I’m not the only person who has said aloud, “Chris Duncan is going to get somebody hurt out there,” and it came true last Sunday in the rubber game of a three-game match against the Philadelphia Phillies.
I thought he’d end up banging into someone in the outfield, but the Albert Pujols’ calf injury led directly to another calamity.
Duncan, playing first base, short-armed a low-and-outside throw to catcher Yadier Molina at the plate that nailed a runner at a critical point of the game. But the throw left Molina in a vulnerable position, and the runner drove his head directly into the planet Earth. Molina is day-to-day with a concussion, but days could turn into weeks.
As the Cardinals travel to NBA Finals championship-delirious Boston for the weekend, they do so without Pujols, Molina. Chris Carpenter has suffered a setback, and the idea of his pitching this season is becoming less believable as each day passes.
Mark Mulder has a new sidearm delivery that he is perfecting in Triple A, but I doubt that will fly in the Majors.
But the Cardinals keep winning. They won two of three from the hard-hitting Phillies, and haven’t lost a series in more than six weeks.
The Cardinals (42-30 after Tuesday’s loss to hapless Kansas City) have the fourth-best record in baseball and are the solid favorite to win the National League’s wild card playoff slot.
So I’m back on the bandwagon – the same one I rode all last year while you laughed at me. Last year, I refused to give up on the Cardinals winning the weak NL Central. It was all falling into place before Rick Ankiel got caught in the human growth hormone scandal and the team faded in September.
But it’s a new year, and the Cardinals are going to make the playoffs. I’m not kidding. Meet your 2008 NL Wild Card Cardinals.
While the Florida Marlins have 38 wins, they have run roughshod over Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. The rest of the Marlins’ season will see them tangle with the Phillies, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves frequently.
I feared the Mets until about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. After the Mets had topped the Los Angeles Angels and most of America was sound asleep, Willie Randolph was fired. Can’t you hear that conversation? “Willie, we’re making a change. And checkout time is 11 a.m., by the way.”
Pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto, a former Cardinals catcher who was a member of the 1987 NL Champs, also were told to look for their own flights back to New York. The Mets (34-35) are finished for this year unless interim manager Jerry Manuel can pull a rabbit out of his hat and some of the Mets’ stars heads out of their backsides.
The Los Angeles Dodgers (31-38) were seven games under .500 as of Tuesday and couldn’t hit their way out of a wet paper bag.
The Braves (35-36) are not only under .500, but have as many pitching injuries as the Cardinals. John Smoltz is out for the remainder of the year. The ancient warrior Tom Glavine has had to shut it down for an unknown period of time. Chipper Jones is challenging the coveted .400 batting average, but has a myriad of aches and pains slowing him down.
It’s difficult to find a team that can catch the Cardinals for the league’s second-best record.
It certainly will not come from the NL Central. The Astros are under .500 and can’t find ways to beat the Redbirds in tough games. The Milwaukee Brewers (36-33) are playing better baseball, but as long as Ned Yost is manager, they won’t top a La Russa led team.
The Wild Card is the Cards’ to win. Regardless of injuries, bad luck and Duncan threatening life and limb in every game in which he plays, the longshot Cards are destined for another run at the World Series.