Cardinal Madness! Match-ups 13 and 14

It’s almost the last day of round 1. It’s also my birthday! As a birthday present to me, you should make sure to vote in today’s pairings and go back and vote on the rest! Today, we will see the 3 seed 1931 team against the 30 seed 1981 team and the 14 seed 1985 team against the 19 seed 2005 team. As always, details after the jump.

1931

The 1931 Cardinals won 101 games and beat the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series in seven games. The team featured league MVP Frankie Frisch and AP Athlete of the Year Pepper Martin. Frisch went on to become a Hall of Famer along with Jim Bottomley, Burleigh Grimes, Chick Hafey, and Jesse Haines

1981

The 1981 season was shortened by a players’ strike. The season was split in two halves, with the winners of each halves facing off in divisional playoffs to determine league champions. The Cardinals missed the playoffs due to finishing second in both halves, although they had the best overall record. First baseman Keith Hernandez won a Gold Glove this season. The squad featured future Hall of Famers Bruce Sutter and manager Whitey Herzog.

Tale of the Tape

1931		1981
Batting Order		Batting Order
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Sparky Adams	3B	97	1	40	0.293	0.730	92	1	Tommy Herr	2B	50	0	46	0.268	0.674	90
2	George Watkins	RF	93	13	51	0.288	0.813	112	2	Garry Templeton	SS	47	1	33	0.288	0.709	98
3	Frankie Frisch	2B	96	4	82	0.311	0.764	101	3	Keith Hernandez	1B	65	8	48	0.306	0.864	142
4	Jim Bottomley	1B	73	9	75	0.348	0.937	145	4	George Hendrick	CF	67	18	61	0.284	0.841	134
5	Chick Hafey	LF	94	16	95	0.349	0.973	154	5	Dane Iorg	LF	23	2	39	0.327	0.768	115
6	Pepper Martin	CF	68	7	75	0.300	0.818	114	6	Ken Oberkfell	3B	43	2	45	0.293	0.725	104
7	Jimmie Wilson	C	45	0	51	0.274	0.669	76	7	Darrell Porter	C	22	6	31	0.224	0.772	117
8	Charlie Gelbert	SS	61	1	62	0.289	0.748	97	8	Sixto Lezcano	RF	26	5	28	0.266	0.768	116
9	P								9	P

Bench		Bench
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Gus Mancuso	C	13	1	23	0.262	0.701	84	1	Gene Tenace	C	26	5	22	0.233	0.819	131
2	Ripper Collins	IF	34	4	59	0.301	0.837	118	2	Mike Ramsey	IF	19	0	9	0.258	0.585	65
3	Andy High	IF	20	0	19	0.267	0.717	91	3	Tito Landrum	OF	13	0	10	0.261	0.667	86
4	Ernie Orsatti	OF	27	0	19	0.291	0.817	113	4	Gene Roof	OF	11	0	3	0.300	0.811	129
5	Wally Roettger	OF	16	0	17	0.285	0.728	91	5	Steve Braun	U	9	0	2	0.196	0.676	93

Starting Rotation		Starting Rotation
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
1	Bill Hallahan	248.2	19	9	3.29	159	112	121	1	Lary Sorensen	140.1	7	7	3.27	52	26	109
2	Burleigh Grimes	212.1	17	9	3.65	67	59	109	2	Bob Forsch	124.1	10	5	3.18	41	29	112
3	Paul Derringer	211.2	18	8	3.36	134	65	119	3	John Martin	102.2	8	5	3.42	36	26	105
4	Flint Rhem	207.1	11	10	3.56	72	60	112	4	Silvio Martinez	97.0	2	5	3.99	34	39	90
5	Syl Johnson	186.0	11	9	3.00	82	29	133	5	Joaquin Andujar	55.1	6	1	3.74	19	11	96
6	Jesse Haines	122.1	12	3	3.02	27	28	132
Bullpen		Bullpen
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
CP	Jim Lindsey	74.2	6	4	2.77	32	45	144	CP	Bruce Sutter	82.1	3	5	2.62	57	24	136
RP	Allyn Stout	72.2	6	0	4.21	40	34	95	RP	Bob Shirley	79.1	6	4	4.08	36	34	88
RP	Tony Kaufmann	49.0	1	1	6.06	13	17	66	RP	Jim Kaat	53.0	6	6	3.40	8	17	106
RP									RP	Mark Littell	41.0	1	3	4.39	22	31	82
RP									RP	Jim Otten	35.2	1	0	5.30	20	20	68

1985

The ’85 Cardinals won 101 games en route to beating the Mets and Dodgers in the playoffs to set up the I-70 series with the intrastate rival Kansas City Royals. They lost in seven games in a World Series that is infamous for rookie sensation Vince Coleman being eaten by an errant tarp and “The Call”, an awful blown call by umpire Don Denkinger. Coleman won the Rookie of the Year award and led the league in stolen bases with 110. Manager Whitey Herzog was named Manager of the Year and shortstop Ozzie Smith won a Gold Glove. Smith and Herzog both went on the be named to the Hall of Fame.

