2008 St. Louis Cardinals season

2008 St. Louis Cardinals
File:Saint Louis Cardinals Logo.png
Division	Central Division
Ballpark	Busch Stadium
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Owners	William DeWitt, Jr., Fred Hanser
Managers	Tony La Russa
Television	FSN Midwest KSDK
Radio	KTRS
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
Seasons

The St. Louis Cardinals' 2008 season will be the 127th season for the franchise in St. Louis, Missouri and the 117th season in the National League. The Cardinals began their season at home against the NL Champion Colorado Rockies on April 1. St. Louis is coming off a 78-84 season, their worst since finishing 75-86 in 1999 and only the second time since that 1999 season that they missed the playoffs. Concerns include bolstering a starting rotation that finished 14th out of 16 teams in the NL in ERA, finding a leadoff hitter after the departure of David Eckstein, and finding a permanent right fielder after Juan Encarnacion's possible career-ending eye injury, suffered when he was hit by a foul ball on August 31, 2007.

Offseason departures and acquistions

Front office

Walt Jocketty, GM of the Cardinals for twelve years, was fired after the disappointing 2007 season. Tony La Russa, however, signed a contract to return to manage the Cardinals for his 13th and 14th seasons. John Mozeliak took Jocketty's place as GM. John Abbamondi, former senior director of labor economics working for Major League Baseball in New York, joined the Cardinals as assistant GM.

On March 13 it was announced that Mark Lamping, president of the Cardinals for 13 years, resigned to become the CEO of the New Meadowlands Stadium Company. Bill DeWitt III, son of Cardinals chairman William DeWitt, Jr. and formerly the team's vice-president of business development, took Lamping's place as president.

Hitters

A major offseason story for the Cardinals was the hostile relationship between manager Tony LaRussa and third baseman Scott Rolen. LaRussa publicly criticized Rolen on December 5,, and Rolen requested a trade, but the team was unable to find a suitable offer at the winter meetings. On January 12, the Cardinals reached a tentative agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays to trade Rolen for their third baseman, Troy Glaus, and the trade was finalized on January 14.

Center fielder Jim Edmonds, the most senior member of the Cardinals' roster, having been with the team since the 2000 season, was traded to the San Diego Padres for single-A third baseman David Freese and cash considerations on December 14, 2007.

So Taguchi, backup outfielder and the only Japanese player in franchise history, was released by the Cardinals in December after six seasons with the organization. The Cardinals declined to offer arbitration to shorstop David Eckstein and acquired Cesar Izturis as his replacement. St. Louis acquired Jason LaRue to be the backup catcher, replacing Gary Bennett. The Cardinals took outfielder Brian Barton from Cleveland on December 6 in the Rule 5 draft.

Utility player Scott Spiezio was released by the Cardinals on February 27 after California authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on charges that included hit-and-run, drunk driving and assault. Spiezio had previously missed a month of the 2007 season to go on rehab for drug abuse problems.

In spring training, LaRussa confirmed that he would continue to bat the pitcher eighth after the Cardinals adopted the unconventional lineup for the last two months of the 2007 season.

Pitchers

Starting pitcher Kip Wells, who posted a 5.70 ERA in 2007, departed via free agency. Starting pitcher Joel Pineiro, effective for the Cardinals in 2007 after a late-season trade from Boston, signed a two-year deal to remain with the team.

On January 3 St. Louis signed starting pitcher Matt Clement, a former All-Star who missed the entire 2007 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. However, Clement's rehab went slowly and he was not ready for Opening Day.

Concerned over health issues in the rotation, with Clement not ready and Pineiro suffering from shoulder pain, St. Louis signed another free agent, starting pitcher Kyle Lohse, to a one-year contract on March 14.

