The Cardinals 2005 campaign was a disappointment due to the high expectations that were set by a World Series birth in 2004. The Cardinals had 5 less regular season wins, with 100, in 2005 than they did in 2004, largely because of winning just 9 of 19 down the stretch and just 16 of their remaining 30. It's never a good idea to be content and say that you can just turn it on come playoff time. This type of complacency is definitely something to look for down the stretch with both good and bad teams. Don't let yourself take too many hits before backing off in this situation. The better plays down the home stretch of the season are games with something riding on them. St. Louis putting the remainder of the regular season on cruise control ultimately cost them as they fell to the Astros, who finished the regular season 19-11, in last year's playoffs.

I'm guessing St. Louis won't fall into the same trap as easily this season. You can definitely expect the Cardinals to get off to a quick start right out of the gates as they are one of the best run-scoring teams in baseball. They continue to crush right handed pitching, only having one losing season versus right-handers over the last 7 years. With Pujols, Edmonds, and Eckstein spear-heading the attack, you can count on another highly productive offensive year for the Cardinals. Look for your spots to cash in big when these sticks are up against righties. Juan Encarnacian batted .287 last year, but if the Cardinals are going to be a force and compete with teams like the Yanks and the Mets, they will need to get a little more productions out of guys like Junior Spivey and Scott Rolen. Rolen was hurt last season but sh

ould be healthy to start this season and that will provide as good of a middle set of hitters as you will find in any lineup in the National League.

Good pitching always beats good hitting, however, and ultimately it was the Astros pitching staff who kept the Cardinal hitters at bay in the playoffs. The NL Central is stacked with great pitching and St. Louis probably has the 3rd best staff behind Chicago and Houston. However, St. Louis' pitchers tend to over achieve thanks to great run support. Carpenter, Mulder, and Suppan all had 16+ wins, and I expect Marquis to join that club this season. The St. Louis Cardinals will be a good team to back this season as their big bats are rarely asleep and their pitchers don't make many costly mistakes. Last season the Cards surprisingly had the lower ERA at 3.49 in the National League. Four of the club's 5 starters had 10+ wins. They have also added a great fifth starter with loads of potential in Sidney Ponson. He is coming over from the Baltimore Orioles and even though he has had some off-field problems recently, if he can get his act together he can be a solid starter who picks up 20 wins. The bullpen is tough in Saint Louis and closer Jason Isringhausen is reliable whenever he is not on the disabled list.

This article was written by Jimmy Boyd Pick up his Free Baseball Picks here.

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