Stat break: 09 Cardinals

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Ankiel                  22     1     4     0       2    0      0      0      0      .182
DeRosa              18     2     2     3       0    0      1      1      0       .111
C Duncan           11     1     1     0       0    0      0       0      0      .091
K Greene            19     2     3     3       0    0     1       0      0      .158
Holliday               43     3   17     3       3    0      0      4      0      .395
Ludwick               39     2     8     4       1    0      1      4       0     .205
Lugo                    26     3    6      2       2    0      0      1       0     .231
Y Molina              47     2    9      4       0    0      0      5       2     .191
Pujols                  45     8   13   10       2     0     4       7      0     .289
Rasmus              49      6  15     4       2     0     2       1      0      .306
Ryan                   40      1    8     1       2     1      0      3      2      .200
Schumaker         30      4     7    1       2     0      1      2      0      .233
Thurston             27      1     6     3      1     1      0      1      1      .222

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L     ERA

Carpenter          4      4     32.3    30     8      7      3    18        0      2     1      1.95
Franklin             5      0        6        5     3      3      2       3        2      0     1      4.50
Hawksworth      4      0       3.6      5     2      2      1      3        0      0     0       4.90
Lohse                2      2       9.3    11     7      7      1      6        0      0     2       6.75
McClellan          5      0       6.3      6     2      2      3      1        0      0     1       2.84
T Miller              4      0       3.3      3     3      3      3      2        0      0     0       8.11

Pineiro              3      3     21.3    15     4      3       3      4        0      2     0       1.27
Reyes               4      0       3.6      1     1      1       0      0        0      0     1       2.45

Smoltz              1      1       4         4     0      0       0      3        0      0     0       0.00

Wainwright       3      3     22.3    22     9      9       8    10        0      2     1       3.63

Wellmeyer        3      0       5         7     4      4       2      3        0      0     0       7.20

John bracket: White Sox (09) defeat Cardinals (09) in six games

Game One: 09 White Sox 5, 09 Cardinals 2
WP: Linebrink (1-0)
LP: Carpenter (1-1)
Save: Jenks (2)
HR: Rasmus (2)

Game Two: 09 White Sox 1, 09 Cardinals 0
WP: Peavy (1-0)
LP: Lohse (0-1)
Save: Jenks (3)

Game Three: 09 Cardinals 8, 09 White Sox 3
WP: Wainwright (2-1)
LP: Danks (0-1)
HR: K Greene (1)

Game Four: 09 White Sox 5, 09 Cardinals 3
WP: Floyd (2-1)
LP: McClellan (0-1)
Save: Jenks (4)
HR: Dye (2), Konerko (3), Schumaker (1)

Game Five: 09 Cardinals 7, 09 White Sox 1
WP; Carpenter (2-1)
LP: Buehrle (1-2)
HR: DeRosa (1), Pujols 2 (4)

Game Six: 09 White Sox 9, 09 Cardinals 0
WP: Peavy (2-0)
LP: Lohse (0-2)
HR: Beckham (2), Podsednik (1)

The 2009 White Sox won all three of the competitive games in the series before blowing out the 2009 Cardinals for the clincher.

Chris Carpenter and Mark Buehrle dueled in the opener, played in the 2009 version of Busch Stadium. Albert Pujols drove in a first inning run with a sac fly, then committed an error that resulted in the tying run scoring in the second. Gordon Beckham tripled and scored in the fourth; Colby Rasmus tied it in the bottom of the inning with a homer. The 2-2 tie held into the ninth, when the Sox strung together five singles off Carpenter, Todd Wellmeyer and Dennys Reyes for three runs.

Jake Peavy, Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks combined for a 1-0 shutout in Game Two. Peavy allowed four hits in six innings, Dotel one in two innings and Jenks was perfect in the ninth. The sole run off Kyle Lohse came in the fifth, when Jermaine Dye led off with a double, took third on an Alexi Ramirez single and scored on Chris Getz' grounder to second. Lohse allowed just two hits in his six innings.