Regular season

The Cardinals were 17-10-2 in Grapefruit League play with a .286 team batting average (5th in NL) and a 4.01 ERA (4th in NL). Attendance at Roger Dean Stadium was 92,465 in 16 home games (9-5-2) for an average home attendance of 5,779. In 13 road games (8-5-0), attendance 85,655; road average 6,589. Their overall Spring training record was 19-11-2. St. Louis started the season with three players--Brian Barton, Kyle McClellan, and Rico Washington--who were making their big-league debuts. Only nine players on the Opening Day roster--Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols, Chris Duncan, Aaron Miles, Randy Flores, Anthony Reyes, Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper and Brad Thompson--were on the roster of the 2006 World Series champion Cardinals. With a pitching rotation in flux and many long-time Cardinals off to other teams, and coming off a losing season, most experts picked St. Louis to play poorly again in 2008.

April

Opening Day, scheduled for March 31, was postponed to April 1 due to rain after the Cards and Rockies had played 2 1/2 innings. The rain wiped out an Albert Pujols home run. In the make-up game, St. Louis lost 2-1, with a Yadier Molina home run the only offense. After the opening loss the Cardinals won the other five games on their homestand; the 5-1 start marked the first time since 2006 that the Cardinals had been more than one game above .500. St. Louis finished the month of April with an 18-11 record and in sole possession of first place in the NL Central. Albert Pujols reached base safely in all 29 games for the month. Staff ace Adam Wainwright finished the month 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA. However, new third baseman Troy Glaus ended April hitting only .260 and had only one home run for the month.

May

May opened with St. Louis' first series of the year against their arch-rival and the preseason NL Central favorite Chicago Cubs, with the Cardinals winning two of three games to stay atop the NL Central standings. Pujols continued to get on base: on May 6 he reached base safely for the 34th consecutive game since the start of the season, the longest such streak in MLB since 1999.

Jason Isringhausen struggled mightily as Cardinal closer in late April and early May, blowing four saves and taking three losses between April 25 and May 9. His ERA rose from 4.50 to 7.47 during that span. After Isringhausen's fifth blown save of the season on May 9, LaRussa announced that Isringhausen would no longer be closing games and instead the Cardinals would be adopting a closer-by-committee approach. Ryan Franklin received the first save opportunity after LaRussa's decision. On May 16, Isringhausen was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right hand laceration. Josh Kinney was transferred to the 60-day disabled list (from the 15-day list) to make room for highly touted prospect Chris Perez, who was called up from Memphis. Finally, on May 17, Manager La Russa officially designated Ryan Franklin as his closer.

Albert Pujols' on-base streak was snapped at 42 games when he failed to reach safely in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on May 16. It was six games shy of his career-best 48 games in a row on base, set in his rookie season of 2001. The loss was the eighth in ten games for the Cardinals, a stretch that dropped them into second place behind the Cubs.

In late May, Pineiro went to the DL and rookie Mike Parisi took his spot in the rotation. Chris Duncan, slumping all year after offseason hernia surgery, followed him to the DL, with Joe Mather getting the callup. Parisi and Mather were the fifth and sixth players to make their big-league debut with the 2008 Cardinals, following Brian Barton, Kyle McClellan, Rico Washington and Chris Perez. After slumping in the middle of the month, the Cardinals got hot at the end of May, going 15-13 for the month. They remained in second place behind the Cubs. Todd Wellemeyer was named NL Pitcher of the Month after going 4-0 with a 2.19 ERA in May.

June

On June 1, pitcher Mark Worrell got called up; he became the seventh rookie to make his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2008. On June 5, Worrell hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat, the eight Cardinal in franchise history to do so. On June 6, Mitchell Boggs followed Worrell to the big leagues as the eighth rookie to make his debut with the 2008 Cardinals; fellow rookie Parisi was sent down to make room.

Troy Glaus began to find his power stroke, hitting four home runs between May 31 and June 5 after hitting only two in the first two months of the season. Ryan Ludwick, who never hit more than 14 home runs in a season prior to 2008, hit his 15th home run on June 10.

The Cardinals suffered a serious setback on June 9, when staff ace Adam Wainwright went to the DL with a sprained finger. The injury situation became even worse on June 10, when Albert Pujols strained his left-calf muscle running from home on a ground ball, sending him to the disabled list for only the second time in his eight-year career. Meanwhile, former closer Jason Isringhausen made his return from the disabled list on June 14, with the club intending to use him in middle relief.

