Kuzul

The St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in Game 5 of the National League Division Series yet again this year.

Just like 2012, they will turn to Adam Wainwright to lead them to victory and on to the National League Championship Series.  Wainwright hopes to put the team in a position to win instead of the team overcoming a poor start like what occurred last year.

The Cardinals are no stranger to elimination games.  They are even more familiar with playing the fifth game of a NLDS.  Over the past two seasons, the Cardinals have produced a dominant pitching performance and a come-from-behind victory in Game 5.  

The dominant pitching performance belonged to Chris Carpenter, the former ace of the Cardinals who now finds himself a spectator and cheerleader from the dugout.  His 2011 performance against Roy Halladay, the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies and Carpenter’s good friend, was an instant classic.  

Wainwright was unable to follow in his mentor’s footsteps the following season, however.  Wainwright took the mound against the Washington Nationals in 2012 and would exit the game in the third inning.  Three home runs, six runs, and seven hits would chase the ace to the dugout to watch the remainder of the game. The rest of the team refused to give up and the Cardinals fought their way back to take the game and move on to the NLCS.

Derrick Goold of StlToday.com checked in with Adam Wainwright during a Tuesday afternoon optional workout at Busch Stadium.  Wainwright made it clear that he was feeling relaxed when he took the opportunity to joke about last year’s disastrous outing:

“I’m a motivator, so I knew that day that I was going to need to go out and pitch bad for our team to really get some mojo flowing,” Wainwright said, grinning.

Adam Wainwright was recovering from Tommy John surgery and finding his way in 2012.  At times, his season would show the flare of the ace pitcher the Cardinals hoped would return.  At others, he reminded the team and the fans that he was still finding his groove.  He shared some thoughts on that with Goold as well:

This year is completely different than last year. I learned some valuable lessons last year. I persevered through some hard times. The fact of the matter is last year I pitched a good Game 1, a terrible Game 5, and a good Game 4 of the NLCS. There is no guarantee my stuff would have returned in the World Series had we even got there. That’s just the truth of the matter. My stuff was hit or miss all year long.

Wainwright seems to have found that groove in 2013, posting a Cy Young-worthy season and being the leader the young pitching staff desperately needed throughout the season.  

He now finds himself poised to lead this team one step further, into the next round of the playoffs and possibly beyond.  He finds himself in position to exorcise the Game 5 demons from last season.  He finds himself in the position to put the exclamation point on the statement that Michael Wacha made in Game 4.

The Cardinals and Wainwright wouldn’t have it any other way.

Statistics in this article are sourced from Baseball-Reference.

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The American League Division Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox has cast a spotlight on the Rays’ rookie right fielder, Wil Myers.  The Boston fans seem to have selective memory in how they have chosen to handle the situation.

Myers is one of the hottest young names in baseball.  A “can’t miss” prospect who was traded to the Rays by the Kansas City Royals, Myers has found himself in the middle of the postseason in Tampa.  His bat is a thing of beauty, and for the most part, his defensive work is fairly sound.  He has seldom failed to impress those watching his work on the field.

As the division series opened between the Red Sox and the Rays, Myers found himself at the scrutiny of all watching when a routine fly ball off the bat of David Ortiz would turn into a ground-rule double when the youngster inexplicably gave up on the catch.  The video from MLB.com.

Announcers assumed that foul play may have been involved from the Red Sox bullpen as there was no reason for Myers to suddenly pull forward and let the ball drop in.  Myers was quick to dispute that report, as Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com pointed out in her wrap-up:

“I saw [center fielder Desmond Jennings] out of the corner of my eye; [the] center fielder has priority,” said Myers, who didn’t lose his tracking on the ball but thought that perhaps Jennings had said something to signal he had it.

“It was totally my fault. I messed it up.”

An honest mistake from a young outfielder that eventually led to a big inning for the opposition.  Harmless as it may have been at the time, Red Sox fans enjoyed showing their appreciation for the young man’s miscue by greeting him with loud cheers as he was announced prior to the second game of the series.  

Noted: #Rays Wil Myers got mock cheer from Fenway fans during intros; still went over & signed some autographs before heading back to dugout

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 5, 2013

The crowd would once again rise to their feet in a mock ovation as Myers caught a routine fly ball later in that same game.  A Red Sox crowd, no doubt fueled by the resurgence of the team this year, found reason to repeatedly taunt the young outfielder for his gaffe the night before.

Myers handled himself with class, finding reason to laugh at the reaction of the crowd and allow himself a moment to enjoy the moment around him despite the uncomfortable nature.  Most surprising is that the Red Sox fans felt the need to ridicule the opposing player in this instance.

Because Red Sox fans have no idea how traumatic a defensive miscue in the postseason can be, right?

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The St. Louis Cardinals, having won their division for the seventh time in the past 14 years, head into the playoffs facing some fierce competition. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves have all taken very different routes to this year’s postseason, but it is the Los Angeles Dodgers that pose the biggest threat to another World Series in St. Louis.

The Dodgers Were Built for This

This season has proven that the Dodgers were built to run deep into the postseason. They were early favorites to win their division. Adding Zack Greinke to their rotation this year was a calculated move to both get them to the playoffs and make them that much stronger once they got there. The duo of Greinke and Clayton Kershaw gives the Dodgers a distinct advantage in the short series that lies ahead.

The Cardinals Are Beat Up

The Cardinals are headed into the playoffs with a team built to play close games and manufacture runs, which is much different from how the season started. Carlos Beltran has slowed in recent weeks, Matt Holliday has missed playing time and the run machine that is Allen Craig has now been ruled out of the opening round, and possibly the entire postseason, due to an injured foot.  

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch took a look at the Allen Craig situation, including the diagnosis that the team has provided, earlier this week on StlToday.com:

Switching to a more cautious approach for an injury that, if pushed, could collapse Allen Craig’s left foot and cost him playing time next season, the Cardinals announced their cleanup hitter will not play in the division series and won’t be available until later in October, if at all.

Ultimately, the team is going to look to take advantage of mistakes made by the opposing pitchers, and the Dodgers simply do not make that many mistakes.  

Close Games Are Not the Cardinals’ Strength

Defeating the Dodgers will require the Cardinals to perform well in close ballgames, which has not been the team’s strong point this year. The Cardinals have 20 wins in 36 games this season decided by one run, while they have won 35 of 52 games that were decided by five runs or more.  

Don’t Count the Cards Out

While the Dodgers provide the biggest challenge for the Cardinals, the team should not be counted out. They are a strong and deep club that has overcome many challenges to be the best team in the National League this season.

In comparing the two clubs, MLB.com’s Mike Bauman had this to say about the Cardinals in relation to the Dodgers:

The Cards, meanwhile, are less publicized, but more tested at this late-season, postseason line of work. They lead the NL in runs scored, even though they are 13th in home runs and 15th in stolen bases. What the Redbirds are, in their lineup and in general, is relentless. They are hitting with runners in scoring position at an historic level.

The team is poised for a substantial postseason run. Should they get past the Dodgers, the Cardinals may be unstoppable.

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