Strong Pitching Has Cardinals in First Place (For Now)

Last night Adam Wainwright pitched 7.2 innings, giving up 5 hits and two runs in a 5-4 victory over the Brewers. It was Wainwright’s second win for the Cardinals, who have somehow found themselves in first place in the NL Central. With 11 wins in their first 15 games, the Cardinals are 1.5 games ahead of the much-ballyhooed Cubs.

How have they done this? Long-time staff ace Chris Carpenter is out with Tommy John surgery. Albert Pujols’ elbow is hanging by a thread. The club overall looked like also-rans going into the season. Yet, there they are, one of the many bottom feeders breathing the rarefied air of first place in the early going.

One big reason for this is Wainwright. In three starts, he’s 2-1 with a 2.78 ERA. Even more impressive, he’s pitched 22.2 innings in those three starts. Among his other impressive stats: he’s allowed only one home run, he’s given up 3 BB versus 16 K (a ratio of 5.33) and his WHIP is 1.06. He’s also been efficient, averaging 13.85 pitches per inning. This is the second major league season for the 26-year-old Wainwright, and so far his improved command (1.94 K/BB, 3.12BB/9 in 2007) has gotten him off to a roaring start.

Behind Wainwright the Cardinals have also gotten strong starts from journeymen Kyle Lohse and Braden Looper. Lohse has bounced from the Twins to the Reds and back (and back again), to the Phillies and now to the Cardinals. In his ten seasons, Lohse has never had an ERA under four and his best record was 13-8 with the Twins in 2002. Last year with the Phillies, Lohse went 3-0 in 11 starts with an ERA of 4.72. This season Lohse is 2-0 in 3 starts with a ridiculous ERA of 1.04 in 17.1 innings and a WHIP of 1.15. Looper is 3-0 in his three starts with an ERA of 2.70 in 16.2 innings. Last year the Cardinals converted the long-time reliever to a starter, and he went 12-12 with a 4.94 ERA. It will be interesting to see how long these two can keep this up. Obviously such a torrid pace can’t be kept up indefinitely and both men have track records that can be generously described as spotty. Also neither pitcher is big on strikeouts, with 18 between the two of them. Right now opposing hitters are hitting them where they are, and eventually that sort of luck balances out.

In the bullpen the Cardinals have been led by veteran Jason Isringhausen, who has six saves in seven opportunities despite an ERA of 4.50. The real strength of the pen so far has been the middle relievers. Ryan Franklin has given up one earned run in 7.2 innings. The trio of Randy Flores, Kelvin Jimenez and Ron Villone have combined for nine innings in 14 appearances and have given up two earned runs. Cards manager Tony La Russa has long been known for using his bullpens so extensively (witness Lohse’s and Looper’s relatively low number of innings), he practically wears a path from the dugout to the mound, so it remains to be seen whether those arms get worn down as the season progresses.

At the plate the Cards have one of the best hitters in baseball, of course, but the emergence of other players has put the team in the top ten in MLB in nearly all the major offensive categories. Rick Ankiel has led the way with four home runs to go along with a .286 BA, 11 RBI and a slugging percentage of .571. Pujols is second on the team with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. He’s also batting .367 and an OBP of .500. His OPS is a ridiculous 1.153. Pujols continues to amaze with his ability to hit with such power while not striking out. So far this season he’s struck out five times, versus 13 walks.

The Cardinals have four other players hitting over .300, including Yadier Molina (.304), Adam Kennedy (.308), Ryan Ludwick (.333) and Chris Duncan (.313). Not to mention Skip Schumaker, who’s hitting .292 with six extra base hits. In the field, the team has committed 10 errors and turned 13 double plays.

The Cardinals are a young team, with most of the roster under 30. This seems to be a trend in the early part of 2008, young teams getting off to hot starts. So far the Cardinals have played only so-so competition, with four of their wins coming against the Brewers and the Rockies, and seven wins coming against the Nationals, the Astros and the Giants. They’ve also won seven out of their eight home games. The rest of the month is fairly easy too. The club has three more against the Giants, along with two against Pittsburgh. In between are dates with Milwaukee, Houston and Cincinnati, the last two series at home. The real test for this club comes in May. St. Louis has three games at home against the Cubs followed by four at Colorado and four at Milwaukee. One big question mark is Pujols’ elbow, which apparently can go at any time, requiring Tommy John surgery. Without his big bat, not to mention his veteran leadership, the Cardinals will probably sink. The future success of Lohse and Looper is also a question, although Wainwright may well be emerging as the kind of ace who can stop losing streaks. Expect the Cardinals to be competitive but they’ll eventually fall behind the Brewers and the Cubs.