Quietly

The Cardinals have turned themselves into a statistical powerhouse. It was just a few weeks ago, that everyone was talking about the quiet bats and how the pitching staff had totally bailed the team out. Now, despite a middling .266 team average, the cards are 6th in the majors, and 2nd in the NL in runs scored, tied for 5th in the majors in HR, 5th in SLG, and striking out less than any other team in the majors, 4th in extra base hits (2nd in NL), and 6th in team OPS. This without factoring in today's 15-5 thrashing of the Padres.

This is then combined with the fact that the team is continuing to pitch well. The cards are 6th in the NL in team ERA (3rd in NL) , have allowed the 4th fewest walks in the NL, the 5th fewest walks in the majors, an absurd 1.70 groundout to flyout ratio (2nd to the marlins only), allowed the 5th fewest total bases, and the 10th lowest WHIP (5th in NL)

When one considers that the teams ahead of the cardinals in some offensive cateogories (Cininatti, Baltimore, Texas, Boston, the Yankees , and SanFran) are different teams than the ones ahead in the pitching categoires (Atlanta, Florida, the White Sox, the twins and the astros), one realizes that this years incarnation is going to be very tough to compete with. In fact, through this first month of the season, the only team that seems really scary is the Dodgers, who are moderately close in some of these categories (slightly weaker hitting than the cards, slightly stronger hitting, according to the stats).

If Isringhausen is healthy in the next week, this could be a very, very exciting season to be following the Cardinals