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Cardinals in 5... losing the game in which Lester starts (assuming they pitch him in game 1).

Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig to return to the roster for the first time in the postseason.

Cards in 4. They have more 90s steroid guys.

Poo holes is back to the cards? Cards in 3

It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

Wait, seriously - you are excited about this guy? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/craigal01.shtml

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

The guy had 97 RBIs with a month left to go in the season (and the he was injured).

The HRs are low but Busch stadium is a pitcher's park and the team are not a HR hitting team.
The team will single/double you to death... it's like death by a thousand cuts.

Odds set for the series...
Cardinals are underdogs

Tim Kurkjian's five questions for the series

Can someone post Buster Olney's 10 pivotal world series matchups? kthxbye

based on the tone being set thus far, i envision this thread being meatbomb central - 2013 come game 3

hansen {l Wrote}:Odds set for the series...
Cardinals are underdogs

Color me shocked!

hansen {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

The guy had 97 RBIs with a month left to go in the season (and the he was injured).

The HRs are low but Busch stadium is a pitcher's park and the team are not a HR hitting team.
The team will single/double you to death... it's like death by a thousand cuts.

Great, more 5 hour games.

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:

hansen {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

The guy had 97 RBIs with a month left to go in the season (and the he was injured).

The HRs are low but Busch stadium is a pitcher's park and the team are not a HR hitting team.
The team will single/double you to death... it's like death by a thousand cuts.

Great, more 5 hour games.

Yeah, between the Cards singling me to death and the Sox forcing me to watch 5 pitches an AB before they swing, I need to find something to do while I am watching the World Series.

give me the sox in 6.

win both in fenway, take 1 in st louis, win game 6.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:

hansen {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

The guy had 97 RBIs with a month left to go in the season (and the he was injured).

The HRs are low but Busch stadium is a pitcher's park and the team are not a HR hitting team.
The team will single/double you to death... it's like death by a thousand cuts.

Great, more 5 hour games.

Yeah, between the Cards singling me to death and the Sox forcing me to watch 5 pitches an AB before they swing, I need to find something to do while I am watching the World Series.

That's why baseball's the perfect flip channel sport. Don't have to really concentrate on it until the final few innings in a close game. Everything else is slow enough where they'll show the scoring replays 35 times over the course of the game.

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:

hansen {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:It'll be fun to laugh at hansen for 4 games.

And if Allen Craig (WHO?) is your cleanup hitter, you're fucked.

The guy had 97 RBIs with a month left to go in the season (and the he was injured).

The HRs are low but Busch stadium is a pitcher's park and the team are not a HR hitting team.
The team will single/double you to death... it's like death by a thousand cuts.

Great, more 5 hour games.

Yeah, between the Cards singling me to death and the Sox forcing me to watch 5 pitches an AB before they swing, I need to find something to do while I am watching the World Series.

That's why baseball's the perfect flip channel sport. Don't have to really concentrate on it until the final few innings in a close game. Everything else is slow enough where they'll show the scoring replays 35 times over the course of the game.

Agreed.

No baseball talk on the first day of the world series?

Clearly, the Boston fans are worried about the power arms of the Cardinals.
Oh, and one more thing: Good luck stealing 11 bases on Yadier Molina in the series. That will surely end well for you guys.

the money tonight is on... sawks -125

that is all

A. Why would a lineup full of guys that you should not throw fastballs to be concerned with "power arms"? Throw that 98 mph gas to Napoli at the letters and see where it ends up. Boston mashed fastball pitchers all season. The only pitch that concerns me is Wacha's +changeup, and he better hope they don't guess right.

B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

Given that the Sox just beat a team with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer starting and Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Prince Fielder in the lineup, it is hard to get too worried about this series with Yadier Molina and Allen Craig in the power spots and Adam Wainwright and a rookie in the top two pitching slots. Not to say the Cardinals can't win, because they can, but there's not a lot to get worked up about in this series. If the Sox play like they did all season, they should win relatively easily. But there's no guarantee that they will - they certainly did not with the bats against Detroit.

One further note, I think it will be very interesting to see what Wacha does with a lineup full of guys that you have to throw a lot of strikes to or else you are out of the game in the 6th inning.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:A. Why would a lineup full of guys that you should not throw fastballs to be concerned with "power arms"? Throw that 98 mph gas to Napoli at the letters and see where it ends up. Boston mashed fastball pitchers all season. The only pitch that concerns me is Wacha's +changeup, and he better hope they don't guess right.

B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

Given that the Sox just beat a team with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer starting and Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Prince Fielder in the lineup, it is hard to get too worried about this series with Yadier Molina and Allen Craig in the power spots and Adam Wainwright and a rookie in the top two pitching slots. Not to say the Cardinals can't win, because they can, but there's not a lot to get worked up about in this series. If the Sox play like they did all season, they should win relatively easily. But there's no guarantee that they will - they certainly did not with the bats against Detroit.

One further note, I think it will be very interesting to see what Wacha does with a lineup full of guys that you have to throw a lot of strikes to or else you are out of the game in the 6th inning.

