"No starting pitching, no outfield and, possibly, no healthy ligaments in Albert Pujols' elbow. This is shaping up to be a disastrous season in St. Louis. ... They don't have any team speed, and they don't have anybody who can really protect Albert Pujols in the lineup."
-- The Sporting News, March 24
That's the problem with making predictions -- somebody always writes them down and remembers them.
Such, sadly, is the state of affairs for all of us (so-called) experts who saw only bad things in the headlights for this St. Louis Cardinals team.
Three weeks into the season, we all stand corrected --at this point, anyway.
The Cardinals lead the league in hitting. They're fourth in pitching. They're one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for most wins in the majors. And they are bent on proving a thing or two.
"I have a hard time thinking that anybody in here thinks we're underdogs," reliever Ryan Franklin said this week. "Everybody's got high hopes for us and for themselves. All we can do is go out and play hard for 27 outs.
"We can be good, we've just got to stay healthy."
That's the key to any team -- health -- but this group has prevailed so far while waiting for its on-the-shelf starting pitchers to get back in the mix. If Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder can contribute down the line, the National League Central race will take a much different tack than the experts predicted before the season began.
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"The Cards need to not worry about 2008 all that much. There's nothing they can do at this point about the fact that they have an awful middle infield, no right fielder and Joel Pineiro as a No. 3 starter. This is going to be a tough season ... It could be years before the Cards contend again."
-- Sports Illustrated, Feb. 18
Oh, yeah?
Well, consider this: As of the weekend, the Cardinals had nine pitchers with an ERA under 3.00, and had six hitters batting .300 or better.
They had scored first in 13 of their 18 games, including nine of 10 at home, and have outscored their opponents 15-2 in the first two innings. Here's another eye-popping number: In the fifth innings, when the starting pitcher might reasonably expect to be tiring, the Cards have outscored the opposition 13-1. In another key inning -- the eighth, when many games are decided -- St. Louis has posted a 19-9 advantage.
The hitting renaissance has stemmed from unexpected sources: Rookie Brian Barton is hitting .375, Skip Schumaker is at .333 after an 0-for-16 start, and Adam Kennedy is batting .326 after posting a .219 mark last year.
"Up and down the lineup, everybody's going to need to do a little part each night," Kennedy said. "We can't leave it all up to the big boys."
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"What will the Cards get from young-gun pitchers Anthony Reyes, Joel Pineiro, Todd Wellemeyer and Brad Thompson? How long will their bullpen hold up if the starters don't carry their share of the load for a second consecutive season? ... And how often, do you wonder, does Tony La Russa ask himself: I came back for this?"
-- This columnist, March 29
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Apparently, La Russa knew something last winter when he signed on for his 13th season in the corner of the Cardinals dugout.
Of course, anybody who can write P-U-J-O-L-S on the lineup card every night is automatically going to be smarter than the guy with the pencil in the next dugout. And it hasn't hurt that the Cardinals have played the last-place team in the NL East (Washington), the cellar-dweller in the NL Central (Houston), and the fourth- and last-place teams in the NL West (Colorado and San Francisco).
But that doesn't obscure the fact that the Cardinals have played well in every phase -- pitching, hitting and catching the ball.
"Give credit where credit is due. We're pitching well," La Russa said. "When you shut down the other side, it gives you a chance to win. We've done a good job so far ...
"We're getting some big two-out hits and clutch pitching. That's good baseball."
Good for the Cards, not so good for the experts who counted them out.
Joe Ostermeier has covered the Cardinals since 1985 for the Belleville News-Democrat. Contact him at jostermeier@bnd.com or at 239-2512.
