Surely it wasn’t ridiculous to expect a high scoring World Series. Carpenter, Garcia, Wilson and Lewis combined for an ERA of 6.60 during the ALCS and NLCS. During that time, the hitters for the Cardinals and Rangers averaged 6.83 runs per nine innings. So I thought it would be a fairly high scoring series. But now Game Two is almost over and the Cardinals lead 1-0 after winning the first game 3-2. It still could become a high scoring series, the Rangers have a tiny ballpark and they’ll have their crutch Designated Hitter back for that leg, but the first two games have not at all been what I expected.
But the pitchers for both sides deserve credit. There is a saying that hitting wins games but pitching wins championships. This doesn’t make sense, of course, but the first sentence is supposed to be thrown out. And saying that pitching wins championships is usually correct, but the pitching for the Cardinals and Rangers has not been anything about which to write home. The top two in each rotation all did reasonably well in the regular season but were not the best in their leagues by any stretch. Previously in the playoffs only Chris Carpenter had done anything of note, the brilliant complete game shutout in Game Five of the NLDS. I’m not sure why the pitchers have suddenly come to the party but hopefully they’ll continue. Pitchers’ duels are so much more exciting than slugging contests.
Defensive Indifference 