Tigers vs. Cardinals: Round Three
Who would have ever thought that the two playoff teams that performed the worst down the stretch would wind up facing each other in the World Series?!
When Yadier Molina hit Aaron Heilman's hanging changeup out of the reach of Endy Chavez, who earlier made an outstanding, full-extension, over-the-wall catch to rob Scott Rolen of a two-run homer, everybody's World Series predictions went out the window.
Instead of a potential Subway Series, which many people, including yours truly, thought was a solid possibility heading into the playoffs, we will now see the Detroit Tigers (A.L. Wild Card) face off against the St. Louis Cardinals (N.L. Central) for the third time and first since 1968.
In the first matchup in 1934, the Cardinals won their third World Series title in seven games. With a rotation led by young brothers Dizzy (24 years old, 2.66 ERA, 30-7, 195 K in 311.2 IP) and Paul Dean (20 years old, 3.43 ERA, 19-11, 150 K in 233.1 IP), and an offense powered by an outstanding season from first baseman Ripper Collins (.333, 35 HR, 128 RBI, 2oo hits), the Cardinals battled the Tigers pretty evenly throughout the first six games, but came out and destroyed Detroit in Game 7 with an 11-0 shutout.
34 years later, the two teams went at it again, but this time around it was the Tigers who came out on top in Game 7. It was a battle of aces, Detroit's Mickey Lolich vs. Cardinals Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson. Each won their first two games in the series - Lolich Games 2 and 5, Gibson Games 1 and 4 - but in the head-to-head matchup Lolich got the better of the 1.12 ERA man with a 4-1 complete game victory.
In the 2006 edition, I don't expect the series to be even close to seven games. The Tigers are by far a better team. They can hit, run, pitch, play defense and their bullpen is the best in the game. It's been a week since they've played, but instead of being rusty they should be well-rested and ready to dominate. Sean Casey and Joel Zumaya have had sufficient time to recover from their injuries and will be an important part of the Tigers' success. Casey is a great defender who has a great eye and can go gap-to-gap at the plate, while Zumaya is practically unhittable throwing his 103-MPH fastball.
Justin Verlander will start Game 1 against fellow rookie Anthony Reyes, and then it will be Kenny Rogers vs. Jeff Weaver in Game 2 followed by Nate Robertson vs. Chris Carpenter and Jeremy Bonderman vs. Jeff Suppan in Games 3 and 4.
I'll give St. Louis credit for getting to the Series, but I can't give them too much because the National League was so much weaker than the American League this year. Four A.L. teams - Toronto, Boston, Chicago and Anaheim - finished with better records than the Cards, and even the Phillies had a better mark, but none of them made the playoffs. The competition was much stiffer in the A.L. Detroit finished the season 11 1/2 games better than St. Louis and yet they played like a mediocre team throughout most of the second half.
The teams match up nicely, in terms of their makeup, but Detroit is just stronger all around. The Tigers outfielders have the speed to cover the spacious outfield in Comerica Park. Their infielders all have good range, soft hands and good arms, especially 11-time Gold Glove catcher Pudge Rodriguez and four-time winner Kenny Rogers. They are not the most patient bunch at the plate, but the Tigers bats worked hard and wore down the opposition's pitchers in the Division Series and the Championship Series. I expect to see them do the same in Games 1 and 2 against Reyes and Weaver, but if they are smart, they will be a bit more aggressive in Games 3 and 4 against Carpenter and Suppan who were throwing first-pitch strikes to almost every Mets hitter they faced in the NLCS.
St. Louis' offense revolves around Albert Pujols. But with Pujols trying to work through a hamstring injury, the Cards will need their supplementary parts to come through like they did against the Mets. Scott Spiezio, Chris Duncan, So Taguchi and Yadier Molina all came up with big hits in the NLCS, and if the Cardinals want to win their first World Series since 1982 - a seven-game win over the Milwaukee Brewers - they will need more of the same against Detroit's very potent pitching staff.
It would be great if they got solid production out of their big bats - Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds - but very often playoff series are decided by that role player who comes up with a career moment. Just look at Molina against the Mets. The catcher known for his defensive prowess batted a paltry .216 with six home runs and 49 RBI in 129 games in the regular season, but in the NLCS he torched the Mets with eight hits in 23 at-bats, two homers, and seven RBI, including the series-winning two-run shot.
The games should be fun to watch, but with no big market presence and no historical angle, unlike last year's White Sox winning for the first time in 88 years and the 2004 Red Sox winning for the first time in 86 years, this will be another poorly-rated series.