On June 20 the Cardinals traveled to Boston for a three-game set with the Red Sox; it was St. Louis' first trip to Fenway since the 2004 World Series. They won two of three in Boston. Nick Stavinoha, called up on June 22 after Izturis went on the DL, became the ninth player to make his big-league debut with the 2008 Cardinals.

Albert Pujols was activated from the disabled list on June 26. The Cardinals went 6-7 in his absence. In Pujols' first game back he got four hits, but the Cardinals lost 3-2 to the Tigers after closer Franklin blew the save in the bottom of the 9th and Mike Parisi issued a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th. The loss was part of a season-long trend of bullpen failures and blowups. It was the 19th blown save and 18th loss for Cardinal relievers, as opposed to 11 blown saves and 12 losses for the bullpen in all of 2007.

Mark Mulder, who had pitched only sporadically for the Cardinals since undergoing shoulder surgery in 2006, was activated on June 27 and sent to the bullpen. In his first appearance, on June 30, he threw a scoreless ninth inning against the New York Mets.

Despite Pujols (June 11-25) and Wainwright (June 9-?) both going on the DL in June, the Cardinals went 15-12 for the month.

July

The Fourth of July weekend brought a showdown series in St. Louis between the Cardinals (49-38) and Cubs (51-35) with the Cardinals 2.5 games behind Chicago. It was the first meeting between the teams since the first week of May. On July 4, Albert Pujols (aged 28 years, 170 days), became the fifth-youngest player to hit his 300th home run, but the Cardinals lost 2-1. On July 5, a crowd of 46,865, the biggest ever in the short history of the new Busch Stadium, saw St. Louis score three in the bottom of the 9th against ace closer Kerry Wood to beat Chicago 5-4. It was the first time in 33 games in 2008 where the Cardinals had won a game when trailing after eight innings. The Cubs won the rubber game 7-1 to take a 3 1/2 game lead in the Central Division. The three-game series set a new attendance record of 140,067 at the new Busch Stadium.

On July 6, Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick were named as the Cardinal representatives to the National League All-Star Team. Ludwick, who had never hit more than 14 home runs in a season before 2008, entered the break with 21 homers, leading the team.

Mark Mulder's comeback ended when, in his first start since September 2007, he suffered pain in his throwing shoulder on July 9 and had to leave the game after only 16 pitches against the Philadelphia Phillies. He was replaced on the roster by Jaime Garcia, who debuted against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 11, and became the 10th rookie to make his big-league debut with the 2008 Cardinals, the most since 13 rookies made their debut in 1997.

St. Louis entered the All-Star break with a 53-43 record, in second place in the NL Central and one-half game ahead of Milwaukee for the NL Wild Card. This was the second-best record in the National League, but it was also the product of St. Louis playing .500 baseball after reaching ten games over .500 in early May, at 22-12.

In their first series after the break, the Cardinals swept the Padres in four games to reach a season-high 14 games over .500 (57-43). They promptly were then swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in four games (Jul. 21-24) to return to only 10 games over .500 (57-47). Cardinal relief pitchers took the losses in all four games against Milwaukee, part of a season-long trend of ineffective to disastrous performances by the bullpen, then leading all of MLB in 23 games lost by the bullpen and 24 blown saves.

In a game against the NY Mets on July 26, the Cardinals snapped a five-game losing streak by winning 10-8 in 14 innings. Albert Pujols' game-winning home run was his first since he hit his 300th on July 4. Skip Schumaker had six singles in seven at-bats; he became the first Cardinal since Terry Moore in 1935 to have six base hits in one game. Pujols and Schumaker, meanwhile, were the first Cardinals' teammates with five or more hits apiece in a game since Charley Gelbert and Taylor Douthit each had five against the Cubs on May 16, 1930. The extra-inning affair was made necessary by Ryan Franklin's blown save, his second blown save in a row and third consecutive appearance with a home run allowed. On July 28 LaRussa gave the closer's job back to Isringhausen, who lost it to Franklin earlier in the year.

Season standings

NL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	97	64	0.602	—	55–26	42–38
Milwaukee Brewers	90	72	0.556	7½	49–32	41–40
Houston Astros	86	75	0.534	11	47–33	39–42
St. Louis Cardinals	86	76	0.531	11½	46–35	40–41
Cincinnati Reds	74	88	0.457	23½	43–38	31–50
Pittsburgh Pirates	67	95	0.414	30½	39–42	28–53

MLB Standings

Record vs. opponents

as of July 29

Team	W-L Record
Arizona Diamondbacks	0–0
Atlanta Braves	2–0
Boston Red Sox	2–1
Chicago Cubs	3–3
Cincinnati Reds	4–2
Colorado Rockies	4–3
Detroit Tigers	1–2
Florida Marlins	0–0
Houston Astros	8–4
Kansas City Royals	2–4
Los Angeles Dodgers	2–1
Milwaukee Brewers	4–9
New York Mets	3–4
Philadelphia Phillies	3–3
Pittsburgh Pirates	6–6
San Diego Padres	6–1
San Francisco Giants	3–4
Tampa Bay Rays	2–1
Washington Nationals	5–1

Bold indicates that the Cardinals have finished their season schedule with an opponent.

Game log

* June 17, originally 43,793 reported.
** July 5, largest ever at Busch Stadium.

Current roster

St. Louis Cardinals roster
Active roster				Inactive roster		Coaches/Other
Pitchers Starting rotation 44 Kyle Gibson 54 Sonny Gray 31 Lance Lynn 39 Miles Mikolas 53 Andre Pallante Bullpen 64 Ryan Fernandez 47 John King 27 Andrew Kittredge 62 Kyle Leahy 52 Matthew Liberatore 59 JoJo Romero 58 Chris Roycroft Closer(s) 56 Ryan Helsley		Catchers 48 Iván Herrera 43 Pedro Pagés Infielders 28 Nolan Arenado 35 Brandon Crawford 15 José Fermín 46 Paul Goldschmidt 16 Nolan Gorman  0 Masyn Winn Outfielders 41 Alec Burleson  3 Dylan Carlson 33 Brendan Donovan 63 Michael Siani Designated hitters 13 Matt Carpenter		Pitchers 65 Giovanny Gallegos -- Kolton Ingram 66 Adam Kloffenstein 68 Ryan Loutos 32 Steven Matz 93 Keynan Middleton 61 Sem Robberse 29 Nick Robertson 57 Zack Thompson Catchers 40 Willson Contreras Infielders 26 Luken Baker Outfielders 21 Lars Nootbaar 11 Victor Scott II 18 Jordan Walker		Manager 37 Oliver Marmol Coaches 87 Brandon Allen (assistant hitting) 90 Dusty Blake (pitching) 82 Stubby Clapp (first base) 34 Daniel Descalso (bench) 88 Packy Elkins (game planning) 89 Dean Kiekhefer (assistant pitching) 51 Willie McGee (assistant coach) 94 Jamie Pogue (assistant coach/bullpen) 74 Julio Rangel (assistant pitching/bullpen) 76 Kleininger Teran (bullpen catcher) 49 Turner Ward (hitting) 75 Ron 'Pop' Warner (third base) 60-day injured list 19 Tommy Edman 55 Riley O'Brien 38 Drew Rom 26 active, 14 inactive 7-, 10-, or 15-day injured list # Personal leave Roster and coaches updated June 4, 2024 Transactions • Depth chart → All MLB rosters

Scoring by inning

(through July 29)

INNING	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	TOTAL
CARDINALS	79	51	68	59	50	52	52	59	41	5	2	0	0	2	520
OPPONENTS	46	35	66	73	51	47	50	59	47	15	0	1	2	0	492

