RetroSimba

Hard to believe 2011 is the fifth-year anniversary already of the Cardinals’ most recent World Series championship.

St. Louis’ 2011 roster has only five players who played for the Cardinals in 2006. In alphabetical order:

Chris Carpenter

2006 Fantastic Fact: In his World Series start against the Tigers in the pivotal Game 3 at St. Louis, Carpenter was so dominant that only one Detroit batter advanced into scoring position in his eight shutout innings. Carpenter yielded just three singles _ two to Sean Casey and another to Brandon Inge _ and all came with no one on base. The 5-0 Cardinals victory gave them a 2-1 advantage in the series and shifted the momentum in favor of St. Louis.  Boxscore

Yadier Molina

2006 Fantastic Fact: While the most memorable highlight was Molina’s two-run ninth-inning home run off the Mets’ Aaron Heilman that snapped a 1-1 tie in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, what sometimes gets overlooked is the overall excellence of the catcher in the 2006 postseason. Molina led the Cardinals in hits (19), total bases (29) and batting average (.358) in the 16 postseason games. He started all 16 at catcher and made just one error.

Albert Pujols

2006 Fantastic Fact: In a regular season filled with awesome individual achievement (including 49 homers and 137 RBI, both career bests), this is my favorite Pujols accomplishment of 2006: Of his major league-best 25 game-winning RBI, 19 came on home runs, the most since Willie Mays in 1962.

Skip Schumaker

2006 Fantastic Fact: The rookie outfielder made the Cardinals’ season-opening roster, got the start in left field in the second game of the season and responded by blasting his first big-league homer, off Brett Myers of the Phillies, to help St. Louis to a 4-3 victory. Boxscore

Adam Wainwright

2006 Fantastic Fact: Most everyone knows Wainwright took over for injured closer Jason Isringhausen in the 2006 postseason and dazzled with a 1-0 record, 4 saves and 15 strikeouts in 9.2 scoreless innings. What sometimes gets forgotten is the rookie’s storybook performance against the Giants on May 24 at San Francisco. Wainwright hit a home run, off Noah Lowry, on the first pitch of his first big-league at-bat and earned the win in relief. He joined former Giants Hoyt Wilhelm (1952) and John Montefusco (1974) as the only major-league relievers to hit a home run in his first official at-bat and get a win in the same game. Boxscore