My prediction: Tigers in five.
When Yadier Molina hit Aaron Heilman's hanging changeup out of the reach of Endy Chavez, who earlier made an outstanding, full-extension, over-the-wall catch to rob Scott Rolen of a two-run homer, everybody's World Series predictions went out the window.
Instead of a potential Subway Series, which many people, including yours truly, thought was a solid possibility heading into the playoffs, we will now see the Detroit Tigers (A.L. Wild Card) face off against the St. Louis Cardinals (N.L. Central) for the third time and first since 1968.
In the first matchup in 1934, the Cardinals won their third World Series title in seven games. With a rotation led by young brothers Dizzy (24 years old, 2.66 ERA, 30-7, 195 K in 311.2 IP) and Paul Dean (20 years old, 3.43 ERA, 19-11, 150 K in 233.1 IP), and an offense powered by an outstanding season from first baseman Ripper Collins (.333, 35 HR, 128 RBI, 2oo hits), the Cardinals battled the Tigers pretty evenly throughout the first six games, but came out and destroyed Detroit in Game 7 with an 11-0 shutout.
34 years later, the two teams went at it again, but this time around it was the Tigers who came out on top in Game 7. It was a battle of aces, Detroit's Mickey Lolich vs. Cardinals Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson. Each won their first two games in the series - Lolich Games 2 and 5, Gibson Games 1 and 4 - but in the head-to-head matchup Lolich got the better of the 1.12 ERA man with a 4-1 complete game victory.
In the 2006 edition, I don't expect the series to be even close to seven games. The Tigers are by far a better team. They can hit, run, pitch, play defense and their bullpen is the best in the game. It's been a week since they've played, but instead of being rusty they should be well-rested and ready to dominate. Sean Casey and Joel Zumaya have had sufficient time to recover from their injuries and will be an important part of the Tigers' success. Casey is a great defender who has a great eye and can go gap-to-gap at the plate, while Zumaya is practically unhittable throwing his 103-MPH fastball.
Justin Verlander will start Game 1 against fellow rookie Anthony Reyes, and then it will be Kenny Rogers vs. Jeff Weaver in Game 2 followed by Nate Robertson vs. Chris Carpenter and Jeremy Bonderman vs. Jeff Suppan in Games 3 and 4.
I'll give St. Louis credit for getting to the Series, but I can't give them too much because the National League was so much weaker than the American League this year. Four A.L. teams - Toronto, Boston, Chicago and Anaheim - finished with better records than the Cards, and even the Phillies had a better mark, but none of them made the playoffs. The competition was much stiffer in the A.L. Detroit finished the season 11 1/2 games better than St. Louis and yet they played like a mediocre team throughout most of the second half.
The teams match up nicely, in terms of their makeup, but Detroit is just stronger all around. The Tigers outfielders have the speed to cover the spacious outfield in Comerica Park. Their infielders all have good range, soft hands and good arms, especially 11-time Gold Glove catcher Pudge Rodriguez and four-time winner Kenny Rogers. They are not the most patient bunch at the plate, but the Tigers bats worked hard and wore down the opposition's pitchers in the Division Series and the Championship Series. I expect to see them do the same in Games 1 and 2 against Reyes and Weaver, but if they are smart, they will be a bit more aggressive in Games 3 and 4 against Carpenter and Suppan who were throwing first-pitch strikes to almost every Mets hitter they faced in the NLCS.
St. Louis' offense revolves around Albert Pujols. But with Pujols trying to work through a hamstring injury, the Cards will need their supplementary parts to come through like they did against the Mets. Scott Spiezio, Chris Duncan, So Taguchi and Yadier Molina all came up with big hits in the NLCS, and if the Cardinals want to win their first World Series since 1982 - a seven-game win over the Milwaukee Brewers - they will need more of the same against Detroit's very potent pitching staff.
It would be great if they got solid production out of their big bats - Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds - but very often playoff series are decided by that role player who comes up with a career moment. Just look at Molina against the Mets. The catcher known for his defensive prowess batted a paltry .216 with six home runs and 49 RBI in 129 games in the regular season, but in the NLCS he torched the Mets with eight hits in 23 at-bats, two homers, and seven RBI, including the series-winning two-run shot.
The games should be fun to watch, but with no big market presence and no historical angle, unlike last year's White Sox winning for the first time in 88 years and the 2004 Red Sox winning for the first time in 86 years, this will be another poorly-rated series.
My prediction: Tigers in five.
posted by The Knuckler @ 10/20/2006 05:11:00 PM
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