The series shifted to the South Side of Chicago, and the Cardinals picked up their first win of the series behind Adam Wainwright's pitching and an unlikely three run homer from Kahil Greene. Wainwright went 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Greene's fourth inning homer came off John Danks. Matt Holliday was 4-for-4 off  Danks and the Sox bullpen with two RBIs and a walk.

Game Four was crucial. The Cardinals' Joel Pinero carried a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, when he needed help from Trevor Miller to escape a jam. Miller stayed in to face Jim Thome in the eighth; Thome doubled. Right hander Kyle McClellan entered; he walked Paul Konerko, then yielded a three-run homer to Dye, and what had looked like a series-tying St. Louis win turned into a dramatic Chicago victory.

The Cardinals resisted defeat in Game Five. Carpenter allowed just one run on five hits (Reyes did get the final out), while Pujols, who had had just one hit entering the game, hit a pair of homers off Buehrle. Mark DeRosa also hit a three-run homer. The rout sent the series back to St. Louis.

And there, in Game Six, the Sox got a rout of their own. Beckham hit a two-run homer in the third, Scott Podsednik hit a three-run homer int he fourth. Jake Peavy not only threw a four-hit shutout, he drove in a pair of runs with bases-loaded safety squeeze bunts. Peavy walked one and struck out eight; he faced just three batters over the minimum.

Player of the Series: Peavy for his 15 innings of shutout ball in two wins.

Player availability: Peavy will be inactive for the third round. The big three of the Chicago rotation will be fully eligible for any game.

Projected rotation: Buehrle-Danks-Floyd-Freddy Garcia-(Buehrle)-(Danks)-(Floyd)

Stat break: 09 Cardinals

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Ankiel                  12     1     2     0       1    0      0      0      0      .167
C Duncan             6     1     1     0       0    0      0       0      0     .167
K Greene            10     0     0     0       0    0      0       0      0     .000
Holliday               24     2     7     0       0    0      0       2      0     .292
Ludwick               22     1     6     3       1    0      1      1       0     .273
Lugo                    14     0    2      1       0    0      0      0       0     .143
Y Molina              26     1    6      3       0    0      0      3       2     .231
Pujols                  25      6    9     6       2     0     2       4      0     .360
Rasmus              25      2     7    1       0     0     1       1      0      .280
Ryan                   18      0    3     1       1     1      0      2      1      .167
Schumaker         21      2     5    0       2     0      0      2      0      .217
Thurston             20      1     6     3      1     1      0      1      1      .300

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L     ERA

Carpenter          2      2     15       18     2      2      1    10        0      1     0      1.20
Franklin             4      0        5        5     3      3      2       3        2      0     1      5.40
Hawksworth      2      0       2.6      4     2      2      0      2        0      0     0       6.74
McClellan          2      0       3         2     0      0      1      1        0      0     0       0.00
T Miller              1      0       1         3     2      2      1      0        0      0     0     18.00

Pineiro              2      2     15         9     2      1       0      2        0      2     0       0.60
Reyes               1      0       1.3      1     1      1       0      0        0      0     1       6.77

Smoltz              1      1       4         4     0      0       0      3        0      0     0       0.00

Wainwright       2      2     15       18     6      6       4      8        0      1     1       3.60

Wellmeyer        1      0       2         1     0      0       0      1        0       0    0       0.00

John bracket: Cardinals (09) defeat Cardinals (69) in seven games

Game One: 69 Cardinals 4, 09 Cardinals 3 (11 innings)
WP: Gibson (1-0)
LP: Franklin (0-1)
Save: Hoerner (1)
HR: Torre (1)

Game Two: 09 Cardinals 2, 69 Cardinals 1
WP: Wainwright (1-0)
LP: Carlton (0-1)
Save: Franklin (1)
HR: Ludwick (1)

Game Three: 09 Cardinals 4, 69 Cardinals 0
WP: Pineiro (1-0)
LP: Briles (0-1)

