Cardinals Youth Movement Carries them over Red Sox

In the ninth inning, FOX had a graphic that the pitchers St. Louis used in last night's game against Boston were the ages of 22, 22, and 23.  That's incredible for a variety of reasons. First, as a 25 year old who has a part-time job, it makes me feel inferior. Second, it shows how long this Cardinals dominance of the National League could be with the wealth of young, great pitching talent. Basically as a Brewer fan, I know we are all in big trouble.

Michael Wacha probably had the most hype around him going into the World Series. The young pitcher looks like a king slayer by taking down Clayton Kershaw twice and almost no-hitting Pittsburgh. Wacha's run is unparalleled to most young pitchers in October. The other shoe had to drop at some point, right?  He is facing a tough Boston lineup whose handled a lot of pitchers this year plus pitching in Fenway is much different than pitching at Busch Stadium or PNC Park. But the shoe was not ready to come down. Wacha took control of this game like he has done all October.

Wacha dazzled again for five innings. He only allowed three hits and did have an uncharacteristic four walks yet Wacha did not let a run get across the plate bringing his scoreless streak to 18.5 innings. This meant if Wacha was able to get through the sixth unscathed, he would have the postseason scoreless streak for St. Louis franchise history surpassing Bob Gibson. The legend of Wacha might not have been higher. Unfortunately, he faced a red-hot David Ortiz in that inning. Big Papi had a runner on and sent an outside pitch right over the Green Monster to give Boston a 2-1 advantage. Wacha did not even make a bad pitch. It was more Ortiz took the pitch he was given and drove it out of the ballpark.  

Thankfully for St. Louis, they did not trail for very long. Cardinals had some timely hitting and baserunning leading to him scoring two runs on a sacrifice fly by Matt Carpenter as Jarrod Saltalamacchia could not handle a perfect laser throw by Jonny Gomes. This spiraled out of control as Craig Breslow sailed the ball down the third base line into the stands leading to another run. By the end of the seventh, Cardinals had a two-run advantage.

Carlos Martinez was the next man up in the 'Young Pitcher Palooza' for St. Louis. Martinez gave up a run yesterday which was his first one since the second game of the Division Series. Martinez pitched a strong two innings including getting out of a jam in the eighth inning as Boston had two runners on. Martinez looked strong out there and could definitely be considered the best pitcher out of the bullpen. The fact Martinez can easily go two innings gives the Cardinals a huge advantage in the bullpen for not only this series, but for years to come.

Trevor Rosenthal was the final piece to the trifecta. He did not get the closer role until mid-September. Edward Mujica had been seen as the savior taking Jason Motte's role over in early May and pitched great out of the bullpen. Although things came tumbling down for him in the last month of the season leaving St. Louis scrambling. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny went with their young set-up man, Rosenthal,  who had a strong season already to be their closer. So far in the postseason, Rosenthal is riding around shining on opposing teams. He has yet to allow a run in the postseason and struck out the side in order last night putting Boston to sleep. Rosenthal looked in complete command on his pitches and showed zero fear of this Red Sox order.

No matter what happens to the Cardinals this series, they have to look at the bright side of things. The future for this team is as bright as any team in Major League Baseball. It is clear they have a group of pitchers who could bring this team multiple World Series titles even if it does not happen this year.

Charlie.