Here we go:
1. Josh Hamilton, an OF for the Texas Rangers, has not pitched against the Cardinals or anyone else.
2. Cole Hamels has yet to pitch against St. Louis this year. His only two loses are against the Mets and Braves.
3. The Cardinals did win when Oswalt pitched against them, but did not tag him with the loss. The score was 2-1.
4. They did beat Cliff Lee, but 3 runs on 6 hits over 6.1 innings is a quality start. The only two terrible games he's had is against the Braves early in the season and the Nationals on Memorial Day. Jake Westbrook had his second best start of the season that day (7.0 IP 1 ER 4 H). Overall Westbrook is 6-3 with a 5.01 ERA. A pitcher's ERA is his most important stat and that ERA is high.
5. The Cardinals did rough up Lincecum, but the Giants won that game 7-5 in 11 innings (6/1).
The St. Louis Cardinals Starting Rotation as of 6/8:
Chris Carpenter 1-5 4.25 (about an average ERA, the record is probably due to no run support as evident when he went 9 innings against the Cubs on Sunday and the Cards needed 10 to win 3-2).
Jake Westbrook 6-3 5.01 (high ERA, gets a lot of run support with that record).
Jaime Garcia 6-1 3.05 (impressive kid, ERA would be lower if not for one bad start against the Rockies. It remains to be seen if he can be an elite guy...he is only 24 after all).
Kyle Lohse 7-2 2.41 (obviously an aberration of a season for this guy; he's mostly been garbage throughout his career).
Kyle McClellan (DL) 6-2 3.86 (first year in the rotation, again it remains to be seen if he can be an elite guy...hopefully he comes back sooner than later).
Philadelphia Phillies Rotation as of 6/8:
Roy Halladay 8-3 2.56 (has only gone less than 7 IP in a game twice this year and never less than 6. Only bad game was against the Brewers in April. Better than anybody in the STL rotation and the best pitcher in baseball).
Cliff Lee 5-5 3.62 (low ERA and a proven commodity, especially come playoff time...would be the ace of the Cards rotation).
Cole Hamels 7-2 2.83 (one bad start the entire year, very low ERA and a proven commodity who would probably be the ace of the Cards rotation).
Roy Oswalt 3-4 3.05 (very low ERA indicates he gets very little run support to have a 3-4 record. Another proven commodity that would be the ace of the Cardinals rotation).
Joe Blanton (DL) 1-2 5.50 (obviously the weak link and this is an off season for him so far. The puffy ERA is more than a run higher than his career average).
Great pitching will beat great hitting 9 out of 10 times, especially come playoff time. The Cardinals do have some intriguing youngsters in the rotation but the Phillies have a Dream Team and I would put my money on the Phillies. Besides, it's not like the Cardinals are tearing shit up; they are 12 games above .500 and Milwaukee is only 2.5 games behind them. Before you buy those World Series tickets make sure St. Louis wins the division first. Also remember that the Red Sox and Yankees play each other and Tampa Bay 18 games each, not to mention that Toronto and Baltimore are no push-overs. The Orioles are in last place in the AL East at just 3 games under .500.
Let's say somehow St. Louis made it the World Series. I doubt it but let's just say they did. If I were you I would be hoping that the AL team was not the Red Sox or Yankees. I don't think those youngsters would fare well at Fenway or the Outhouse That Steinbrenner Built facing those lineups, never-mind Kyle Lohse or the overrated Chris Carpenter. If it were Red Sox/Cardinals the first thing that would come to my mind is "we lucked out and didn't get the Phillies" and the second thing would be "the Red Sox are going to sweep them again".
