World Series: Did You Know

First-time-on-ballet Chris Carpenter was 3-0 lifetime, failing to lose once in 4 starts. His St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 and again five years later.

Carpenter made his first Fall Classic start against the Tigers, a gem!

Chris went 8 innings, gave up 3 hits, no runs, and fanned 6. What I find most impressive is he threw just 82 pitches. It was a crucial game, too. The series was tied 1-1, and St. Louis didn't want to go back to Detroit for games 6 and 7. His 5-0 win, paved the road to prevent that. The Cardinals eked out 5-4 and 4-2 wins in games 4 and 5. A World Series was won on home soil.

It would also be in 2011.

Chris had a rough ride getting there. He was just 0-1 in the next two seasons, making his 21-5 season in '05 look like a distant memory. But he bounced back in 2009, 17-4 with a National League-leading 2.24 ERA. The next season, 2010, was more of the same: 16-9, although his ERA was 3.22!

But Carpenter dipped to 11-9 the next season, and the Cardinals advanced to the Fall Classic again. But how could a win one, lose one pitcher help St. Louis beat Texas?

For starters, he beat Philadelphia once and Milwaukee once in the postseason, helping to get St. Louis there. The Texas Rangers stood in his path. Already 2-0 in the postseason, the Cardinals needed him to come through.

That, he did.

Not only did he deliver, he did so when it mattered. First, he got the Cardinals off on the right foot by allowing just 2 runs over 6 innings in the opener for the win. After getting a no-decision in game 5 (Actually, St. Louis lost the game, 4-2, but Carpenter had another great game, allowing just 2 earned runs), Chris was given the ball again for the 7th and deciding game.

The Cardinals had rallied to win game six at home, and Carpenter didn't want to see the Rangers celebrate on his terms, his field. So he made sure to put out the Texas fire.

Well, the Rangers scored twice off him in the top of the 1st, but the Cards equaled that. On the mound, however, Chris had no equals. He went 5 more innings, allowing just 3 more hits, no runs, and left after 6 with a sizable advantage.

It was 5-2 and the sixth inning was a masterful one for Chris. He retired the side in order on just 10 pitches. The Rangers got through the bottom of the frame in similar fashion, however. C.J Wilson, the Texas reliever, needed just 11 pitches of his own to retire the side (Carpenter lead off) 1-2-3.

When David Murphy opened the top of the seventh with a 2-bagger, Chris was removed for Arthur Rhodes. Arthur and some of his bullpen pals proceeded to retire the last 9 batters of the game. St. Louis scored another run, too. Not that they needed it. They won 6-2, for there second World Series win in 5 years.

Carpenter isn't going to make the Hall Of Fame, but his postseason record is one that few can match. Overall, he's 10-4 in the postseason, sporting an ERA of 3.00 lifetime. It was even better in the World Series. In 4 starts, Chris Carpenter posted a 2.00 ERA, he seemed to get better and better with every outing. Let there be no doubt, St. Louis isn't winning their two most recent World Series sans Chris Carpenter.


References


Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. (26 Nov., 2017).

Retrosheet.  www.retrosheet.org. Web. (26 Nov., 2017).

Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/. Web. (26 Nov., 2017).

World Series: Did You Know?

The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals had the fewest wins of any Fall Classic winner. They outscored the opposition just 83 times in 162 regular season games. Oh, and they had a tremendous uphill battle from there in the postseason.

The San Diego Padres were the first team to face the wrath of the Cards. The Padres had five more wins in the regular season. But in the National League Division Series, it was St. Louis' arms that carried them through a four game triumph (One loss). The Cardinals held the Padres to 0, 1, and 2 runs in the three games they won. Amazingly enough, in their one loss, it was the Cards with just one run themselves. Pitching made the difference each game.

Next came the New York Mets, who must have been the favourites. They won 97 games themselves. And speaking of pitching, right there at home in game one, was a 2-0 Met win. This was not going to be easy for the Cardinals.

St. Louis won a wild second game, 9-6, then took two of three at home. They needed just a win in game six or seven to advance to the World Series. Another good pitching performance helped St. Louis win game six, 3-1. It was on to the Fall Classic.

There, they met Detroit. Just like in 1934 and 1968. But this one was not going seven. The Tigers had won 95 games, the Cardinals were a team of destiny. They'd lost the Fall Classic to Boston in four games in 2004, and weren't about to waste their opportunity to win it here.

The Cards won the first game in Tigerland, 7-2. Maybe this would be easy...



Well, scratch that thought. Detroit got a great pitching performance from Kenny Rogers in game two, as the veteran had St. Louis in his pocket all night. The 3-1 Detroit win sent it to St. Louis for games three, four and five. But the Tigers didn't realize there would be no return trip to Detroit for the World Series of 2006.



St. Louis greeted them rudely with a resounding 5-0 blanking in game three. Chris Carpernter and Braden Looper combined on a three-hitter for the Cardinals. If the Detroit Tigers did not get the message at this point...




Well, they sure did in the crucial game four. The Bengals got off to a 3-0 lead early. It was up to the Cards to come back, which they did. St. Louis had no intentions of going back to Detroit for games six and seven. It would have been tough to pull off under those circumstances. The Cardinals scratched out a run in the bottom of the third, another in the next inning. Two in the seventh put them ahead. After Detroit tied it in the top of the eighth, St. Louis scored the game's final run in the bottom of the frame.



Justin Verlander pitched well for the visitors in game five, but it was the home team pulling out a 4-2 win behind Jeff Weaver. The Fall Classic was St. Louis' even with just those 83 triumphs in the regular season. They'd won all the big games in the regular season. And continued on that path in the postseason!







References

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Retrosheet. Web. 18 Sept., 2015.  <www.retrosheet.org>.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.

Youtube. Web. 18 Sept., 2015.  <https://www.youtube.com>.