JUPITER, Fla. - Situated in flyover country and rarely disposed to throwing bags of money at unfamiliar free agents, the Cardinals long have reveled as media afterthoughts.
Let other teams win the winter. The Cardinals prefer to win in October.
Remember, the Cincinnati Reds were last spring’s runaway choice to secure the National League Central. After all, they had won it the year before, right?
“The past two years nobody picked us as the team to beat,” said Daniel Descalso, a utility infielder who represents part of the glue to three consecutive postseason entries. “Instead, we’ve gone after teams. We’ve won when most people gave us little or no chance,”
Now the Cardinals are that team, the Team That Can’t Lose upon reaching spring training.
Coming off a division title, a league-most 97 victories and a World Series run, the Cardinals have eight starting pitchers for five spots; a rehabilitating set-up man who two years ago led the National League in saves; a lineup that may have improved after last season pacing the league with 783 runs; and mastery over a payroll that should actually decline.
Las Vegas set the Cardinals’ over-under for regular-season victories at 90.5, seemingly low given the uninspired winters produced in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Based upon local buzz one might think Cardinal players should proceed immediately from cutting promos to being fitted for World Series rings. The Cardinals’ first loss - that is, if they lose - will be a day of civic mourning.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Cardinals now rate as media darlings picked to overwhelm the division and sprint to the National League Championship Series. Dastardly “national media” types who habitually use February to coronate the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers or Boston Red Sox already have begun their pilgrimage to suburban West Palm Beach.
The Cardinals don’t just have a track record. They now have Their Way.
Mike Matheny spent much of winter taking media soft-toss. As the third-year manger likes to say he gets it. Matheny understands the popular rolling narrative and has no problem acknowledging his team’s talent. He’s also aware of recent cautionary tales.
Matheny remembers the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals were the Teams That Can’t Lose during his first two years as Cardinals manager. Amazingly, both lost.
Anointed following their colossal December 2011 signing of free agent first baseman Albert Pujols, the Angels missed the 2012 postseason with 89 victories. Manager Mike Scioscia could not stop the firing of his longtime hitting coach, Mickey Hatcher. A fissure widened between the manager and front office. Owner Arte Moreno became lampooned as “Angry Arte.” Last year the Angels endured their first losing season in a decade.
The Nationals were the Flavor of February in 2013. In his lame-duck season Manager Davey Johnson suggested World Series or bust. They had Natitude. Even their left field wall said so. But the Nationals got hurt. Then they couldn’t score.
Hitting coach Rick Eckstein, David’s older brother, was sacrificed over Johnson’s objection. The Nats’ 20-year-old right fielder, Bryce Harper, called out Johnson as partly responsible for the team’s uninspired summer. They finished 10 games behind the Atlanta Braves and didn’t return to the playoffs.
Matheny classified assumptions as “extremely dangerous.” He had no problem elaborating.
“What we have is a group of talented people,” he said. “The way this group developed into a team last year doesn’t automatically translate this year. I think that’s something we have to be very, very careful about.”
Losing Carlos Beltran, Chris Carpenter and Jake Westbrook affects the mix. True, Carpenter never pitched in 2013 and Westbrook was not part of the postseason, but all three players served as a resource to younger teammates.
“We lost some guys who were leaders from last year’s team, so some of us will have to step up that way,” said third baseman Matt Carpenter, one of those frequently nominated for an ascending role. “We shouldn’t get hung up on what we’ve accomplished the last two years. It’s about what we’re going to do this year.”
For those in need of a sobering reminder: The Cardinals have never reached the postseason in four consecutive years.
Sports, Pages 18 on 02/20/2014