The Astros and Cardinals have a lot in common. They both have lots of talent, they both make teams that come too town fear them, and they both are very competitive. But which team is better? Let's go by their players, and then we will be able to decide.
Catcher
Cardinals: Yadier Molina is an average catcher, but he is great in the clutch. Just ask Aaron Heilman.
Astros: Towles is not so good, but he is young, and young players tend to get better.
Winner: Cardinals
1B
Cardinals: Albert Pujols is one of the best players in the game today. He won the MVP last year and is the best player on the Cardinals.
Astros: Lance Berkman is the best player on the Astros, he is one of the best players in the NL
Winner: Cardinals
2B
Cardinals: Adam Kennedy is just a bad player.
Astros: Matsui is a guy who is sometimes hot and sometimes not.
Winner: Astros
3B
Cardinals: Troy Glaus is a great player, even though he did not prove it in 2008, and he is a great defensive player.
Astros: Geoff Blum is a below average player that is only going to get worse.
Winner: Cardinals
SS
Cardinals: Khalil Greene is nothing special.
Astros: Miguel Tejada is a very good player. He is one of the best on the team.
Winner: Astros
RF
Cardinals: Ryan Ludwick was a great player this year, the second best on the team.
Astros: Hunter Pence is a young, very talented player, and I think that one day he will be the best OF in baseball.
Winner: Cardinals
CF
Cardinals: Skip Schumaker is a young pretty good star.
Astros: Michael Bourn is young, and maybe one day he will be a good player.
Winner: Cardinals
LF
Cardinals: Rick Ankiel came back to baseball this year and played great.
Astros: Carlos Lee was an MVP candidate before he got injured in August.
Winner: Astros
SP
Cardinals: Adam Wainwright had a great 2008 season. The young star is just getting better. He and Kyle Lohse do not disappoint.
Astros: Roy Oswalt is one of the best pitchers out there. He and Brandon Backe give the Astros a great rotation.
Winner: Astros
RP
Cardinals: These guys just have a bad bullpen. Chris Perez can barely pitch, and the rest are no better.
Astros: Jose Valverde is one of the best closers in the game, and Geoff Geary behind him really helps.
Winner: Astros
So who is the better team?
I think it's the Cardinals, but it is very close. They need to get better pitching to make that a sure thing.
As for the Astros, they need to get a couple of new position players so they can beat the Cardinals.
6 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Ezri Menachem 6 months ago
Nice article Mike .
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Mike Kent 6 months ago
thank you Ezri , you are a great fan
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lucas newcomer 6 months ago
I quit reading at "Lance Berkman is one of the best outfielders in the game." Factually incorrect and dated at any rate (Berkman hasn't played the outfield for a couple of seasons).
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lucas newcomer 6 months ago
I quit reading at "Lance Berkman is one of the best outfielders in the game." Factually incorrect and dated at any rate (Berkman hasn't played the outfield for a couple of seasons).
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Mike Kent 6 months ago
oops , sorry
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Jason Cardwell 5 months ago
Interesting topic.
Towles probably won't be our starting catcher this year. It's probably going to be Humberto Quintero. Yadier Molina is a good catcher although nothing special. I think Q could put up similiar numbers if given a year.
Pujols V. Berkman is tough. Berkman is my all time favorite Astro and one of the greatest hitters in MLB. However, I think you got it right in Pujols being better. At least offensively.
Over all I think our infield is better. Our weak spot is third base. As long as Kaz stays healthy and Miggy can hit lower in the line up we should have a fairly productive infield and we had the best defensive team in the national league last year.
Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee both get my personal nod however Ryan Ludwick had a great season last year so I'll just say Lee.
Bourn could be better this year but maybe not so I'll say 1-2 cardinals.
As far as the SP for the Astros, Brandon Backe is definately not a strong point. Don't be surprised if he isn't in the rotation come opening day. I say he is out of the rotation by June. I hope not because I like Backe but if he can't pitch, he's gotta go.
I don't think either rotation is particularly good so I'll say draw.
Bullpen definately goes to Houston. I think they have the best pen in the NL Central.
Overall I say Houston is a better team. Guess we will see!
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