Defeat the Empire

...the St. Louis Cardinals aren't built all that well for a postseason series.

Tonight, they're in the middle of a massive drubbing courtesy of the defend champion White Sox. Mark Mulder got rocked. He came into the game 6-4, 5.32 with an opponents' batting average of .296 and an opponents slugging percentage at a very poor .510. It got worse against the ChiSox, as he allowed 9 ER, 10 H, and 2 HR and recorded just 7 outs. This raised his ERA to a lofty 6.09.

The rest of the St. Louis starters behind unquestioned ace Chris Carpenter scare nobody. Sidney Ponson had a run at a renaissance earlier in the season, but has since fallen off a table and looks to be temporarily relegated to the bullpen. Jason Marquis has been solid to this point, but the fact that he has more BB's than K's is a troubling harbinger that may catch up with him soon. And Jeff Suppan is what he is: Steve Trachsel, but worse.

The Cards do have a very impressive rookie pitcher in Adam Wainwright, who has worked out of the bullpen. My friend, a Cardinal fan, wants Wainwright to replace Jason Isringhausen as the team's closer. The team likely would be better served with Wainwright in the rotation, and that day may not be far off. Mulder isn't going anywhere, but Suppan might get bumped and Ponson might already have been. Wainwright would be an instant upgrade over either of those two, or at least so it seems. The Cards' other top prospect is Anthony Reyes, a pitcher, who will likely see action in the rotation again soon. Reyes has posted an impressive 2.49 ERA in 25.1 career MLB innings.

While the Cards may look to rookies to stabilize their rotation, the Mets already have. Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine have hit rough patches here in June, but the team still wins more often than not when the two pitch. And the bottom three; Orlando Hernandez, Alay Soler, and Steve Trachsel, have stepped up considerably. Soler looks like a workhorse, middle-of-the-rotation type starter and has pitched wonderfully in his 5 starts. El Duque has pitched to a 3.91 ERA with the Mets after posting a 6.04 ERA with Arizona. And Trachsel, who I left for dead earlier in the year, has strung together some solid, keep-the-team-in-the-game outings and now has won three straight starts.

It's easy to slug your way into the playoffs, but it doesn't work that way once you get there. The Cards may learn that this October if they face the Mets, who look to have the current edge among National League superpowers into June of 2006. But look out for the Houston Astros. If they make the playoffs, which is hardly a give at this point, they can be dangerous. If Andy Pettitte gets back on track (and it looks that he has begun to do so), Roy Oswalt remains Roy Oswalt, and Roger Clemens picks up where he left off in 2005, the Astros could defeat either NL superpower in a short series and claim a second straight pennant.