2003 St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Graphs Review
Following are graphs and commentary regarding the 2003 season of the St. Louis Cardinals. Questions or comments can be sent to me at dave@baseballgraphs.com.
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The National League Central Race The Cardinals gave it a good run most of the summer. But when the Astros and Cubs kicked it into overdrive in September, the Cards couldn't keep up. In early September, they couldn't beat the Cubs or Astros head-to-head. St. Louis was a staggering 14-25 in one-run games, and they came in about four games under their projected won/loss record. |
| Move your mouse over this graph to view the status of each team at the season's midpoint (July 1st). | ||||
Fielding Independent Pitching is based on the following formula: (13*HR+3*BB-2*K)/IP. Defense Efficiency Ratio is (Non-catcher putouts/Batted Balls in Play), adjusted for ballpark. Circle sizes in this graph are proportional to the percent of fieldable balls successfully converted into outs by the fielders. |
The Cardinals' Pitching and Fielding
The team fielding, as indicated by the size of the circle, was among the best in the league. Only the Phillies were better, according to David Pinto's analysis. Some of the standout fielders on the team included Jim Edmons, Scott Rolen and Mike Matheny. The team DER, adjusted for ballpark, was about average. This essentially means that the Cardinals' pitchers (or luck, depending on what you believe) were the main contributors to balls falling in for hits. And the Cardinals team FIP was among the worst in the league. The Cardinals had two premier starters: Woody Williams (0.54 FIP) and Matt Morris (0.80). And that's it. According to Baseball Prospectus, their bullpen was second-worst in the majors, with only Jason Isringhausen available and pitching well for part of the year (-0.05 FIP). How to Read this Graph |
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The Cardinals Day-by-Day
The Cardinals were the most consistent team in the league. Out of all ten-game streaks, they won as many as eight games once and never lost less than three games out of ten. That is a very consistent record. As you can see on the graph, the offense and defense tended to track together. The runs scored record was only significantly better than runs allowed at two points: early May and the end of the year. When the pitching got worse, as it did in June, the bats got better. When the bats turned cold, the pitching got better. The Cards' bats sizzled in the month of June. Edmonds had a very good June, and it was particularly the month of Bo Hart. |
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St. Louis Cardinals' Win SharesPlayer Team Pos Hit Field Pitch Sum WS -------- ---- ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- --- A Pujols STL OF 38.92 2.21 0.00 41.13 41 S Rolen STL 3B 21.22 4.19 0.00 25.41 25 E Renteria STL SS 20.24 5.00 0.00 25.23 25 J Edmonds STL OF 18.64 3.72 0.00 22.36 22 W Williams STL P 0.18 0.00 13.04 13.21 13 J Drew STL OF 11.67 1.34 0.00 13.01 13 M Matheny STL C 6.25 6.76 0.00 13.01 13 T Martinez STL 1B 9.43 1.79 0.00 11.22 11 M Morris STL P 0.00 0.00 9.68 9.68 10 J Isringhausen STL P 0.28 0.00 7.08 7.36 7 E Perez STL OF 6.47 0.77 0.00 7.24 7 B Hart STL 2B 5.34 1.75 0.00 7.09 7 C Eldred STL P 0.00 0.00 5.66 5.66 6 O Palmeiro STL OF 4.14 1.43 0.00 5.57 6 B Tomko STL P 0.61 0.00 4.87 5.48 6 G Stephenson STL P 0.00 0.00 5.43 5.43 5 S Kline STL P 0.25 0.00 4.96 5.21 5 F Vina STL 2B 3.09 1.40 0.00 4.49 5 K Calero STL P 0.22 0.00 3.12 3.34 3 M Cairo STL 2B 2.00 1.09 0.00 3.09 3 E Marrero STL OF 2.30 0.66 0.00 2.96 3 S Taguchi STL OF 2.21 0.30 0.00 2.50 3 K Robinson STL OF 1.79 0.71 0.00 2.49 3 C Widger STL C 0.79 1.66 0.00 2.45 2 S Hitchcock STL P 0.00 0.00 2.31 2.31 2 J Simontacchi STL P 0.00 0.00 1.82 1.82 2 M DeJean STL P 0.00 0.00 1.13 1.13 1 D Haren STL P 0.00 0.00 1.03 1.03 1 K Ohme STL P 0.30 0.00 0.67 0.97 1 E Yan STL P 0.30 0.00 0.44 0.74 1 M Crudale STL P 0.00 0.00 0.64 0.64 1 J Pearce STL P 0.00 0.00 0.63 0.63 1 D Hermanson STL P 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.50 1 W Delgado STL 2B 0.00 0.40 0.00 0.40 0 L Painter STL P 0.00 0.00 0.22 0.22 0 P Borbon STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 J Fassero STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 J Girardi STL C 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 J Journell STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 G Molina STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 J Pearson STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 R Springer STL P 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 |
The Cardinals' Individual Players
Only the greatness of Barry Bonds could potentially eclipse the year that Albert Pujols had. Remember that magnificent MVP year of Robin Yount's in 1982? He had 39 Win Shares. Mike Schmidt's best year: 40. Reggie Jackson and Jimmie Foxx hit 41 once. Frank Robinson had 41 in 1966. Even Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 had 42. Pujols had a year for the greats. Rolen, Renteria and Edmonds shouldn't be overlooked, however. Renteria, in particular, had an outstanding year and tied with Furcal for most Win Shares among National League shortstops.
You can view all National League Win Shares data via the following links: |
