October 23, 2004
World Series Match-up
By Brian Walton
Here is my take on the teams. Overall, it is close, but the edge goes to the Cardinals. I think it will be over in six games.
Infield – Advantage Cardinals. Orlando Cabrera and Kevin Millar are solid players, but the left side of the Cardinals infield is gold, with Scott Rolen and Edgar Renteria. The right side of Tony Womack and Albert Pujols isn’t bad, either. With David Ortiz having to play first in St. Louis, the Red Sox defense is weakened.
Outfield – Advantage Cardinals. This is a close one. Gold Glovers, former MVPs and batting champions abound. I call Manny plus Damon vs. Edmonds plus Walker a toss-up, even though the latter two are superior with the glove. Because of his experience, I give Reggie Sanders the edge over Trot Nixon.
Catcher – Advantage even. Jason Varitek is superior offensively to Mike Matheny, but Matheny is without peer behind the plate. I’d take either on my team.
Starting pitching – Advantage Red Sox. There is more variance from top to bottom on the Sox, but their Big Two are pretty darned good. The Cards are hurt by the injury to ace Chris Carpenter and the inconsistency of Matt Morris. With their current horses being Woody Williams and Jeff Suppan, the Cards have to hope the magic continues.
Bullpen – Advantage Cardinals. Keith Foulke would get the slight nod over Jason Isringhausen, but the rest of his cronies take a back seat to the very effective Cards’ set-up gang.
Bench – Advantage Red Sox. The Cardinals’ bench (John Mabry, Marlon Anderson, Roger Cedeno, etc.) doesn’t scare anyone. When there is no DH, Kevin Millar can come off the bench, along with Dave Roberts, Pokey Reese and Doug Mientkiewicz.
Managing/Coaching – Advantage Cardinals. As long as he avoids overmanaging, Tony La Russa and his staff should have the edge. La Russa is driven to finally get his second ring. Terry Francona did a fine job managing against the Yankees, but is far from proven.
