In Ryne Sandberg's most recent power rankings, he says this of the St. Louis Cardinals:
"My only problem with them is their lack of pitching."
This is how the Cardinals pitching staff ranks among the NL in the following statistics:
WHIP: 2nd
K/BB: 5th
OPS: 3rd
ERA: 1st
He continues:
"Jason Marquis had a great start on short rest last week, but I'm not sure if he's going to be good enough to start in the playoffs. Chris Carpenter, Matt Morris and Mark Mulder should be solid, but I think they could use some more solid outings from Marquis."
So three of their five starters "should be solid," but they have a "lack of pitching" because they need more solid outings from a guy whose last start was, in your words, "great." (Jason Marquis this season, by the way, an unremarkable, yet not shitty 10-13 4.42 1.38 WHIP)
What exactly constitutes a "lack of pitching" in your book, Ryno?
Faithful Yahoo Sports readers (Are there such things? I only read Yahoo Sports to find dumb stuff to write about in a blog. Why are all these other people reading?) rightly called Ryno on his wrongness. To which he replied:
"Actually, I'm a little concerned about the Cardinals' lack of experience in their pitching staff. Chris Carpenter has never pitched in the postseason and he has been their best pitcher this year. It's always interesting to see how pitchers adapt to moving to a three- or four-man rotation, too."
Lack of experience? Ryne, this team was in the fucking World Series last year. Sure Chris Carpenter has never pitched in the postseason. You know who has? Every single pitcher on their active roster except rookie Brad Thompson. Can you name the only pitcher besides Carpenter and Thompson who was not on their WS roster last year? No? It's a guy by the name of Mark Mulder (career postseason ERA: 2.25 WHIP: 1.375).
Why won't you just admit you're wrong?
