Comparing the 2009 Cardinals and Cubs going forward

Stupid mistakes like that?

This is a good example of someone sharing original content that’s backed up with some thought and research – which I believe is primarily what Fanposts are for.

In the post-season last year, it almost seemed that Wrigley was making things worse for us. The crowd wasn’t so much supportive as…anxious. Everyone was on pins and needles and I think that energy didn’t help a team that was already inclined to press.

I think as a player I’d rather hear the opponents’ fans booing you rather than the oppressive silence of a crowd of your own people too afraid to get their hopes up.

 Cardinals fans are definitely into their team for the entire game. I think the NASCAR thing is not what you think it is here. It may be popular but the fans at the ballpark, for the most part, know exactly what’s going on from first pitch to last. They come early and stay late and sell out pretty often.
 As far as which team get an advantage from their fans, I’d say it’s a draw.
 As far as which team get an advantage from their field….whoa….that’s a tough one for me. just don’t see a clear advantage. The wind at Wrigley can help anybody if it’s blowing out but the big hitters don’t care.
It’s not as big a factor in St Louis but you don’t get as many long balls from the minor hitters.

Lugo will split time at second and short with Ryan and Schumaker. DeRosa is going to get all most all of the playing time at third since Holiday is now in left field everyday.

If your point is that he’s a good defensive guy for late inning replacement, I guess I agree, but with the talent that’s there (especially Ryan, who’s getting so good at short it makes me sick) I don’t see him getting subbed in very often.

and Greene isn’t really good anymore at defense, plus he can’t hit at all so he probably won’t play much anyway.

we have 5 games at hand

But as a team they have not been as good as the Cubs according to defensive stats. I’m also not sure how much playing time Greene will get. Lugo has been poor at SS this year and a middle-infield defense of Lugo-Schumaker can drag down a team.

And he won’t be getting any playing time anyways. Rasmus, Ludwick and Holliday are all +5 to +10 defenders at their position; ditto with Brendan Ryan, Pujols and Molina. Schumaker and Derosa are the only below average defenders.

You had me until you included him there. His defense may be good, but his offense is horrible and won’t be playing this year…unless they bring him in as a PH. I don’t know whether that “anxiety disorder” is real anymore than Miles being injured, but either way the Cards don’t want to depend on him with DeRo around. If Greene actually does play this year it won’t be starting again and I doubt he will make the playoff roster.

That extra rest could help them quite a bit

is that the Cards should be better in the second half as well with the addition of Matt Holliday. He makes their whole lineup exponentially better, so we NEED to play better in the second half. But yes, this division is right there for us to win.

besides not having Carpenter from the beginning….
Loche, Ludwick, Green, Ryan, Green, Wainwright are just a few that have been in and out and on and off the Dl.
 I never was much of a TLR fan but i have to say he can do a pretty good juggling act.
The Cardinals haven’t been totally healthy for most of the season but have been doing pretty well with glue and paperclips.
 The one guy that seems to me is a negative factor is Wellemeyer. I think he’s as big a mental case as Green. Physically he seems to be ok but even Duncan can’t seem to get him on track. I cringe when he takes the mound nowdays.

so maybe he is getting to the point where the case should be made that he’s superior to Albert.

But then I remember that Ryan Theriot should be the All-Star NL SS, which means that Hanley couldn’t be better than The Riot, so it’s back to Pujols v. Theriot again.

It’s precisely because I can’t predict injuries and luck that I wasn’t making a case for who was going to win. Indeed, these “strength of schedule” arguments aren’t of much use to me because teams can become dramatically different through their own injuries, Sept. callups, where you catch them in their rotation, etc. Everybody keeps talking confidently about the “AAA Pirates” we’ll be facing, but sometimes you bring up those AAA players who have talent but don’t have detailed scouting reports against them and they play very well for the final 6-8 weeks of a season.

I remember being out in Baltimore in 2003, watching the Orioles, and these two young kids Luis Matos and Larry Bigbie looked pretty good down the stretch. Bigbie looked like an up-coming star. There was this other guy, who played 2B, who was just miserable down the stretch – forget his name, some switch-hitter.

But he will make a rehab start, unlike Demp.

I think the engima that is Rich Harden makes it hard to pinpoint whether Harden is, in fact, the Cubs’ No. 2 or No. 4. With Ted out injured and Rich making regular starts, I guess I’d say Z and Harden are the team’s top two starters right now. But it was certainly Z and Lilly for most of the first half or so of the season.

(Disclaimer: I’m basing this assessment more on feel than numbers.)

I meant to reply to you with the reply that ended up treed off daver’s post.

Anyway, the question in my mind for “front 3” was “Who would I start in a short series if that series was today?”

Again?!?

read the most recent recommended fanpost and I see this is discussed in a bit more depth. All these wasted key strokes…

You are definitely a very smart poster, and this is a good post overall. However, you kinda dropped the ball on those two issues.