It was hard to predict how the Cardinals were going to do this year. Pujols wasn't healthy heading in and their pitching staff was full of questions, along with an injured ace.
Now they are 7-2 with dominating SP work. Isringhausen has been solid at the backend with 5 saves in the 7 wins. Coming into the game Pujols was hitting over .320 but had nary an HR and only 1 RBI. Against Houston tonight he hit a few HR's with 3 RBI. Still the power outage is a little worrisome but maybe this is a sign of things to come for Albert.
Rick Ankiel in the cleanup position is going to put up some ridiculous stats this year if he stays healthy. Last year he hit 11 in 172 AB's so with a little progression 30-35 HR's is not out of the question. In turn you'd see at least 100 RBI and the best part is his average is staying up, which was his real issue coming back to the team as a hitter. We'll see if he can maintain that but the power is certainly real.
Then you look at the Cardinal SP's. Wainwright came into the season with not much attention around him despite a solid first season as a starter. His 3.70 ERA was decent and in the middle part of the year until the end he was an extremely valuable pickup, until falling off a bit at the very end. He pitched well against Washington and had his other game washed out so his performance this year remains to be seen, but considering where you probably drafted him he'll surely be good value.
The other starters don't strike anyone out really but Brad Thompson, Braden Looper and Kyle Lohse are decent spot starts especially if the Cardinals continue to win. Those are the types of starters that become valuable throughout the year on darkhorse winning teams.
Don't forget about Carpenter, he'll be back in July.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment