Cards spol D-backs bid to repeat

Both last year's defending league champions were sent home packing after their respective division series this October. As New York Yankees fans cringe at the sight of Angels celebrating their victory over the former kingpins of baseball, the only comfort left to hold on to is the fact that defending World Series Champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks, were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the other NLDS series, the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants waged a much more competitive battle. For a team that hasn't played a meaningful game since July, the Braves suffered a rude awakening as they dropped game 1 to the wild card winning Giants. After the Braves won games two and three and the Giants avoided elimination in game four, the series headed into the decisive game five on Monday night with the fate of each team up for grabs. Stay tuned to see which team will face the emotionally charged Cards in the National League Championship Series.

With the season ending injury to Diamondback outfielder Luis Gonzalez, Arizona's offense was going to struggle. The pitching collapses that occurred in games one and two of the series, however, were not expected. Curt Schilling went into the playoffs fresh off two of his worst starts of the regular season; but it was lefty Randy Johnson, in game one, who looked like the weak link in Arizona's pitching staff.

The Cardinals lineup torched Johnson for ten hits and five earned runs in six innings; horrible numbers for a pitcher who routinely pitches complete games and strikes out double-digit amounts of players. His outing was capped off by two homeruns including a moon shot by lefty outfielder In the first inning Jim Edmonds set the tone for the beating, and Johnson was no more effective in any other innings. The Cards Matt Morris, however, was as good as he needed to be, leading the team to a 12-2 win.

Game two was the scene of an improved pitching duel between Arizona's Curt Schilling and St. Louis' lefty Chuck Finley, who was acquired from the Indians in a late season trade. The Cards held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, when the D-backs tied the game up on a RBI double from Quinten McCracken.

It was the Cards who struck next, with Miguel Cairo delivering a RBI double in the top of the ninth inning that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 game. The win was a costly one for St. Louis, as they lost All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen for ten to 14 days after Arizona pinch runner, Alex Cintron collided with Rolen on a play near third base. Cintron was called out for interference but not before Rolen sprained his shoulder on the play.

On Saturday, the Cards wrapped up the series by scoring off D-backs starter, Miguel Batista, in the early innings, and relying on the strength of their bullpen for the rest of the game. After the 6-3 series clinching game, game one winner Matt Morris carried deceased teammate Darryl Kile's jersey around second base in his honor. It's Cards firstbaseman, Tino Martinez, a former Yankee, who is proving he can win without the Yankees. As he leads the Cards to the NLCS, the Yankees are home in time to enjoy October baseball on television.

Barry Bonds is another player who had something to prove going into these playoffs. The four-time MVP (soon to be five) has a horrible playoff reputation, yet he must have been licking his chops to get at the Braves pitchers. He had eight career homeruns off of Greg Maddux and John Smoltz going into this series, which is the most he has off any pitcher. Despite this record of success, Bonds did not perform well in the first four games of the series, batting .214, with two homeruns and three RBIs. To his credit, Bonds, as has been the case all season, was pitched around. On the other hand, the two homeruns were hit off of Smoltz and Maddux when the Braves already had the games won. Kevin Millwood and Greg Maddux preformed beautifully in games two and three for the Braves and it was up to the Brave's Milwood again last night to extend their season past the decisive game five.