Taking a page from the 1973 Cardinals, the Red Sox this year have become the fifth team in big-league history to reach first place after having lost at least 10 of its opening 12 games. The others to do it, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, are the 1951 Giants, the 1974 Pirates and the 1982 Orioles. [...]
Archive for May, 2011
2011 Red Sox can learn lessons from 1973 Cardinals
Posted in Games, Hitters, Pitchers on May 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Is a Cub the best-hitting pitcher since Bob Gibson?
Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents, Pitchers on May 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Eight times during his Cardinals career Bob Gibson had three hits or more in a game in which he pitched and earned the win. Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano is the first big-league pitcher to equal the feat since Gibson did it, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Zambrano, who turns 30 on June 1, had [...]
Stan Musial twice entered June hitting above .400
Posted in Hitters on May 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As good as Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman have hit for the Cardinals in the first two months this season, their performances pale compared with what Stan Musial twice accomplished entering June. Holliday is batting .349 and Berkman is batting .350 through May 26. In 1950 and again in 1958, Musial ended May hitting better than .400. [...]
Reggie Smith and the Cardinals’ after-hours club
Posted in Games, Hitters on May 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As the only Cardinals to draw five walks in a game, Solly Hemus, Ted Sizemore, Reggie Smith and Colby Rasmus were involved in four of the most unusual contests in franchise history. The Cardinals won all four, three in extra innings. Two of the games occurred in the same year, 1974, just a month apart. Here’s [...]
Dmitri Young launched Cards on productive DH run
Posted in Games, Hitters on May 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In the first at-bat by a Cardinals designated hitter in a regular-season game, Dmitri Young singled to center field in the second inning against the Brewers’ Ben McDonald on June 16, 1997, at Milwaukee. The Brewers then were an American League franchise. That successful start set the tone for what has been a well-utilized position [...]
Stan Musial still oldest to belt 3 home runs in a game
Posted in Games, Hitters on May 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Almost 50 years after he accomplished the feat, Stan Musial remains the oldest player to hit three home runs in a major-league game. Jason Giambi, 40, hit three homers for the Rockies May 19. Babe Ruth (in 1935) and Reggie Jackson (in 1986) are the other 40-year-olds to hit three homers in a game. Musial [...]
