By CHASE GARDNER
It does not take total sports nut to know that last Friday, October 28, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.
This is not the stereotypical post-series article about what a comeback the Cardinals made or how they never gave up. The more interesting subject is the Texas Rangers, mainly their choking pitching staff.
The Rangers’ pitching staff is not bad, but it is not great, and certainly not what most would consider World Series material.
In the regular season, they were ranked 13 in earned run average at 3.79, not much off of the Cardinals 3.74 ERA.
It is pretty obvious the Ranger bullpen struggled during the post-season. In the World Series alone, their pitching staff allowed 32 runs and 56 hits. But what really nailed the coffin shut was the 41 walks.
The Rangers came extremely close to the pennant in game six, when they led the series 3-2. The Rangers were winning 5-3 until the bottom of the ninth when Albert Puljols got a double that shook Busch Stadium. Then the Ranger bullpen went flat. They walked Lance Berman putting him on first. With the tying runs on first and second with two outs, a glimmer of hope was seen in the eyes of Cardinal fans and manager Tony La Russa. Ranger pitcher Neftali Feliz lobbed a pitch to MVP David Freese and he jacked a triple to bring in Pujols and Berman, making it a tie ballgame. The Cardinals would go on to win it 9-10 in extra innings, tying the series 3-3.
What was the deciding factor that killed the Rangers? The fact that they had seven pitcher swaps throughout the game. Another blow was the fact the pitching staff walked seven batters and only struck out six.
The Cardinals are a great ball team, but certainly not the best. The failure of consistency in the Rangers’ pitching rotation was a major contribution to the Cardinals’ win. How Texas even made it through conference in the brutal American League leaves many bewildered.