Cardinal Success Is as Simple as Plan A, B, C

The debate will rage for another year, without fresh data. The Oakland Athletics did not qualify for the playoffs this year, so the A’s cannot offer an on-field rebuttal to criticism that a team cannot win in October on pitching, home runs and walks alone.

The criticism comes not just from commentators, but from scouts concerned that the rise in player selection via statistical analysis could make them expendable. The St. Louis Cardinals won 105 games this season, most in the major leagues, but good for nothing when they open the playoffs today against the Dodgers.

The A’s won 102 games three years ago and lost in the first round of the playoffs, with Jason Isringhausen as their closer. Isringhausen fills that role for the Cardinals today, a team that he believes can survive a possible playoff power outage. The lack of diversity in the Oakland attack, he argues, spells doom come October.

“You’re going to run up against good pitching,” he said. “You have to be able to run, bunt, take the extra base, play small ball. We tried to live by the three-run home run. It didn’t work.”

The A’s lost in the first round in each of the last four years, every time to a team with an inferior record in the regular season. The A’s had Plan A, and aces in Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, but the Cardinals can win in so many ways.

“They had the big three starters,” Isringhausen said. “This team is more balanced -- really good defense, a lot of speed. That team, we lived by the home run.”

The Cardinals don’t mind living by the home run. They hit more than any other National League playoff team, including 46 from first baseman Albert Pujols, 42 from center fielder Jim Edmonds and 34 from third baseman Scott Rolen. All three scored more than 100 runs, drove in more than 100, hit better than .300 and posted an on-base percentage better than .400.

“We’ve got three guys having MVP-type years,” General Manager Walt Jocketty said. “It’s unfortunate, and I hope this doesn’t happen, but they could knock each other out. One of them should be the MVP.”

The Cardinals led the league in runs, and there was no better testament to their offensive prowess than the NL starting lineup for the All-Star game. Shortstop Edgar Renteria led off, with Pujols batting second and Rolen fourth, a St. Louis connection broken up only by Barry Bonds.

Larry Walker, a No. 3 or No. 4 hitter for most of a distinguished career, bats second for St. Louis. Reggie Sanders, part of Bonds’ supporting cast for San Francisco in the 2002 World Series, bats seventh for St. Louis.

And -- interestingly in an organization run by Oakland alumni in Jocketty and Manager Tony La Russa -- the Cardinals run. They stole the most bases of any NL playoff entrant, led by Sanders and another off-season pickup, second baseman Tony Womack.

“We’ve had power in the past,” Jocketty said. “We didn’t have a lot of speed. That’s one element we tried to add.”

The Cardinals play terrific defense -- Edmonds, Rolen and Renteria in particular -- and their bullpen posted the best earned-run average in the league. La Russa loves to mix and match relievers ahead of his closer, with right-hander Julian Tavarez and left-handers Ray King and Steve Kline sure to play prominent roles in the playoffs.

That the Cardinals could hit, field and -- in the late innings -- pitch surprised no one. But St. Louis fairly startled its division rivals with starting pitching light on star power but surprisingly durable and reliable.

“Without our pitching staff, we’d be nowhere,” Edmonds said.

In a winter when the Houston Astros added Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte to join Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller and the Chicago Cubs recruited Greg Maddux to supplement Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, the Cardinals picked up Jason Marquis and Jeff Suppan.

The Atlanta Braves -- at a time they were trying to fill vacancies in their rotation -- traded Marquis. The Boston Red Sox traded for Suppan in the pennant drive last year, but he flopped. The Cardinals completed their rotation with Woody Williams (sore shoulder), Chris Carpenter (coming off shoulder surgery) and Matt Morris.

Although Carpenter is not expected to pitch in this series because of an irritated nerve in his right arm, all five starters pitched at least 180 innings and won at least 11 games. Morris completed three games, Carpenter one, the others none.

“It’s a credit to our bullpen,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “We’ve been able to get them out of games with reasonable pitch counts. You don’t do that if you don’t have a good bullpen.”

The Angels won with a similar recipe two years ago -- milk just enough innings from the starters and let the bullpen do the rest. If these Cardinals are as successful as those Angels, fans widely regarded as the most supportive in baseball will be rewarded.

Rolen, traded from Philadelphia after rejecting a contract extension, and Edmonds, traded by the Angels for fear he would not sign one, each arrived here and promptly agreed to long-term deals to stay in St. Louis rather than test free agency. Walker, a 16-year veteran, rejected possible trades to Texas and Florida, then accepted a trade here and got what he told Isringhausen was the first standing ovation of his career, just for showing up.

After starting his career with the New York Mets and emerging as a closer with the A’s, Isringhausen is tickled to be here.

“In New York, you’re under the microscope. In Oakland, you’re kind of off the radar,” he said. “In St. Louis, they’re real good baseball people.”