The Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter is an outstanding pitcher, with a wealth of post-season experience. He will cause the Phils problems in Game 2. The rest of the Cardinals staff is relatively unknown in the postseason.
How unknown?
Carpenter leads the Cards staff with a whopping 58 1/3 innings of postseason experience and five playoff wins. Game 1 loser Kyle Lohse and Edwin Jackson bring another 17 2/3 innings of postseason experience to the table giving the Cardinals’ four starters 76 innings pitched in the playoffs throughout their careers.
That’s the same number of career playoff innings pitched as Cliff Lee.
Lee has thrown 76 playoff innings, all in the last two postseasons. He has seven postseason victories to his credit. He’s the Phillies de facto number two starter. Their number three, Cole Hamels, has 75 2/3 playoff innings pitched to his credit, and 6 postseason victories.
Their number four?
Roy Oswalt has thrown 66 1/3 innings in October with five victories. All defer to their number one, the reigning National League Cy Young award winner, and probable runner-up this year, Roy Halladay. In other words, the best pitcher remaining in the NL bracket.
What Halladay lacks in playoff experience he makes up for in “wow.” All he did in his playoff debut was no-hit the top offense in the National League.
The Phils four starters have combined for 236 inning pitched in the playoffs, a 20-8 record in 35 starts, and 220 strikeouts. They also have combined for an unbelievable 17 top-7 finishes in Cy Young balloting over their careers — not including this year, when Halladay, Lee, and Hamels will likely all make the top-7 and bring that number to an even 20.
Pitching experience? Advantage Phils.
For the Cardinals, it’s:
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