Cardinals collapse

What a complete and total disaster the World Series is turning out to be for the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting pitchers who can't get past the 4th inning. A fearsome batting order that can't manage to drive in a run. Throw in a few baserunning errors. What do you have?

A four game sweep in the making.

I'm calling it now. The Red Sox are your new world champions; get out your brooms.

1985, 1987, and now 2004. What's a fan to do? Cardinal pitching collapses in the postseason. It's getting to be quite predictable (See John Tudor, Game 7 '85 series -- that debacle still haunts me).

Let me spotlight a perfect example of the Cardinal ineptness in the Series. Game 3. Boston has a 1-0 lead on a first inning home run. You have the bases loaded, one out. Larry Walker is on third. Jim Edmonds, who can't seem to buy a hit in the postseason (save one walk-off homerun), hits a fly ball to left. Now, do you send Walker or do you save him and hope Reggie Sanders can get a base hit. Walker goes, he's out at the plate, and the Cardinals waste perhaps a golden opportunity.

Want another example? This is a LaRussa mistake int he 4th inning. You're down two games to none in the World Series. If you lose this, it's all but over. The only team to come back from a 3-0 deficit is the team facing you. You have first and third, nobody out. You can't seem to buy a run, so you need to keep the game close. Do you leave Suppan out there? Consider that he just got thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the third. Al Reyes is warming up. Why not bring in a fresh pitcher, who doesn't have a fresh mistake hanging over his head? Now, regular season, you might let him work out of the jam. But this is not the regular season. This is it. I mean, this game is it. You lose this. You lose the Series. You're facing the team of destiny, it seems, and you need to give them a reason, any reason, to question themselves. Your previous two pitchers didn't make it through 5 innings. Why would you expect Suppan to? Especially knowing he pitches better on the road than at home?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming LaRussa for the Series loss. I blame the Cardinal bats. Where are Rolen and Edmonds? When those guys become easy outs, the Cardinals lose? The injury to Womack, and Renteria forced into a situation he's not comfortable with, equals trouble. Why not play Hart at second and let him lead off. Let Renteria bat in the sixth spot, since it fits better for him. Without Rolen and Edmonds as threats, you need Renteria's bat for sure.

Even with those changes, Rolen's and Edmonds' silences were probably insurmountable.

Maybe next year. Hopefully the Cardinals will manage to find a decent starter or two to replace some of the ones they had to depend on this year. Hopefully Danny Haren and Rick Ankiel will figure into the rotation.