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I truly believe that the Cards can take the series. A lot of hoopla has been made around Nelson Cruz and his post season bombs but I am not impress, especially since the guy had a .263 BA and 29 homers during the regular season. The Cards have plenty of batting power, more than the Rangers, and one other thing, the offense is spread throughout the whole batting line up, not only the 3-4-5 order, from 1 to 7, this batting line up is something to fear.
My only concern is the starting pitching, and the Rangers are a team that can drive many runs quick. The good thing is that the Rangers starting rotation is also kind of weak, but favoring the Cards is their bullpen which has the edge over Rangers'.
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"College baseball this weekend."
(set 6 days ago)
Location: Suburban Dallas
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Well, if nothing else, it has been a very interesting Series. But now, this thing goes back to St Louis, and don't be surprised if the Rangers, however hot they might be at the moment, choke in the next two games.
Well, if nothing else, it has been a very interesting Series. But now, this thing goes back to St Louis, and don't be surprised if the Rangers, however hot they might be at the moment, choke in the next two games.
I'm a Cardinals fan so it's impossible for me to be objective, but I'll try.
I think that the Rangers might be a slight favorite to win game 6 and close it out. And if they don't, I think the edge goes decidedly back in favor of St. Louis in a game 7 at home.
One, Rzepczynski* is a long name and, as I have found in my life, once you say a long name the other person tends to stop paying attention.
Two, I don't think Tony La Russa, in his entire life, has ever asked for only one reliever to warm up.
La Russa is the sort of man who will hire a left-handed accountant to figure credits and a righty to work out debits. La Russa is the sort of man who wants a left-handed waiter to serve chicken and fish and a righty to serve beef. The Tony La Russa I know, a man of sound mind and sound body, would NEVER have allowed a lefty to face Napoli, who has hit .294/.400/.555 against left-handed pitchers in his career.
I'm completely mystified by the Cardinals bullpen situation.
By all accounts, all that is needed is a few guys who can count Molina's fingers and hit his mitt with a little zip. I think a lot (or all) the pitches are called from the dugout. The Cardinals were 6 games above .500 when Duncan left, and went 20-8 after that, with Derek Lilliquist on the bench. Maybe they have the wrong pitching coach?
Heath Bell was being shopped around by the Padres, who is a legitimate closer, and the Cards had Rasmus to deal, but (if they were interested) were apparently not able to sweeten the deal enough for the Pads.
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I'm also puzzled by the racial picture in StL. The Cardinals never had an African-American in their daily lineup or starting pitching rotation, between Reggie Sanders in 2005 and Edwin Jackson 6 years later. And when the question arises about retiring Willie McGee's number, the front office says "we're working on it". How long does it take to retire a number? Anybody else see a pattern here?
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Batting line up for both teams WS 1st Game
