The St. Louis Cardinals have done what both the New York Mets and New York Yankees could not accomplish in a short series. Hit in the clutch.
It doesn’t take a team batting average of .300 to win in a short series. With the quality of good pitching each team must face in the post season, it would be highly unlikely that offense would dominate the series. Strong starting pitching and timely hitting is of the essence and go hand in hand.
What killed the Detroit Tigers was momentum. They got it after game two of the first round ALDS against the Yankees and rattled off seven straight wins. The only problems here was that the Cardinals and the Mets stretched the ALCS to seven games. Add in a rainout and that left the Tigers with a week waiting for their opponents to be determined. Now that is a momentum killer. The Tigers had the good starting pitching and timely clutch hitting down pat before their week off.
Let’s face it the best teams don’t always win in a short series. The Yankees and Mets each won ninety-seven games in their division and were the top winners in each of their leagues. The Cardinals won eighty-three games. The lowest ever win total by any World Series Champion. Tack on the eleven post season wins by the Cardinals and they still did not win as many games as the Mets or the Yankees.
The Mets get somewhat of a pass, as this is their first post season in five years. They do not have to be embarrassed by their post season showing. They swept the Dodgers in the NLDS and pushed the Cardinals to seven games in the NLCS. It happens.
The Yankees just were embarrassed once again in the post season. Loosing in the first round of the ALDS. This after a monumental breakdown against the Red Sox in 2004 and a first round knock out by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (can we shorten the name please) in 2005. This momentum has to be stopped.
