A Little Bit About A Lot Of Cardinal Things...

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  Matt Holliday has meant so much for this Cardinal ball club in his 2 months wearing the Birds On The Bat.  Just how much?  STATS LLC helps show just how historic his arrival in St. Louis has been...

Matt Holliday has been one of baseball’s top midseason acquisitions and is one of just four players all-time to drive in at least 50 runs with two different clubs in the same season.

Single Season, Players w/ 50+ RBI with 2 Teams – All-time

2000 David Justice       58 w/ Cle & 60 w/ NYY 

2004 Carlos Beltran      51 w/ KC  & 53 w/ Hou 

2008 Manny Ramirez       68 w/ Bos & 53 w/ LAD 

2009 Matt Holliday      54 w/ Oak & 51 w/ StL

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  Joel Pineiro takes the mound tonight, in search of his 16th win of the season.  That would equal his career high.  It's been quite a turnaround for the right-hander after a very disappointing 2008.

MLB, Biggest ERA Improvement – 2008 à 2009

(minimum 20 GS in both seasons)

Player                      2008      2009     Diff

Joel Pineiro, StL           5.15      3.24     1.91

Javier Vazquez, Atl         4.67      2.83     1.84

Justin Verlander, Det       4.84      3.41     1.43

Zack Greinke, KC            3.47      2.06     1.41

Scott Feldman, Tex          5.29      3.90     1.39

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  The Cardinals are N.L. Central Champions in large part because of their strong play in August and September.  The numbers against the division are even more impressive.  The Cards have won 9-straight division series.  And check out these stats...

Cardinals vs. NL Central – since July 31

                       StL             Opponents

Wins                    20                   7

Runs/Game              4.6 (124/27)        2.9 (78/27)

Batting Avg           .288 (264/918)      .241 (218/903)

Home Runs               29                  13

ERA                   2.84 (77/244.1)     4.49 (118/236.1)

Runs, Inning 7+         42                  19