Injuries beginning to wear down Cardinals
Posted: October 15, 2005
Associated Press
HOUSTON -- Three games into the NL championship series, the St. Louis Cardinals are running a little short on able bodies.
After a season in which the Cardinals led the major leagues with 100 victories despite playing through injuries that sidelined four starters in one stretch, they find themselves in a similar predicament in the postseason.
They started Game 3 of the NL championship series on Saturday without postseason star Reggie Sanders and finished it without third baseman Abraham Nunez, losing 4-3 to the Houston Astros to fall behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"Our lineup has been thin all year," Jim Edmonds said. "We just need to win a game and we won't be worried anymore."
The Cardinals also went with a banged-up Larry Walker in Game 3 and have been without Scott Rolen for all but 56 games. Those are big dents in a once fearsome lineup.
Nunez limped off in the sixth after getting spun down on a baserunning play involving Houston's Jason Lane. The Cardinals called the injury a thigh bruise just above the left knee and Nunez was hopeful of playing in Game 4 on Sunday.
"Right now it's kind of tight but hopefully I can get it loosened up a little bit and probably be able to play," Nunez said. "After I cooled down a little bit and they put ice on it I was able to start walking around, so it's getting a little better."
Sanders was out after a whiplash-like spill on the warning track after chasing Adam Everett's RBI triple and landing hard on his head and back in Game 2. Sanders, who leads the postseason with 12 RBIs, was hopeful Saturday that he'd be able to play with another day of rest. Then again, he had been confident he would be in the lineup for Game 3, too, before pain medication apparently wore off.
"Yesterday I felt pretty good, but then I forgot I was on drugs," Sanders said. "I got off the drugs last night and wasn't as good as I thought I was going to be. So, we just have to wait."
Trainer Barry Weinberg said Walker, a three-time batting champion who is likely to retire after this season because of a herniated disc in his neck, did a better job of lobbying manager Tony La Russa for playing time. Walker, who is 1-for-18 in the postseason, hit a sacrifice fly and was robbed of a hit by shortstop Adam Everett on a smash up the middle to end the eighth.
"I'm not going to take a magic pill and I'm 25 again," Walker said. "I haven't felt good all year."
All of the injuries would be enough to exact a toll on any offense, let alone one facing Roger Clemens. The Cardinals scratched out two runs in six innings against Clemens but received a spotty start from Matt Morris, the most inconsistent member of their rotation.
Morris, who began the year 10-1 and ended at 14-10, is 0-3 with a 5.63 career ERA in the NLCS.
"I battled," Morris said. "But it comes down to execution."
Now, after never trailing in first 37 2-3 innings of the postseason, they've been playing catchup the last 16. But though they're beat-up, they're far from beaten.
"Someone's going to have to play, and whoever's playing needs to step it up," David Eckstein said. "That's why we have 25 guys on this roster."
Nunez' replacement, Hector Luna, threw wildly to the plate for an error on the first play after entering the game to hand the Astros a run. Improbably, Luna then made perhaps the defensive play of the game when he dived to stab Craig Biggio's grounder down the line and then threw him out to end the sixth.
So Taguchi, who replaced Sanders, is 4-for-8 for his career in the regular season against Roger Clemens. He just missed on a couple of chances, a flyout to the warning track in center in the fourth and a drive to the wall in right in the fifth.
"Almost," Taguchi said. "Just a little too high."
The ninth inning was another almost although the Cardinals can take solace in finally scoring off Brad Lidge. Lidge had blanked them for 31 innings since Sept. 4, 2003 before pinch-hitter John Mabry's two-out, RBI double cut the gap to one. "I think it just proves he's human," La Russa said. "I mean, he's really, really good, but if you compete against anybody you have a chance to break through."
Posted: October 15, 2005
Associated Press
HOUSTON -- Three games into the NL championship series, the St. Louis Cardinals are running a little short on able bodies.
After a season in which the Cardinals led the major leagues with 100 victories despite playing through injuries that sidelined four starters in one stretch, they find themselves in a similar predicament in the postseason.
They started Game 3 of the NL championship series on Saturday without postseason star Reggie Sanders and finished it without third baseman Abraham Nunez, losing 4-3 to the Houston Astros to fall behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"Our lineup has been thin all year," Jim Edmonds said. "We just need to win a game and we won't be worried anymore."
The Cardinals also went with a banged-up Larry Walker in Game 3 and have been without Scott Rolen for all but 56 games. Those are big dents in a once fearsome lineup.
Nunez limped off in the sixth after getting spun down on a baserunning play involving Houston's Jason Lane. The Cardinals called the injury a thigh bruise just above the left knee and Nunez was hopeful of playing in Game 4 on Sunday.
"Right now it's kind of tight but hopefully I can get it loosened up a little bit and probably be able to play," Nunez said. "After I cooled down a little bit and they put ice on it I was able to start walking around, so it's getting a little better."
Sanders was out after a whiplash-like spill on the warning track after chasing Adam Everett's RBI triple and landing hard on his head and back in Game 2. Sanders, who leads the postseason with 12 RBIs, was hopeful Saturday that he'd be able to play with another day of rest. Then again, he had been confident he would be in the lineup for Game 3, too, before pain medication apparently wore off.
"Yesterday I felt pretty good, but then I forgot I was on drugs," Sanders said. "I got off the drugs last night and wasn't as good as I thought I was going to be. So, we just have to wait."
Trainer Barry Weinberg said Walker, a three-time batting champion who is likely to retire after this season because of a herniated disc in his neck, did a better job of lobbying manager Tony La Russa for playing time. Walker, who is 1-for-18 in the postseason, hit a sacrifice fly and was robbed of a hit by shortstop Adam Everett on a smash up the middle to end the eighth.
"I'm not going to take a magic pill and I'm 25 again," Walker said. "I haven't felt good all year."
All of the injuries would be enough to exact a toll on any offense, let alone one facing Roger Clemens. The Cardinals scratched out two runs in six innings against Clemens but received a spotty start from Matt Morris, the most inconsistent member of their rotation.
Morris, who began the year 10-1 and ended at 14-10, is 0-3 with a 5.63 career ERA in the NLCS.
"I battled," Morris said. "But it comes down to execution."
Now, after never trailing in first 37 2-3 innings of the postseason, they've been playing catchup the last 16. But though they're beat-up, they're far from beaten.
"Someone's going to have to play, and whoever's playing needs to step it up," David Eckstein said. "That's why we have 25 guys on this roster."
Nunez' replacement, Hector Luna, threw wildly to the plate for an error on the first play after entering the game to hand the Astros a run. Improbably, Luna then made perhaps the defensive play of the game when he dived to stab Craig Biggio's grounder down the line and then threw him out to end the sixth.
So Taguchi, who replaced Sanders, is 4-for-8 for his career in the regular season against Roger Clemens. He just missed on a couple of chances, a flyout to the warning track in center in the fourth and a drive to the wall in right in the fifth.
"Almost," Taguchi said. "Just a little too high."
The ninth inning was another almost although the Cardinals can take solace in finally scoring off Brad Lidge. Lidge had blanked them for 31 innings since Sept. 4, 2003 before pinch-hitter John Mabry's two-out, RBI double cut the gap to one. "I think it just proves he's human," La Russa said. "I mean, he's really, really good, but if you compete against anybody you have a chance to break through."
