[rwperu34]

I am neither for Houston or St Louis. Here is my take.

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Starting pitching:
Carpenter is the only "ace" quality pitcher on the Cards' staff, and he is unproven in the playoffs. Morris is close to this level and he seems to be improving as of late. The Astro's set of aces has the upper hand on the Card's pair.

(Edge: Astros)


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I think it's funny you forget to mention arguably the Cardinals best pitcher, Mark Mulder. He is also an ace. While the three aces of Houston are CLEARLY better than the three aces of St. Louis, you fail to take into account the beating St Louis hands Houston at 4th starter with Suppan vs Backe. Overall, the edge still goes to Houston, but it is not nearly as big as you portray.

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Bullpen:
Houston's bullpen is much improved this year. Qualls and Wheeler have emerged this season to provide dependable setup work to get to Lidge. Outside of Isringhausen the Card's bullpen is quite inconsistent.

(Edge: Astros)


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To say the St. Louis is inconsistent is just plain wrong. They've got a front line closer in Isringhausen, they've got quality set up men in Julian Tavarez and Al Reyas (2.12 ERA 0.93 WHIP), and they've got a quality lefty in Ray King. I don't trust Mike Galo as the lone lefty out of the Houston pen. Again, I'm going to agree with you that Houston has the edge, but it's not nearly as big as you make out. The real difference is that Lidge is so much better than any other pitcher on either staff. After the closers, St. Louis is better.

Offense

I'm not going to rate every position, but the offense as a whole. Even without Scott Rolen, the Cardinals have a HUGE edge offensively. I don't think anyone will argue since St. Louis scored 111 more runs during the regular season.

Defense

Defense is an often overlooked aspect of the game, yet still very important. St. Louis has a big edge in CF and RF with Edmonds and Walker, and Houston has a big edge at short with Everett. Everywhere else is pretty close, with the exception of THE MOST IMPORTANT DEFENSIVE POSTITION, and one you convienently left out of your analysis. Catcher. Ausmus was great defensively in his youth, and is still pretty darn good. But Yadir Molina might be the best defensive catcher to come along since Ivan Rodriguez, and is CLEARLY the best in the game right now. Big defensive advantage to the Cards.

Overall, the Cardinals have to be a pretty good favorite. Lucky for you Astro fans, anything can happen in a seven game series.