Game Four: 69 Cardinals 4, 09 Cardinals 2
WP: Gibson (2-0)
LP: Reyes (0-1)

Game Five: 09 Cardinals 4, 69 Cardinals 2
WP: Carpenter (1-0)
LP: Carlton (0-2)
HR: Huntz (1), Pujols (1)

Game Six: 69 Cardinals 5, 09 Cardinals 2
WP: C Taylor (1-0)
LP: Wainwright (1-1)
Save: Hoerner (2)
HR: Rasmus (1)

Game Seven: 09 Cardinals 3, 69 Cardinals 2
WP: Pineiro (2-0)
LP: Gibson (2-1)
Save: Franklin (2)
HR; Pujols (1)

Runs were at a premium in this series, as suggested by this fact: the 2009 Cardinals faced a first-ballot Hall of Fame starter in five of the seven games and managed to win three of them.

Bob Gibson went 10 innings for the win in Game One, but didn't get the complete game. Joe Torre staked Gibson to a 2-0 lead with a homer in the third inning, but the 09 Cardinals tied it in the sixth by stringing together three singles and a hit batter, all with two outs. The 69 Cards took the lead again in the ninth on an error by Matt Holliday, and gave the lead back in the bottom of the inning on an error by Lou Brock. In the 11th, Colby Rasmus gunned down Curt Flood at the plate trying to score on a Vada Pinson double, but Torre made it academic by singling home Pinson. Joe Hoerner made this lead stand up.

The 69 Cards took a first inning lead in Game Two, and Steve Carlton was sailing along into the sixth, With two outs, Albert Pujols singled and Ryan Ludwick homered, and that concluded the scoring. Adam Wainwright, after allowing hits or walks to seven of the first 14 men he faced, retired 14 in a row from the third to eighth innings.

The series shifted to 1969 and Busch Memorial Stadium. The 09 Cards jumped on Nellie Briles for four runs in the first three innings of Game Three, with the biggest blow being a two-run triple by Joe Thurston. That was all they got or needed, as Joel Pineiro tossed a four-hit shutout in which nobody reached second base.

Gibson evened the series with a complete-game win in Game Four. Flood doubled home a run in the fifth and Mike Shannon plated Torre in the sixth with a sac fly for a 2-0 lead, but the 09 team tied it in the seventh on three singles and an error by Dal Maxvill. Maxville got that run back in the eight with an RBI single as the 69 team took a 4-2 lead that Gibson maintained.

Another Maxvill error proved crucial in Game Four. He booted a Chris Carpenter grounder to open the third inning; two outs and a walk later, Pujols hit a three-run homer off Carlton. Carpenter worked out of a based-loaded jam in the fifth. Franklin finished the game but allowed a two-run homer to Steve Huntz in the ninth.

With the series back in 2009, the 69 Cardinals bypassed some bigger names on its staff (Briles, Mudcat Grant, Dave Giusti, Ray Washburn and Mike Torrez) and entrusted an elimination game to Chuck Taylor, Taylor allowed one run in five innings before giving way to a pinch hitter in a two-run sixth. Torrez, Giusti and Hoerner provided four innings of one-run relief, and the series was down to one game.

Gibson had a horrendous first inning: A leadoff walk to Skip Schumaker, a single by Matt Holliday, and a homer by Pujols. He didn't allow another run, but Pineiro followed up his Game Three shutout with six scoreless innings. A Pujols error at the start of the seventh opened the doors for a two-run outburst that chased Pineiro, but Kyle McClellan got out of the inning on double play. and the 69 Cardinals never got a man as far as second after that.

Player of the series: Pineiro. for two wins on 15 innings of work in two starts with one earned run allowed.

Player availability: Pineiro cannot start before Game Three. Wainwright can start Game Two with the penalty.

Projected rotation: Carpenter-Kyle Lohse-Wainwright-Pineiro-(Carpenter)-(Lohse)-(Wainwright)