Cardinals-Astros Matchups

[Aceshigh7]

I left Mulder out for a reason. No, I do not think he has "ace" quality stuff. The guy has a 3.64 ERA and has been inconsistent. And Ray King is a quality lefty out of the bullpen? That's funny. The Astros have hammered him.

Yes, I omitted the catcher position but if you want to add that that just strengthen's my case even further. People can be enamored with Molina's arm all they want, Ausmus is still the better defensive catcher. Actually looking at the stats he's better offensively too.

The Cards were simply better last year with Womack, Renteria, Matheney, Scott Rolen, and Woody Williams.

[Clarkmeister]

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The Cards were simply better last year with Womack, Renteria, Matheney, Scott Rolen, and Woody Williams.

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As opposed to the 05 versions of Grudz, Eckstein, Molina, Nunez, Carpenter and Mulder?

Pass the hippie lettuce, you've got some really good stuff.

[Jack of Arcades]

Mark Mulder's arguably the best pitcher of the Cardinals? Hahahahahahaha.

[Jack of Arcades]

And the Cards have hammered Oswalt. What's your point?

[CollinEstes]

As an Astro fan and a former college catcher I have to say that Molina is a much better defensive catcher. Ausmus recieves the ball better but I think a guy that throws 1.8s to 2nd, blocks everything, and recieves the ball better than most other catchers in the league is pretty good. Ausmus may be able to handle the game better in regards to pitch selection/game management but honestly there were three steals in that game 4 in Hou vs. Atl that really could have cost the Astros the game because Ausmus throwing 2.00 to second doesn't cut it with some of our slower delivery guys on the mound, ie Lidge. A stolen base in late innings can make the difference in the game.

Outside of Taveras not many guys on our roster have the ability to even try to take a bag on Molina. He shuts down the running game.

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Hou has more veteran leaders though.

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What happened to Reggie Sanders, Larry Walker, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols? I don't think veteran leaders is a St Louis weakness.

Thank you,

Jim Kuhn
Catfish4u
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Clemens, Pettitte, Bagwell, Biggio, Ausmus, Vizcaino, Palmeiro (probably doesn't count much). All of these guys are over 35 I believe, and have years of experience under their belts. Edmonds and Pujols? lol. I'll give you Sanders, Walker, and Izzy.

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That's true. Edmonds hasn't been around that long, nor been very successful.

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You're right, STL has more veteran leaders.

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STL's bullpen is a better than Houston's.

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I just want to clear this up, once and for all. STL's bullpen is not better than Houston's. Let's take the five relievers used by the Astros in the NLDS (and the five likely to be used in the NLCS)...those five are:

Brad Lidge
Dan Wheeler
Chad Qualls
Mike Gallo
Russ Springer

Their collective regular season ERA is 2.65.

Now let's look at the five NLDS relievers in the St. Louis bullpen. Those are: Jason Isringhausen, Randy Flores, Julian Tavarez, Brad Thomson, and Cal Eldred (you've forgotten, Reyes is gone...out for playoffs, not even on the postseason roster...unless he's gotten better, I haven't heard about it, and STL adds him into the NLCS roster).

Their collective regular season ERA is 3.14.

An ERA gap of .59 is not made up for by your assertion that STL's fifth starter makes such a better reliever than Wandy Rodriguez does. Even if I go ahead and grant that he does, considering the lack of likelihood that a guy like Wandy even sees any meaningful innings with the Astros starters' ability to go deep AND the pen around him.....PLUS considering that in the late games of the series, Backe and Pettitte will be available for relief (and even Oswalt in Game 7)...I think any perceived difference in the fifth-starter-as-reliever role is pretty well diminished, and to determine the better bullpen, you just buckle down and look at ERA.

I'll take the 2.65 over the 3.14 any day of the week...especially seeing how brilliantly the 2.65 performed in the ATL series.

Anyway, just wanted to clear up any rumors of the Cardinals having a better bullpen than the Astros.

This should frame the debate. There are four major areas one must look at in determining who has a better chance in a series. Considering the players likely to play in said series, who has better
a) starting pitching
b) bullpen
c) hitting
d) fielding

I would contend that the Astros have a slight advantage in both A and B, the Cardinals have a significant advantage in C, and D is pretty much even (though I haven't done my homework on that, I just remember hearing both teams' fielding moderately praised...is one side clearly better fielding the baseball?).

Obviously, lots of other factors one could look at...hitting with men on base, baserunning, coaching, home field advantage, health/rest of players, etc.

But in those four areas, I think the slight edge in starting and bullpen pitching puts the Astros almost even with a team whose lineup is clearly better. I make the series about 52.5-47.5 in STL's favor -- therefore, I like most of the lines I've seen on the series for a bet on Houston.

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Very good job. You should definitely add speed to your 4 criteria though. HOU has more basestealers. But I think all of your assertions are very close to correct.

Like I said, and you agree with, any money on the Astros as a (decently-significant) underdog is probably the bet to take.

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Outside of Taveras not many guys on our roster have the ability to even try to take a bag on Molina. He shuts down the running game.

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Chris Burke and Adam Everett (if he ever gets on base).

Sure, Burke is a legendary HR hitter* who recently hit the most famous HR in Astros history (Sorry Jeff Kent), but he's also pretty darn fast.

*I'm kidding of course.

[CollinEstes]

Veterans are overratted. What does having a guy like Vizcano coming off our the Houston bench really have to do with the overall matchup. I really don't see him being the difference maker in the entire series.


Look at all that playoff experience the Yankees had, big whoop.

[CollinEstes]

Everett hasn't even faked a steal in the postseason yet, (or any of the Astros for that matter). Everett really isn't in a position in the lineup that leads him to steal with Ausmus and the pitcher spot up behind him. And Burke might steal one as a pitch runner I guess. He is fast but you would need a pretty slow to the plate pitcher to really be able to call a straight steal on Molina with any confidence.

I am not too worried about the Card's running game either just an look at the catching matchup.

To Brad's credit I think he might be one of only a few catchers in the league who could handle Lidge's stuff with such ease.