1. All Wacha does is throw strikes. His precision with his fastball is incredible. But your right that Wacha's changeup is deadly and easily his best pitch.
2. Molina is ridiculous behind the plate. If the redsox steal more than 1-2 bags the whole series, then I will shocked and will tip my cap.
3. As for the Detroit series, 11 of the 19 runs were scored against the bullpen of Detroit. That will not happen again as St Louis' bullpen is superior to the team's starting staff. There is no way the bullpen will give up that many runs.

hansen {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:A. Why would a lineup full of guys that you should not throw fastballs to be concerned with "power arms"? Throw that 98 mph gas to Napoli at the letters and see where it ends up. Boston mashed fastball pitchers all season. The only pitch that concerns me is Wacha's +changeup, and he better hope they don't guess right.

B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

Given that the Sox just beat a team with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer starting and Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Prince Fielder in the lineup, it is hard to get too worried about this series with Yadier Molina and Allen Craig in the power spots and Adam Wainwright and a rookie in the top two pitching slots. Not to say the Cardinals can't win, because they can, but there's not a lot to get worked up about in this series. If the Sox play like they did all season, they should win relatively easily. But there's no guarantee that they will - they certainly did not with the bats against Detroit.

One further note, I think it will be very interesting to see what Wacha does with a lineup full of guys that you have to throw a lot of strikes to or else you are out of the game in the 6th inning.

1. All Wacha does is throw strikes. His precision with his fastball is incredible. But your right that Wacha's changeup is deadly and easily his best pitch.
2. Molina is ridiculous behind the plate. If the redsox steal more than 1-2 bags the whole series, then I will shocked and will tip my cap.
3. As for the Detroit series, 11 of the 19 runs were scored against the bullpen of Detroit. That will not happen again as St Louis' bullpen is superior to the team's starting staff. There is no way the bullpen will give up that many runs.

A. There's a downside to throwing all strikes against the Red Sox. Not only do they see the most pitches, they lead the league in many hitting categories and score the most runs. This is not the As - unless your name is Verlander (and even then) - they are capable of hitting the strikes down in the count.

B. Molina is top 5 throwers in the game, but he's not the best, and it's not really close. Red Sox having the highest steal percentage in the history of baseball while leading the league - that's ridiculous.

C. The numbers were skewed that way in the Detroit series because there were 2 lights out Cy Young award winners (one of whom is already knocking on the doors of Cooperstown) in that rotation. The Sox won that series by intentionally trying to get to the bullpen - which is what caused all of the high pitch counts and strikeouts. They will continue to work counts, but I don't think there will be the urgency to get this collection of starters out of the game.

In short, I don't expect the STL bullpen to be as bad as Detroit, much the same way that I don't expect the starters to be remotely in the ballpark of the DET starters. No one with a clue does.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

1 SB against the O's was the backup catcher and two others were with a submarine pitcher on the mound. Just sayin'.

pick6pedro {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

1 SB against the O's was the backup catcher and two others were with a submarine pitcher on the mound. Just sayin'.

He also missed 8 games against the Os, and Victorino missed like 10. Either way, Wieters is the best throwing catcher in baseball and the Sox run on even him.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

pick6pedro {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:B. Molina is an excellent throwing catcher. The Red Sox led the league in steals while converting the highest percentage of attempts in the history of baseball. Molina's impact on this series is more likely to be at the plate. Oh, by the way, Wieters is probably the best throwing catcher in baseball and Ellsbury stole 6 of 7 on the Orioles this year.

1 SB against the O's was the backup catcher and two others were with a submarine pitcher on the mound. Just sayin'.

He also missed 8 games against the Os, and Victorino missed like 10. Either way, Wieters is the best throwing catcher in baseball and the Sox run on even him.

Yup. Go Cards!

Oh, and for the record, Avila of Detroit is probably not far behind Wieters and Molina in throwing runners out.

TobaccoRoadEagle {l Wrote}:the money tonight is on... sawks -125

that is all

IF i was going to put money on the red sox for a single game, then this would be the one to do it.

Oh, and did I mention that the cards batted .330 with RISP and .305 with RISP and 2 outs in the regular season?
All this talk of the cards getting waxed is complete rubbish.

hansen {l Wrote}:All this talk of the cards getting waxed is complete rubbish.

Until it happens.

hansen {l Wrote}:Oh, and did I mention that the cards batted .330 with RISP and .305 with RISP and 2 outs in the regular season?
All this talk of the cards getting waxed is complete rubbish.

Waxed is a bit much, but on paper, the Sox should win this series. Frankly, if I were Matheny I would be itching to start Wacha tonight so that he could possibly go 3 starts. That said, they aren't going to put that kind of pressure on a star kid, and they aren't going to make a young guy throw that much or on short rest. Sox will wear down the other three starters.

Things happen - guys get hot and guys cool off. But when that is the best thing I can say about the Cardinal's chances, they aren't good. If the Sox bats stay cold as they were in DET, but the Sox pitchers cool off, STL probably wins.

Scouting report on the redsox

Scouting report on the cardinals