 0
stl 1 5 1
w: isringhausen 2-0
l: farnsworth 0-2
MAY 3
chi 7 11 1
stl 3 8 0
w: maddux 2-2
l: marquis 1-2
hr: pujols 8, edmonds 6, t. walker 3, lee 3, sosa 6
posted by L Boros at 7:13 AM
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