2005

The 2005 Cardinals won 100 games and were the Central division champions. They swept the Padres in the LDS, but were defeated by the Astros in six games in the NLCS. Game six of the NLCS featured Albert Pujols‘s famous destruction of Brad Lidge. Pujols won the MVP award this season. The Cardinals also featured the Cy Young winner in pitcher Chris Carpenter. Also taking home an award was Jim Edmonds, who won a Gold Glove.

Tale of the Tape

1985		2005
Batting Order		Batting Order
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Vince Coleman	LF	107	1	40	0.267	0.655	84	1	David Eckstein	SS	90	8	61	0.294	0.758	99
2	Willie McGee	CF	114	10	82	0.353	0.887	147	2	Larry Walker	RF	66	15	52	0.289	0.789	130
3	Tommy Herr	2B	97	8	110	0.302	0.795	123	3	Albert Pujols	1B	129	41	117	0.330	1.039	168
4	Jack Clark	1B	71	22	87	0.281	0.895	149	4	Jim Edmonds	CF	88	29	89	0.263	0.918	137
5	Andy Van Slyke	RF	61	13	55	0.259	0.774	116	5	Scott Rolen	3B	28	5	28	0.235	0.706	84
6	Terry Pendleton	3B	56	5	69	0.240	0.591	66	6	Mark Grudzialanek	2B	64	8	59	0.294	0.741	93
7	Darrell Porter	C	30	10	36	0.221	0.747	108	7	Reggie Sanders	LF	49	21	54	0.271	0.886	127
8	Ozzie Smith	SS	70	6	54	0.276	0.716	101	8	Yadier Molina	C	36	8	49	0.252	0.654	70
9	P								9	P

Bench		Bench
	Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+		Player	Pos	R	HR	RBI	BAA	OPS	OPS+
1	Tom Nieto	C	15	0	34	0.225	0.586	65	1	Einar Diaz	C	14	1	17	0.208	0.525	37
2	Mike Jorgensen	IF	14	0	11	0.196	0.625	79	2	Abraham Nunez	IF	64	5	44	0.285	0.704	85
3	Cesar Cedeno	IF	14	6	19	0.434	1.213	235	3	So Taguchi	OF	45	8	53	0.288	0.734	91
4	Tito Landrum	OF	21	4	21	0.280	0.784	119	4	John Mabry	OF	26	8	32	0.240	0.701	81
5	Lonnie Smith	OF	15	0	7	0.260	0.700	98	5	John Rodriguez	OF	15	5	24	0.295	0.818	114

Starting Rotation		Starting Rotation
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
1	John Tudor	275.0	21	8	1.93	169	49	185	1	Chris Carpenter	241.2	21	5	2.83	213	51	150
2	Joaquin Andujar	269.2	21	12	3.40	112	82	105	2	Jason Marquis	207.0	13	14	4.13	100	59	103
3	Danny Cox	241.0	18	9	2.88	131	64	124	3	Mark Mulder	205.0	16	8	3.64	111	70	116
4	Kurt Kepshire	153.1	10	9	4.75	67	71	75	4	Jeff Suppan	194.1	16	10	3.57	114	63	119
5	Bob Forsch	136.0	9	6	3.90	48	47	92	5	Matt Morris	192.2	14	10	4.11	117	37	103

Bullpen		Bullpen
Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+	Pos	Pitcher	IP	W	L	ERA	K	BB	ERA+
CP	Jeff Lahti	68.1	5	2	1.84	41	26	194	CP	Jason Isringhausen	59.0	1	2	2.14	51	27	199
RP	Ricky Horton	89.2	3	2	2.91	59	34	123	RP	Julian Tavarez	65.2	2	3	3.43	47	19	124
RP	Ken Dayley	65.1	4	4	2.76	62	18	130	RP	Alberto Reyes	62.2	4	2	2.15	67	20	197
RP	Bill Campbell	64.1	5	3	3.50	41	21	103	RP	Randy Flores	41.2	3	1	3.46	43	13	123
RP	Todd Worrell	21.2	3	0	2.91	17	7	125	RP	Ray King	40.0	4	4	3.38	23	16	126

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