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B= Doubles; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; BB = Walks; Avg. = Batting Average; OBP = On-base Percentage; SLG = Slugging Percentage

through July 24
Cardinals Hitting Statistics

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	Avg.	OBP	SLG
Albert Pujols (7/29)	95	335	64	119	24	21	64	68	.355	.463	.615
Rick Ankiel	90	337	56	93	19	22	58	33	.276	.342	.540
Troy Glaus	102	363	49	101	27	18	66	56	.278	.377	.507
Ryan Ludwick	94	321	65	93	23	23	69	38	.290	.366	.595
Skip Schumaker	97	343	59	101	17	6	33	34	.294	.359	.420
Yadier Molina	85	299	25	91	14	4	34	25	.304	.357	.391

Starting pitchers

Note: GS = Games Started; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Loss; ERA = Earned Run Average; WHIP = (Walks + Hits) per Innings Pitched; HBP = Hit by Pitch; BF = Batters faced; O-AVG = Opponent Batting Ave.; O-SLG = Opponent Slugging Ave.; R support avg = Average Runs support from his team per Games Started

through July 29

Player	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	H	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	HBP	BF	O-AVG	O-SLG	R support avg
Adam Wainwright +	13	91.2	6	3	3.14	80	10	20	62	1.09	1	369	.234	.395	4.5
Braden Looper	22	127.1	10	8	4.38	148	17	30	61	1.40	7	552	.291	.462	5.0
Brad Thompson	3	15.2	1	1	2.87	17	0	4	12	1.34	1	65	.283	.417	3.0
Todd Wellemeyer	21	122.0	8	4	4.13	120	14	40	84	1.31	3	491	.256	.386	5.1
Kyle Lohse	23	139.1	12	3	3.68	145	12	32	72	1.27	2	580	.269	.408	4.4
Mark Mulder *+	1	0.1	0	0	0.00	0	0	2	1	6.06	0	3	.000	.000	2.0
Joel Pineiro	17	97.2	3	4	4.79	120	11	25	49	1.48	2	427	.304	.484	4.5
Mike Parisi *+	2	6.2	0	1	17.54	18	0	7	3	3.75	0	46	.500	.667	6.5
Mitchell Boggs +	6	26.2	3	2	7.55	37	4	21	13	1.87	2	151	.294	.492	5.2
Jaime García +	1	5.0	0	0	5.40	5	2	1	4	1.20	0	20	.263	.579	9.0
TOTAL	109	636.2	43	26	4.33	690	70	182	361	1.37	18	2,731	.276	.434	4.8

* now, a reliever
+ not on active roster

Relief pitchers

Note: HLD = Holds

through May 27

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	HLD	H	R	ER	HR	ERA	BB	SO	WHIP	O-AVG
Jason Isringhausen (7/24)	35	35.0	1	5	11	2	40	25	24	5	6.17	17	27	1.63	.282
Ryan Franklin (7/24)	48	48.0	3	4	14	12	55	24	21	7	3.94	19	33	1.54	.285
Russ Springer (7/24)	43	32.0	2	0	0	6	27	8	7	2	1.97	12	28	1.22	.225
Randy Flores	21	14.1	1	0	1	12	14	6	5	1	3.14	10	12	1.67	.255
Anthony Reyes * (+ 7/26)	9	13.2	1	1	1	2	16	8	8	2	5.27	3	10	1.39	.291
Ron Villone	18	19.1	1	1	0	9	15	10	9	1	4.19	11	17	1.35	.221
Kyle McClellan	24	26.0	0	1	1	24	25	7	7	1	2.42	8	21	1.27	.253
Mike Parisi *	8	15.2	0	1	0	0	16	5	5	1	2.87	5	10	1.34	.258
Chris Perez *	5	4.2	1	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	0.00	1	5	0.43	.063
Jaime García *	1	2.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.00	1	2	1.00	.142
Mark Mulder *†	2	1.1	0	0	0	0	4	2	2	0	13.50	0	1	3.00	.571
Kelvin Jimenez	3	3.0	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	1	3.00	1	1	1.33	.273
Brad Thompson	4	7.0	0	1	0	0	7	6	6	1	7.71	6	2	1.86	.304
TOTAL (7/28)	106	344.0	16	23	28	76	356	167	161	41	4.21	158	261	1.49	(.246)

