EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

3. St. Louis Cardinals

Even Big Mac knows that it's pitching that wins, so the Cards have re-armed

By Tom Verducci

Offense Defense Starting Pitching Bullpen Manager 1999 Record 75-86 (fourth in NL Central) Batting Order 2B Fernando Viña SS Edgar Renteria 1B Mark McGwire LF Ray Lankford 3B Fernando Tatis RF Eric Davis CF J.D. Drew C Eli Marrero Bench OF Brian McRae IF Shawon Dunston IF Craig Paquette C Mike Matheny IF Placido Polanco Starters RH Kent Bottenfield RH Darryl Kile RH Pat Hentgen RH Andy Benes LH Rick Ankiel Bullpen LH Dave Veres RH Heathcliff Slocumb RH Garrett Stephenson LH Scott Radinsky LH Jesse Orosco RH Matt Morris Next Up... There's no question Daryle Ward, the son of former major leaguer Gary Ward, deserves a spot in the lineup. "He's poised and just a really good, strong hitter," says third baseman Ken Caminiti. "Daddy obviously taught him all the secrets." The 24-year-old Ward showed he was listening. After hitting .353 at Triple A New Orleans last season, he was called up to the big league club, where he hit eight home runs and drove in 30 runs in only 150 at bats. Though Ward will not start, manager Larry Dierker will squeeze the lefthanded slugger into games on days when surgically repaired outfielders Moises Alou and Richard Hidalgo need to rest their bones. "I would be thrilled to get him 300 at bats, especially since a lot of righthanded pitchers give our lineup trouble," Dierker says. "Our veterans say they really like to watch him hit." The Book An opposing team's scout sizes up the Astros "St. Louis has moved former No. 1 pick Rick Ankiel through its system over the past two years as if he were a Ming vase. This year the bubble wrap comes off -- very carefully. Ankiel, just 20 years old, will take the No. 5 spot in the rotation, thanks to the off-season additions of Darryl Kile, Pat Hentgen and Andy Benes. "It's the perfect spot for him," pitching coach Dave Duncan says. "Those guys all pitch a lot of innings, so we don't have to ask a lot out of Rick." Ankiel threw 1702Ú3 innings overall last season (with 233 punchouts), which puts him in line for about 190 this year on his growth chart. He struck out 39 batters in 33 big league innings, hinting that he could do for the Cardinals what Kerry Wood did for the Cubs in 1998 at the same age. Like Wood, Ankiel has a hellacious breaking ball. When asked when he last saw a lefthander with a curveball like Ankiel's, Duncan replied, "Koufax." "

The St. Louis Cardinals have played 378 games since they acquired Mark McGwire from Oakland on July 31, 1997. In that time McGwire has hit 159 home runs -- the greatest burst of home run hitting in the history of the game. And here's what the Cardinals have to show for it: a losing record. They are 180-198 with Big Mac.

McGwire turns 37 on the final day of this season. With that in mind, St. Louis decided it couldn't wait to see if pitchers Alan Benes and Matt Morris make it back from major injuries and if Juan Acevedo, Manny Aybar, Rick Croushore, Jose Jimenez and Darren Oliver would grow into the nucleus of a championship staff. All of them are 29 or younger. All of them, with the exception of Morris and Benes, who are still rehabbing their arms, are gone. "I can see how people would think there's urgency here because we traded away young pitching," general manager Walt Jocketty says. "People think we're trying not to waste Mark's best years. But we don't look at it that way. We were trying to win the last couple of years, too. It just didn't work out."

The Cardinals hope a change in altitude will help former Colorado starter Kile regain his form and his wicked curveball. Matthew Stockman/Allsport

Only five teams received fewer innings last season from their starting pitchers than the Cardinals did. So Jocketty and manager Tony La Russa remade their staff by dusting off the blueprint that worked with the 1988 Oakland Athletics: take a bunch of veterans whose careers have hit a wall and put them in the hands of Mr. Fix-it, pitching coach Dave Duncan. The Cardinals are taking fliers on Darryl Kile, Pat Hentgen and Andy Benes. Each won at least 18 games in 1996 or 1997, but they are a combined 71-78 over the past two years.

Each presents a challenge. Kile sank from a 19-game winner for Houston to 21-30 in two years with Colorado, where the altitude at Coors Field took the bite off his curveball and the usual monsoon of longballs and bloop hits eroded his aggressiveness. He took his troubles on the road, too, going 3-10 with a 5.89 ERA. Though scouts detected a marked drop-off in his stuff, Cardinals special instructor Jim Leyland, Kile's manager in Colorado, says, "His stuff is fine. He just tried to be too fine and got into bad habits. One thing about him: He never made excuses about Coors Field."

Hentgen had a legitimate excuse last season. His arm was so weakened by tendinitis in his shoulder that he was trying to get by with an 84-mph fastball. After posting a 5.79 ERA before the All-Star break, a more fit Hentgen had a 3.79 ERA afterward.

Andy Benes turned in his usual workmanlike season for Arizona (13-12, 4.81 ERA), but the Diamondbacks contributed to his reputation as a big-game liability by not letting him near the mound in their Division Series against the Mets. Benes has a career 6.44 postseason ERA without winning any of his six starts.

@:Though Kent Bottenfield was the team's best starter last year and rookie Rick Ankiel has the best arm, the Cardinals' season is likely to turn on how Kile, Hentgen and Andy Benes bounce back and whether closer David Veres, another ex-Rockie, can prosper much closer to sea level. The Cardinals traded for Veres in large part on Leyland's recommendation; he told Jocketty that Veres has a wicked split-fingered fastball but threw it infrequently in Denver because the dry air made it difficult for him to grip the ball. The numbers bear this out: a 7.40 ERA at home and a 2.52 ERA on the road.

Even the St. Louis lineup is dotted with reclamation projects. Rightfielder Eric Davis was slowly coming back from shoulder surgery in spring training; leftfielder Ray Lankford, whose home runs dropped from 31 to 15, is looking for renewed power after off-season knee surgery; newly acquired second baseman Fernando Viña, a 1998 All-Star, played only 37 games last year because of injuries; and can't-miss phenom J.D. Drew missed, hitting just .242 and sometimes playing the outfield like a man searching for his car in the vast parking lot of a mall. "He was making mistakes that made us say, 'He didn't do that in college,'" Jocketty said. "But in fairness I think we were guilty of putting too much pressure on him by expecting so much out of him." St. Louis is betting heavily not only that Drew will hit enough to stick this time but also that he can adequately patrol centerfield now that Lankford wants to remain in left.

La Russa began spring training by citing the '88 A's as a source of inspiration for his current club. McGwire, a member of that Oakland team, nodded and said, "Yes, I see a lot of similarities. For all the attention Jose [Canseco] and I got as the Bash Brothers, that team won because we got solid pitching almost every night. You would think by now people would realize that home runs may get a lot of attention, but they don't win championships."

Issue date: March 27, 2000

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