TOTAL (thru 7/28) 1st batter/retired: 331/228 (69%)
Inherited runners/scored: 146/44 (30%)

* not on 25-man active roster
† on 15-day disabled list
+ traded away

St. Louis Cardinals GAME NOTES

Cardinals Record When

(through July 29)

Home   30-25
Away   30-24

Scoring more than 3 runs   54-11
      Scoring 3 runs             4-14
Scoring fewer than 3 runs   2-24

Leading after 7 innings       49-11
      Tied after 7 innings       7- 7
Trailing after 7 innings         4-31

Leading after 8 innings       50-4
      Tied after 8 innings       9- 6
Trailing after 8 innings         1-39

Extra innings     5-9
Shutouts           6-2

One-run games   21-18

Runs via HR         172
Opp. Runs via HR 169

By Day

Mon. 5- 5
Tue. 9- 8
Wed. 9- 6
Thu. 5-11
Fri.   9- 8
Sat. 13- 4
Sun. 10- 7

By Opponent

              HOME   ROAD   TOTAL

Division

NL Central   14-15   11-9     25-24
NL East       7-3     6-5     13-8
NL West     7-3     8-6     15-9
AL East       2-1     2-1     4-2
AL Central   0-3     3-3     3-6

TOTALS   30-25   30-24   60-49
(Interleague 7-8)

Draft picks

St. Louis' picks at the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on June 5th, 2008.

Round	#	Player	Position	Class, Bats/Throws, Ht/Wt., birthdate (birthplace)	College
1	13	Brett Wallace	3B / 1B	Junior, L/R, 6' 2" / 235 lbs., Aug. 26, 1986 (Sonoma, California)	Arizona State University
Comp A	39	Lance Lynn	SP	Junior, R/R, 6' 5" / 250 lbs., May 12, 1987 (Brownsburg, Indiana)	University of Mississippi
2	59	Shane Peterson	OF / 1B	Junior, L/L, 6' 0" / 195 lbs., Feb. 11, 1988 (Temecula, CA)	California State University, Long Beach
3	91	Ernest Vasquez	SS	High School, R/R, 5' 11" / 175 lbs., Feb. 26, 1989 (Las Vegas, NV)	Durango High School (Nevada)
4	125	Scott Gorgen	SP	Junior, R/R, 5' 10" / 190 lbs., Jan. 27, 1987 (Concord, CA)	University of California, Irvine
5	155	Jermaine Curtis	3B	Junior, R/R, 5' 11" / 190 lbs., Jul. 10, 1987 (Fontana, CA)	UCLA
6	185	Eric Fornataro	SP	High School, R/R, 6' 1" / 195 lbs., Jan. 2, 1988 (Richmond, VA)	Miami Dade College (South)
7	215	Anthony Ferrara	SP	High School, R/L, 6' 1" / 175 lbs., Sep. 9, 1989 (Riverview, FL)	Riverview HS (FL)
8	245	Ryan Kulik	SP	Senior, L/L, 5' 11" / 205 lbs., Dec. 3, 1985	Rowan University
9	275	Aaron Luna	LF	Junior, R/R, 5' 11" / 200 lbs., Mar. 28, 1987	Rice University
10	305	Alejandro Castellanos	2B	Sophomore, R/R, 5' 11" / 180 lbs., Aug. 4, 1986	Belmont Abbey College
11	335	Devin Shepherd	RF	Junior, R/R, 6' 3" / 180 lbs., Sep. 9, 1987	College of Southern Nevada

External links

• 2008 St. Louis Cardinals season official website
• Current records and standings
• NL Team Batting Statistics
• NL Team Pitching Statistics
• NL Team Fielding Statistics
• St. Louis Cardinals 2008 Team Index at Baseball Reference
• St. Louis Cardinals Team Page at Scout.com
• 2008 First-Year Player Draft, June 5-6